Watch

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.

Emery Koenig explains a lesson he often shares when coaching others: a person’s greatest strength can also become their greatest weakness. His own example is perseverance as it helps him keep going when a team is struggling and others might give up. But when he fails to rein it in, he can move so fast and push so hard that no one is following. Emery has had to learn when persistence is helping a team and when it is leaving people behind. The task is not to abandon the strength, but to understand it well enough to use it wisely.