Revisiting a Good to Great CEO: Nucor's Ken Iverson

from CFO Bookshelf · host Mark Gandy

I'm calling Ken Iverson the Alan Mulally of CEOs in the 1980s and 1990s. "Plain Talk" by Ken Iverson is one of my favorite business books, despite its lack of self-congratulation and the absence of so-called transformational management concepts.Instead, this is a book about how people were treated, the concept of decentralization, bonus structures, and using instincts to make business decisions.Plain Talk will also undergo a revival period, as the Audible version was released this month. In this conversation, you'll find out why Mark and Bruce rate this a five-star book.

What this episode covers

I'm calling Ken Iverson the Alan Mulally of CEOs in the 1980s and 1990s. "Plain Talk" by Ken Iverson is one of my favorite business books, despite its lack of self-congratulation and the absence of so-called transformational management concepts. Instead, this is a book about how people were treated, the concept of decentralization, bonus structures, and using instincts to make business decisions. Plain Talk will also undergo a revival period, as the Audible version was released this month. In...

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Revisiting a Good to Great CEO: Nucor's Ken Iverson

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This episode was published on August 30, 2025.

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