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Steel Dynamics CEO Mark Millett co-founded the company, now one of the largest domestic steel producers and metal recyclers in the United States. But just forty years ago, he was a self-described “ski bum” in Aspen, Colo.

He still remembers spending days skiing and nights washing dishes at the resort’s restaurant. “I washed more dishes than anyone on the planet during those nine months,” she says.

He probably skied more slopes, too.

Then, he vividly recalls, he had an epiphany. “Fate has guided my life more than anything else,” he said. “I woke up one day thinking I should be responsible and get a real job.”

Steel Dynamics CEO: Find Your Next Step

That’s when, out of the blue, a young English-born man with a bachelor’s degree in metallurgy, applied for a job at – and was hired by – the R&D facility of a then-small steel plant in South Carolina owned by Nucor ( NU). He stayed at Nucor for the next 12 years. There, Millett says, the experience of steel seep into his bones. Steel became a core part of who he was.

“I didn’t know it at the time, but that was my tipping point,” he said. On the same subject : ‘Hi-tech’, stunning: Amazon’s IRL clothing store misses the point of shopping. “As a young kid, they gave me the reins to play with all this (technology) around me and I had an amazing technical pioneering experience there.”

Fast forward four decades or more, and Millett is still pioneering. He became chairman of the Steel Manufacturers Association. And for 2022, he was named Steelmaker of the Year by the Association of Iron and Steel Technology.

Steel Dynamics (STLD) had just three employees when Millett founded the company in 1993. It now has more than 11,000. Between 2012 (when he was named CEO) and 2021, the company’s steel shipments rocketed 93% from 5.8 million tons to 11.2 million. Its net income has jumped more than 1,000% from $164 million to $3.2 billion, during that time. And the average market cap grew 290% from $3 billion to nearly $12 billion, during that time.

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Measure Your Success Like Millett

But Millett doesn’t count success in dollars and cents. He counts those who have helped him – and who have helped him along the way. This may interest you : High-tech company celebrates expansion | Daily Sentinel. That is why, for example, he says the “owners” of the company are not only the 11,000 employees but also the 26,000 “family members” of these employees whom he considers to be part of the company as well.

That’s why the company offers a college scholarship of $5,000 per year for four years to each employee‘s child. And that’s why the company distributed $365 million in profit sharing to employees last year.

“Our people know we’re a major employer,” Millett said.

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Let Others Make Decisions

Real success with employees isn’t just about how you pay them — but how involved you are in decision-making, Millett says. At Steel Dynamics, employees at all levels are encouraged to continuously make autonomous decisions at work – and then take responsibility for those decisions. This may interest you : Seattle real estate startup Flyhomes cuts 20% of staff due to ‘uncertain financial situation’. “Otherwise, they’re not going to engage and feel like this is really their job,” Millett said.

For example, division managers and general managers at Steel Dynamics essentially act as mini-CEOs not only in decision making but in profit and loss responsibility for the division, Millett said. “He will take all responsibility not only for money but for the need to inspire people,” he said. “I want people to feel as if they are in control and not burden them with bureaucracy that slows them down.”

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Show Humility As A Leader

Perhaps this is where leadership – real leadership – sets Millett apart from many others in his industry. More than anything else, he says, a truly good leader must show great humility – even be humble. Arrogance, he says, is an instant sign of failed leadership for employees. “One has to build intuitive trust and loyalty with the individual and you don’t do that with the slightest hint of arrogance,” he said.

It can be as simple as one-on-one engagement with workers on the shop floor. During the construction of the facility in Minnesota, for example, Millett often visited the site and the surrounding fields.

On one visit, recalls David Bednarz, formerly vice president of ferrous resources at Steel Dynamics, Millett literally replaced the operating haul truck driver. The truck driver got out of the truck not sure what was going on. Millett told him that he just wanted to shake his hand – and thank him – for his efforts to start the factory. “The impression left on the individual is long-lasting,” Bednarz said.

Inspire Greatness

With that humility, however, must come the vision and drive to push people to do great things that employees don’t believe they can accomplish. “You inspire a team with high expectations and then give them the tools and resources to achieve that vision,” he said.

Even in the areas that seem to have the biggest challenges.

Sustainability and steel, for example, are not two words that are commonly used in the same sentence. But under Millett’s leadership, the company developed sustainability milestones for 2025 and 2030 to provide transparency, measurement, and accountability, said Theresa Wagler, chief financial officer at Steel Dynamics. “Mark pushed us to be an innovator and leader in the area of ​​greenhouse gas emission reduction and supporting technologies,” he said.

Bring Creativity To The Job

Millett will definitely need to put on its creativity hat, most recently, when it comes to supply chain shortages.

Pig iron is an important raw material used in the scrap metal process. But, as fate would have it, 70% of pig iron traders are sourced from Russia and Ukraine.

Supply is almost non-existent and prices are skyrocketing for whatever is available. The price of pig iron went from $ 650 per ton to $ 1,100 per ton, he said. So the company devised an innovative way to use less pig iron. Previously, to help purify the scrap iron, it was mixed with 22% pig iron and 78% scrap iron. Now, he said, by changing the way it melts scrap steel, it devised a way to still purify scrap metal, but with only 14% pig iron.

“You just have to be more innovative,” Millett said. “You have to adapt to change.”

Find Ways To Bring In Talent

Perhaps the greatest challenge – which is also the greatest challenge in the industry – is attracting young talent to the world of steel. After all, Millett says, there is a legacy that steel is a dirty and boring industry. But he saw it very differently.

“The technology involved in steel is phenomenal,” he said. “To be able to take a large piece of metal and turn it into a perfect raw sheet ten thousandths of an inch thick on a 40 ton surface is amazing.”

There’s more hands-on technology involved in making and recycling steel than you’ll ever find working at Facebook ( META ) or at Amazon ( AMZN ), he said. “And you’re really producing something the world needs.”

Balance Work And Life

However, at the age of 63, Millett has learned about the need for balance in life. He says he comes from a generation that has always lived to work – a lifestyle he says is no longer sustainable. “When I reflect back, it wasn’t a good way,” he said. “Living to work at the end of one’s life does not give you the ultimate sense of satisfaction. There needs to be a balance in life.”

His legacy, he hopes, is about all the people he helped along the way.

“Remember, it’s the people who will drive your success,” Millett said. “Never think that you are the smartest person in the room. Always think that you are the dumbest and listen and understand.”

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