It was about 2 p.m. on Mar. 9 when three Nucor Corp. electricians got the call from their colleagues at the Hickman (Ark.) plant. It was bad news: Hickman's electrical grid had failed. For a minimill steelmaker like Nucor, which melts scrap steel from autos, dishwashers, mobile homes, and the like in an electric arc furnace to make new steel, there's little that could be worse. The trio immediately dropped what they were doing and headed out to the plant. No supervisor had asked them to make the trip, and no one had to. They went on their own. There wasn't any direct financial incentive for them to blow their weekends, no extra money in their next paycheck, but for the company their, contribution was huge. What's most amazing about this story is that at Nucor it's not considered particularly remarkable. 'It could have easily been a Hickman operator going to help the Crawfordsville [Ind. ] mill,' says Executive Vice-President John J. Ferriola 'It happens daily.' Nucor has nurtured one of the most dynamic and engaged workforces around. The 11 300 nonunion employees at the Charlotte (N. C. ) company don't see themselves as worker bees waiting for instructions from above. Nucor's flattened hierarchy and emphasis on pushing power to the front line lead its employees to adopt the mindset of owner-operators. Nucor gained renown in the late 1980s for its radical pay practices, which base the vast majority of most workers' income on their performance. An upstart nipping at the heels of the integrated steel giants, Nucor had a close-knit culture that was the natural outgrowth of its underdog identity. Legendary leader F. Kenneth Iverson's radical insight: that employees, even hourly clock-punchers, will make an extraordinary effort if you reward them richly,treat them with respect ,and give them real power. Nucor is an upstart no more, and the untold story of how it has clung to that core philosophy even as it has grown into the largest steel company in the U, S. is in many ways as compelling as the celebrated tale of its brash youth. Iverson retired in 1999. Under CEO Daniel R. DiMicco, a 23-year veteran, Nucor has snapped up 13 plants over the past five years while managing to instill its unique culture in all of the facilities it has bought, an achievement that makes him a more than worthy successor to Iverson. For a steel maker like Nucor Corp, the electric grid of which ______.