Chester Engineers Welcomes John P. Surma, Chairman and CEO of U. S. Steel Corporation  as a Guest Speaker for its CEO Leadership Series-Surma Proclaims "Leadership is Really Hard and it's Not Simple."

"Leadership is really hard and it's not simple," says John P. Surma, Chairman and CEO of U. S. Steel Corporation, who is leading and overseeing one of the world's tenth largest steel producing companies. United States Steel Corporation, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is an integrated steel producer with major production operations in the United States, Canada and Central Europe and an annual raw steelmaking capability of 31.7 million net tons. The company manufactures a wide range of value-added steel sheet and tubular products for the automotive, appliance, container, industrial machinery, construction, and oil and gas industries.

Surma, who spoke on June 21, 2011 as part of Chester Engineers CEO Leadership Speaker Series shared his ideas and vision about leadership with a group of executives and community leaders as part of Chester Engineers CEO Leaders Series. "Leadership is a funny thing, I guess it's what I do for a living. I didn't really set out to do that, but you can look at it in a lot of different ways. We pretty much know what needs to be done as leaders but getting it done sometimes it's very difficult. I think if you have a set of values that defines your organization and you live those values yourself and then you got some place to stand and say follow me and lets go someplace that might be a bit of a better place. In my experience, if you got the right values and you stand on those and live those and you go into a better place, you might find that people will take a chance and might follow you," said Surma.

As the leader at the helm of the largest domestically owned integrated steel producer in the United States the buck stops with Surma who says being a leader is not always about being popular. "You have to make decisions being leaders that are usually hard. If they were easy they would be done by the time they got to us. So the decisions that end up landing on my desk are usually pretty difficult. If you are a leader you have to make decisions on something other than popularity. It's not always fun to do. My sense tells me as I go through these, what is the reaction going to do when they had to deal with a really difficult problem? As a leader, when they look back on it, and this is true for me, when you look back on a really difficult thing you had to do, it's always the case that you say to yourself that I didn't act soon enough, and I didn't go far enough. It's always, always the case," added Surma.

While Surma says he has to handle a lot of the tough issues in his position, there are many times he believes when leaders need to step back and let others make decisions. "Leadership is really hard. A lot of the issues I contend with are difficult. We work closely together as a team if you can't do that and you try to do it all yourself and try sort of solve all the problems alone it's really hard  and you probably won't get to the right answers. I think it's extremely important to have a team of colleagues and leaders you can depend on in your organization. While I am the leader of the company, if I do my job really well I might not make more than half a dozen decisions a year, if I do it really well. I'm going to decide what the boards dinner menu is going to be, or maybe I will decide who gets invited to the Steelers playoff game. But in terms of real business decisions, if I'm making a lot of them I'm probably not doing it right and I'm probably not doing anything to help the people work with me become my successor so I try to keep that in mind and try to avoid making every decision if I can."

While the steel industry overall has faced some very turbulent times in recent years, Surma believes that some of the values and guiding principles that helped to shape U. S. Steel since its founding in 1901 is still what makes the company successful today. Those principals were shaped and formed by some of America's most legendary businessmen, including Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, and Charles Schwab. However, its principal architect was Elbert H. Gary, who also became U. S. Steel's first chairman. Judge Gary believed in doing business based on standards of honesty, openness, fair play and decency. Today, Surma says his employees around the world are dedicated to putting those core values in action and he believes success in business depends upon doing what is right and leaders need to make a commitment to be unwavering stewards of ethical business conduct, something that may not always be easy to do, but Surma feels well worth it in the end.

Biography-John P. Surma, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer United States Steel Corporation

John P. Surma was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1954. He graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1976 with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting. Mr. Surma joined Price Waterhouse LLP in 1976, and in 1981 he served in the Manchester, England, office of the Price Waterhouse United Kingdom firm. In 1987, he was admitted to the partnership. In 1983, Mr. Surma participated in the President's Executive Exchange Program in Washington, D.C., where he served as executive staff assistant to the vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.In 1997, Mr. Surma joined Marathon Oil Company as senior vice president, finance & accounting. He was appointed president, Speedway Super America LLC in 1998, and senior vice president, supply & transportation for Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC (MAP) in 2000. He was named president of MAP on January 1, 2001.

Effective with the separation from USX Corporation, he became vice chairman and chief financial officer of United States Steel Corporation on January 1, 2002. He was named president in March 2003, and president and chief operating officer in June 2003. He was elected president and chief executive officer in 2004, and chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer in February 2006. Mr. Surma is a member of the board of directors of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation and Marathon Petroleum Corporation. He was appointed by President Barack Obama to the president's Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations and currently serves as vice chairman. He serves as treasurer of the board of directors of the World Steel Association and previously held the titles of chairman and vice chairman. He is also a member of the board of directors of the American Iron and Steel Institute and previously served as chairman and vice chairman of the organization. Mr. Surma is also a current member of both the National Petroleum Council and The Business Council. Additionally, he is a member of the board of directors and executive committee of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and serves as the organization's current chairman; is vice chairman of Penn State University's Board of Trustees and a member of its Smeal College of Business' Board of Visitors; and is chairman of the board of directors for the Allegheny County (Pa.) Parks Foundation.

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