Portrait Of A Leader: Ernie Micek

Ernie Micek did not like to settle. Before being voted as CEO of Cargill, he led the company's corn milling division, where he sought ways to improve the performance of individual employees, as well as the business as a whole.

When Micek became CEO in 1995, he continued his concentration on employee and business improvement with Challenge 2000: a global, 24-hour conference focusing on quality assurance and business progress for Cargill.

Micek encouraged employees to listen to talks given by various leaders within the company, including the CEO himself.

It was truly global in its scope and not unlike the interactivity that would come from social networking a dozen years in the future.

With over 10,000 employees across all businesses in 14 different countries, Challenge 2000 was considered "the largest conference in the world." Micek's program allowed employees to collaborate in real time.

This conference was a precursor to the company's strategic planning in the early 2000s, putting greater emphasis on Cargill becoming the "partner of choice" for its customers.