Michael Siegal holds a special place in his heart for people.
Although he’s now chairman and CEO of Olympic Steel Inc., big
business wasn’t always his aspiration. Instead, as a young man, he
went to school for and earned his degree in education.
“People were always important to me,” he says. “Teaching was
always important to me.”
Although his path shifted and he’s now the leader of the steel
processor and distributor, he ensures that while the materials he
makes are hard, that his heart stays soft for the ones that handle it.
“Steel’s neutral …” Siegal says. “Steel doesn’t care. The truck
doesn’t care, but the truck driver has to deliver it well. The guy
who loaded the truck has to load it to the customer’s specifications. If the person doesn’t care if we loaded the truck wrong, we
look like an idiot to the customer. … It’s not that the steel was
loaded wrong — it’s someone loaded it wrong. It’s always been
about people.”
Olympic Steel was founded more than 50 years ago on that
employees-first principle. That focus still holds true today, as its
1,200 people have garnered some handsome results — $1.03 billion in net sales last year, up from 2003’s $472.5 million, while
also earning five years on the NorthCoast 99 list, which recognizes the top places to work in Northeast Ohio. Siegal says the
key to creating and maintaining a culture as solid as steel lies in
articulating your company’s values, hiring and advancing the
right people, getting feedback, and rewarding people.
“At the end of the day, all that matters is people,” he says. “People
say, ‘Oh, the CEO says that — they’re supposed to say that,’ but the
reality is everything else you do is neutral.”
