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

CFO Bookshelf

The CFO Bookshelf weekly podcast is geared toward global financial leaders who are serious about lifelong learning and reading widely.

The show's 200-plus podcast catalog features well-known authors who are experts in finance, pricing, marketing, sales, operations, organizational health, and leadership.

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

August 30, 2025 • Mark Gandy • Season 1 • Episode 254

0:00 | 54:35

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.

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