Today I’m going to share with you articles about three folks whom I consider superb leadagers.

Let me know if you agree.

First is Dan DiMicco, CEO of Nucor Steel, who was just named Businessperson of the Year by the Charlotte Business Journal. I’ve followed Nucor for a long time and DiMicco just keeps impressing; more so since he always sidesteps taking personal credit, focusing instead on his senior staff and employees. He’s also produced one of the most forward thinking cultures in the corporate world, especially considering he’s heavy industry, producing a real product that has neither chips nor software, and created the largest steel company in the country by successfully acquiring and integrating 22 companies over the last eight years.

Next up are the collective CEOs of Corning, who, for the last 157 years, have nurtured and facilitated a culture of innovation allowing Corning to reinvent itself time and time again and thumbing its nose at every analyst and pundit who predicted its demise. Whoo hoo, these guys rock!

Third is Idris Jala, CEO of Malaysia Airlines, who did an initial turn around of the state-owned airline in three-and-a-half months because that was all the operating cash he had and no bailout was offered. I wrote about him a month ago and there’s a link to the full McKinsey interview (requires free registration) in the post. Well worth reading if you missed it the first time.

Finally, 24 short CEO profiles offered up by Business Week; their selection includes a dozen of the best along with a dozen of the worst. I think you’ll enjoy them.

Your comments—priceless

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David Zinger writes about employee engagement; Phil Gerbyshak at Slacker Manager today posted a link to a new ebook that David facilitated from the Employee Engagement Network. All good stuff.

According to Wikipedia, “An engaged employee is a person who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about, his or her work.”

What I have for you today is employee engagement on steroids, in action at a place called Nucor Steel.

Way back in May 2006, Business Week wrote, “In an industry as Rust Belt as they come, Nucor has nurtured one of the most dynamic and engaged workforces around.”

I’ve written more about Nucor and its culture several times, but it’s come to the fore again.

On January 2, 2009, the Charlotte Business Journal named Nucor CEO Dan DiMicco Business Person of the Year for 2008.

First, a bit of history,

“Ken Iverson, Nucor’s pioneer and guiding spirit, stepped down as chief executive in 1996… Earnings remained flat through 1998, when board dissidents forced Iverson out of the chairman position and off the board. Nine months later, they ousted John Correnti, Iverson’s handpicked successor as CEO.

The board made DiMicco CEO in September 2000. Nucor’s four other executive vice presidents and CFO Terry Lisenby, were candidates for the top job that went to DiMicco. But all stayed, sharing his basic vision for a bigger Nucor built on reinvestment in mills, exploring new technology and market niches, strategic acquisitions and international growth through joint ventures.”

And a pay system that many (most?) companies should adopt, “…it’s not only the workers who get paid mostly on performance. Managers all the way up to the top executives have a relatively low base pay supplemented by specific performance goals.” But they won’t, because most management, as well as the rank and file, believe they should be protected from the results of their actions—unless, of course, they’re positive.

The team took over in 2000 just as the dot com bomb blew up the economy and now, just eight years later Nucor is the largest steel maker in the US.

It’s another economic meltdown; Nucor has $2 billion in cash, so I expect it will emerge even stronger.

All of this is still more impressive when you consider that Nucor actually makes something—as opposed to pushing money around—and their product contains neither chips nor software.

If you want to know more about what truly engaged employees do, how real leadagers act and what a culture should be. Take the time to read the articles—then tweak as much as possible to use in your company.

Image credit: flickr