1. Controller Group 1999

Pictured here are the controllers who attended Sam’s farewell dinner during the Controller Meeting in September 1999.

Scott Wulff, NYS; Rex Query, NSHC; Curtis Broadbent, NSUT; Alan James, VUT; Neil Magruder, NSSC; Sam Siegel; Terry Lisenby, Corporate; Steve Spires, NFIN; Lynda Minter, NSTX; Brian Kurtz, NSBC; Jim Frias, NSIN; Lee Batesole, VIN; Gary Tomlin, NSAR; John Bass, NSNE; Mike Keller, VTX; Sue Wayne, VSC; Brett Ullom, NBSTX; Mike Goodrich, NBSSC; Scott Cassel, NBSIN; Jeff Heng, VNE; and Jerry Adrian, VAL.

2. Parkinson’s Law

Sam often handed out books that espoused business philosophies that he embraced.  Over the years, he handed out many copies of Parkinson’s Law by British historian C. Northcote Parkinson. In the 1957 book, which appealed to Sam’s wry sense of humor, Parkinson introduces the principle that work expands to fill the time allotted for it.  Parkinson also explains that the number of administrators in an organization tends to increase because officials hire assistants, who in turn create work. This philosophy coincided with Ken and Sam’s shared belief that Nucor hires people who do not need to be supervised, alleviating the need for more people to supervise them.

3. Why Limit Yourself to One Copy When You Can Have Ten?

While a brilliant financial mind, Sam was also known for his love of office supplies. Numerous staplers, tape dispensers, paper cutters and colored pencils filled his office in 2100 and the room across the hall that was known as “Sam’s Copy Room.”  He tested multiple staplers until he determined that his favorite was the Swingline 747.  The abundant supply of colored paper in the Corporate office today is attributable to his influence. A proponent of having multiple copies of every document, Sam always had tall stacks of colorful paper piled on his desk, each stack secured with a brass “S.” 

4. Controls, Procedures, Documentation and Ethics

As Nucor’s top financial executive for more than 38 years, Sam influenced dozens of division controllers and Corporate accounting teammates. During his last few controller meetings, Sam reinforced the basis of strong financial practices: Controls, Procedures and Documentation. After several major accounting scandals at other companies rocked the business world in the late 1990s, he added a fourth area of focus – Ethics. Sam passed out copies of a document with these four words (on light green paper, of course) to all controllers to keep in their office so they would be reminded of this vital aspect of their job.