"People are cautiously starting to believe that we can win again, " Mr. Flexon says.
Mr. Flexon unveiled the cultural overhaul two days after the company emerged from bankruptcy court.
Flexon has other ideas he declines to share, but he says he's interviewing and hiring new talent already.
During a plant-safety conference last year, Mr. Kelley persuaded Mr. Flexon that the facility badly needed an intercom.
For one thing, Flexon succeeds a lionized chief executive, Raymond Milchovich, 60, who saved the company from bankruptcy in 2001.
Flexon also thinks there could be a future in building plants that turn natural gas or coal into diesel or gasoline.
Mr. Flexon joined the debt-burdened Dynegy after investors rejected two buyout offers, prompting senior officers and the board to jump ship.
Mr. Flexon has mounted a "Be Here Now" plaque underneath his monitor as a reminder to avoid checking email during calls.
Dynegy investors count on senior management to deliver results, Mr. Flexon says.
If that's not daunting enough, Flexon is taking over at a time when Foster Wheeler is trying to figure out its next act.
Robert Flexon, 51, wakes up at 4:30 every morning to exercise with Russian kettlebells, the better, it seems, to deal with the heavy lifting that awaits him.
Flexon was among those passed over, but he agreed to leave his job as finance chief at NRG to run Foster Wheeler's U.S. division, where he was to learn the ropes and compete for the top job.
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