The Future Feels Uncertain. But We Face It Together.
“You’ll never find a better sparring partner than adversity.” – Golda Meir
There is nothing like an empty nest to teach you about the difficulty of change. After decades of a bustling home on Thanksgiving, this year Kathy and I were without our children around the table. The boys were off with their respective partners and Lauren, her husband, and two children each came down with respiratory viruses and stayed home.
Missing our children in the moment was challenging, but Kathy and my holiday solitude is a small hardship in comparison to the challenges faced by the families torn apart by the war in Ukraine and terror in Israel.
Adversity is nothing new to the human race, of course. Sixty years ago, just days before Thanksgiving 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, leaving two young children to grieve. What matters when we are challenged is whether we have a community around us to sustain us and lift us up. While reflecting on these events, global, historical, and personal, I was reawakened to how strong our bonds are in this industrial metals community and how, together, we hold up one another during the peaks and valleys we encounter.
Building Stronger Teams
Like many sectors of the economy, the industrial metals community is dealing with significant labor pressures. There are, quite simply, too few workers and too much work.
While MSCI initiatives like Forge Ahead attract younger generations of workers to the metals sector, we are helping member companies build strong benches. According to McKinsey & Company, if a company is not creating teams with people from a range of backgrounds, they are missing out. The consulting firm found companies in the bottom quartile both for gender, ethnicity, race are statistically less likely to achieve above-average financial returns than companies with more diverse teams.
Diversity is not a cultural buzzword. It is a business imperative.
At MSCI, we aim to reduce bias and enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within our association and throughout the metals industry. Our DEI Reports synthesize the results of a detailed survey of mills and service centers regarding DEI demographics, initiatives and strategies, and investment. Look for an updated report in early 2024.
MSCI held several free webinars in 2023 that explored how the industrial metals community can attract a more competitive workforce. And to help retain employees who have the background and perspective to strengthen the metals sector, we hosted a Human Capital Management webinar and written content series with Dr. Jia Wang, a top human resources expert from Texas A&M University. Dr. Wang tackled topics ranging from identifying and solving productivity problems to boosting employee performance through strategic recognition.
Ensuring Sound Sustainability Practices
Sustainability also is not just a cultural buzzword. McKinsey & Company has found more than 60 percent of Americans would pay more for a product with sustainable packaging. NielsenIQ found 78 percent of U.S. consumers say a sustainable lifestyle is important to them.
Industrial metal companies are giving consumers what they desire.
With every passing year, our sector gets cleaner and greener. According to EY, over the past half-century advances in technology and a move from traditional blast furnaces to electric arc furnaces reduced energy use in steel production by 60 percent. Our partners at the Aluminum Association found that, since 1991, the carbon footprint of primary aluminum production declined 49 percent while the footprint of recycled aluminum production fell 60 percent.
In 2023, MSCI’s Sustainability Committee continued to develop a platform that will help our member companies lead this sustainability revolution.
Our free weekly webinars are a great place to find thought leadership on this issue. If you have not already, check out the replay of our webinar on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy with Climate Leadership Council CEO Greg Bertelsen, SSAB Vice President of Government Affairs and Sustainability Katie McCall Larson, and Nucor Executive Vice President Dan Needham that was livestreamed from our 2023 Annual Meeting. We also heard from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan at the Annual Meeting.
Expect more content like this in 2024.
At the same time, MSCI is arguing for smart regulations that allow for private sector sustainability innovation by limiting the heavy (and costly) hand of government. If you read Connecting the Dots, you know one of our chief partners in this mission is the Energy Equipment and Infrastructure Alliance, an association for suppliers of construction, equipment, and materials for energy production and infrastructure. As EEIA says, it represents “the hard-hats that keep the lights on and keep homes warm in winter and cool in summer.”
With EEIA, MSCI has repeatedly told policymakers that an all of the above energy platform is the only policythat will ensure economic security while allowing for the innovation that will drive down emissions. Did you know, for example, that switching from coal to gas has helped lower U.S. carbon emissions 24 percent between 2007 and 2020? That drop was larger than for any other major economy and it was due to innovation, not regulation.
Developing renewable energy sources also will spur economic activity and lower emissions in the metals sector, but an all of the above policy is what the United States needs to remain an economic and environmental leader.
A Vibrant, Growing Community
While MSCI provides essential programs like Strategic Metals Management (a new cohort starts in January!), Battle Tested Principles for Metals Executives, and now Battle Tested 2.0: Elevating Leaders to help executives develop skills to navigate an uncertain world, our true superpower comes from one another.
MSCI is a community of industrial metals service centers, producers, and affiliate members that, together, promote the well-being of our industry. At national conferences, chapter events, and in MSCI’s online Community Forum we come together to help each other learn and grow.
In a world that feels fraught, this commitment to one another feels nothing short of miraculous.
As a result, our community is vibrant and growing. In 2023, MSCI welcomed 23 new or returning members. And we still may add more before the December holidays!
It is because of you, our committed member company leaders and employees, that our community enters 2024 poised for success … no matter how the world turns.