In his book The Art of Leading: 3 Principles for Predictable Performance Improvement, he boils the solution down to three essential steps every leader can use.

FORBES: Overcoming Fear: The 3 Step Process

Continue to develop appropriate targets and clearly predictable incentives for Railtrack to improve its performance on punctuality, cancellations and track condition.

BBC: Watchdog attacks rail regulator

"For whatever reason, there's a predictable pattern where September has bad performance, " says Steven DeSanctis a strategist with Bank of America Merrill Lynch's equity research team.

WSJ: Is the 'September Swoon' for Real?