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Truth Without Charity is Abuse

Emery Koenig spent 38 years at Cargill, one of the world's largest privately held agricultural companies, rising from commodity trader to Vice Chairman and Chief Risk Officer. A longtime member of the Focolare movement, Emery integrated his faith and values into every level of his work, from trading posts across the U.S. to senior leadership decisions affecting 160,000 employees worldwide.

In this clip, Emery reflects on what made the "moment of truth" exercise effective: it built genuine closeness because everyone both gave and received honest feedback in an atmosphere of care. He then articulates the principle that guided his entire approach to difficult conversations: "When you're telling people the truth, you've got to do it with charity. And if you're not doing it with charity, it's abuse." He carried this into annual and mid-year reviews with his direct reports, structuring feedback around two questions, what should I encourage you to keep doing, and what should I encourage you to stop, start, or change, framing honest feedback as genuine help rather than judgment.

  1. Nick says that God does accounting differently than how we usually think about profit maximization. Can you imagine how you might think about result and end results of business if you tried to take this model seriously? .