How important is asset management to a business?
My premise is that we are in a rapid period of change. Change is all around us — in our political system, in our economic system, in our institutional relationships, in technology in public attitudes, in our customers’ expectations. We not only need to be a part of change; we better be leading the change. Otherwise, we will be following; we will be falling behind; and we will not have the support that we need for highway programs in the future. We must establish a sense of urgency. In his book Leading Change, John Kotter from Harvard talks about a series of steps that are important in focusing on change, dealing with it, and managing it. The first step is coming to grips with the importance of change and realizing that there is a need for urgency. I say that now is the time because we have a real need and a real a sense of urgency about asset management. We in federal and state highway agencies must now think about ourselves a little differently. In this workshop, we heard a presentation about a program (six-sigma) that has never been used in the public sector, but it is used in the private sector because they worry about the bottom line, they worry about margins, they worry about how much money they have to run their business, and they worry about how much profit they are going to make. Well, we have businesses too. We have invested a trillion dollars in the highway system. Think of yourselves with a multibillion-dollar balance sheet. Even the smallest state has that. The largest state probably has a balance sheet that is at least $100 billion. Well, do you think we ought to be responsible for that? Do you think we ought to be checking how well we are doing? What kind of rate of return are we getting? Should we report to our stockholders — the drivers in our states and those who pay for some of our services as they pass through.
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