American Steel: Hot Metal Men and the Resurrection of the Rust Belt

Rating:
Summary: Ambishes Story of Resurrection
Review: American Steel is a comeback story of the American Steel Industry. A little less than half a million american steel workers lost their jobs in the 70's and 80's to imported steel. This book is about their story of how they put their heads together and purchased and created a machine which would make them the most competitive steel workers in the world. This book takes the reader into the minds of the hot metal men and through every step of their ambishes story of resurrection.

Rating:
Summary: Did Not Hold My Attention
Review: I like this author, the Hot Zone was a marvelous book and the fiction version was not that bad. These were the only two reasons I picked up this book. The description of the book sounded somewhat interesting, but without the author I would have passed on it. In hindsight that was a mistake. The author really did try his best to make a business case study more aptly used in a college class then a mass publication book, interesting to read. He could not pull it off. The good flow of the book and the fact that it at least tries to keep you interested is due to the skill of author. Yes there is a lot of detail about this new form of making sheets of steel, but unless you are in the industry or a gluten for punishment I would stay away from the book.

Rating:
Summary: Lessons in leading strategic change
Review: The overarching theme of Richard Preston's book, American Steel, is that of leading strategic change, a concept central to the discipline of managerial science. Another important theme of the book restates a concept central to the discipline of finance: the greater the risk, the greater the potential reward.

From the moment Ken Iverson took the helm of the Nuclear Corporation of America in 1965, he was charged with leading strategic change. He "became president by default...no one else wanted the job...His job description was merely to stave off bankruptcy." Taking the path of least resistance, Iverson focused on the company's only profitable unit, the Vulcraft joist division.

Instead of purchasing bar steel from other companies, Iverson decided to build a steel mill himself. This was a tremendous risk; as he put it, "We played 'Bet-the-Company'." This gets directly to the point mentioned above -- the greater the risk, the greater the potential reward. By employing untrained, unskilled workers at this new plant in South Carolina, Iverson increased the risk profile of the company even further. This move, however, combined with a generous bonus plan, engendered a sense of trust and responsibility in the workers after some time. Trust, as it turns out, is the currency of change -- and change is just what Iverson was trying to accomplish.