Steele built a company specialized in maintaining locomotive engines, instilling it with a unique cooperative culture. After graduating from Iowa State University in 1971, Steele with two friends founded Peaker Services, a firm that maintains the engines of the backup generators electrical utilities used to meet peak demand. Starting with three trucks and working out of a two-car garage, Steele helped grow Peaker Services into a $35 million company servicing large engines for a range of industrial customers, among them utilities, railroads, and the maritime industry. As the CEO, he adopted the industrial model of post-war Japan and established a company culture built around extreme cooperation over internal competition, continual learning and a shared vision of quality, creating an environment where workers experienced a greater sense of purpose and fulfillment. He remains chairman of the now employee-owned company.