Each division is also responsible for creating the demand for its products by winning and retaining customers. Unlike other steel companies, Nucor’s plants aren’t mere manufacturing sites, but end-to-end businesses. Accordingly, each division has its own P&L, which is entirely free of corporate cost allocations.

Exposing people to multiple skills and functions is a win-win. For individuals, the change in pace, activity, and colleagues makes work more interesting. In return, Nucor gets a workforce that’s able to solve complex, multidisciplinary problems.

True to the spirit of humanocracy, Nucor’s model isn’t about pushing employees to do more, but giving them the opportunity to be more—more than blue-collar workers, more than order takers, more than mere operators, more than employees. Nucor’s frontline team members are experts, innovators, risk takers, and owners.

SPECIALIZATION. Nucor’s team members are deeply skilled, but they’re also multiskilled. Shared targets, cross-training, and malleable roles help them tackle the sort of tough, boundary-spanning problems that yield big productivity gains. There are no “slots” at Nucor and, thus, no artificial limits on where and how team members can contribute.

We’re self preserving. Most of us would never intentionally push someone else down to get where we want to go. The key word here is “intentionally,” because intention involves thought. When we’re triggered and not thinking, our desire to protect ourselves first takes over. When layoffs loom at a company, otherwise decent people will quickly throw each other under the bus to keep a job. Sure, they wouldn’t consciously want to hurt their colleagues, but if it comes down to “them versus me,” they will ensure they come out on top. That’s biology.