U.S. Steel regrouped and in 2018 created a new plan and a new slogan.

“Underlying our efforts,” the company wrote, “is our belief that we must operate as a principled company committed to a code of conduct that is rooted in our Gary Principles and our core values.” Those core values are “articulated in our S.T.E.E.L. principles…: Safety First, Trust and Respect, Environmentally Friendly Activities, Ethical Behavior, and Lawful Business Conduct.”

S.T.E.E.L.—with a dash of Ayn Rand. As a Christmas present, the company’s new chief executive, David Burritt, gave the former union official Billy McCall a surprise gift—the book Atlas Shrugged. “This is the philosophy right now,” McCall said in an interview. “This is corporate philosophy, for crying out loud.”