Great post by Bruce MacEwen (author of the extraordinary Adam Smith, Esq.) on the Business Week article highlighting the performance of Nucor. The full Business Week story is here.
The numbers tell an amazing story: a 387% return to shareholders over the past 5 years, handily beating almost all other companies on the S&P Index. Here’s a statistic I found amazing–66% of an average worker’s pay is based on performance. As a result, Nucor workers earn almost $30,000 more per year than their counterparts at US Steel.
The real story, however, lies behind the numbers. The culture actually empowers line workers, rewards true teamwork, invests all employees in the business and eliminates the hierarchical command-and-control structure that dominates so much of American business. At times when companies like General Motors and Ford are desperately in need of fresh thinking, the Nucor story stand out all the more. Its an inspiring business success story, and the benefits to such creative thinking in our profession are readily apparent.