Iron Sharpens Iron: How Jeremy Vesta Leads with Faith Through Market Storms and Marketplace Pressure

There's a particular kind of pressure that builds when everything goes wrong at once. For Jeremy Vesta, COO of Curally and co-steward of a family cattle operation, the past four years delivered that pressure in full measure — the worst cattle cycle the industry has ever seen, foreign exchange volatility, and a last-minute benefits broker change that landed squarely on his desk. One profitable year out of four. Stress that didn't let up.

And yet, sitting down to reflect on it, Vesta isn't bitter. He's grateful.

"God is good," he says simply — and then, when gently reminded that God is good whether things are peaceful or not, he laughs and agrees immediately. "You got it."

That's not a platitude from a man who's had it easy. That's a conviction forged in the fire.

A Path That Wasn't Straight

Vesta grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, inside a large family business and a Christian home. He went on to study in Chicago, played football, and after graduation stepped into the world of commodity trading before eventually returning to help lead the family's operations in Colorado. On paper, it looks like a clean arc. In practice, it was anything but.

"I went through periods where I wasn't living the life that I wanted to live," he says candidly. "Certainly succumbed to temptations and felt a little out of control."

The faith was always there in the background — the upbringing, the values, the general sense of right and wrong. But Vesta is honest about the gap between inherited belief and lived conviction. That gap started closing when he was working in St. Louis and began attending church again, where he met his wife and joined the worship team.

"I kind of faked it until I made it," he says with a smile. "And slowly but surely the Holy Spirit was moving in my life and changing who I was."

The Quiet Discipline That Earned Respect

Before that transformation was complete, Vesta was already being shaped by something he couldn't fully name. Working among high-level traders — stationed in Stamford, Connecticut, rather than downtown Manhattan where many colleagues lived — he made quiet choices that set him apart.

He skipped certain parties. He left events early. He got up early, went to the gym, and showed up first to the office. He didn't announce his reasoning. He didn't moralize. He simply held a line.

"I hid it behind work ethic. But I can tell you — if I'd given myself over to that lifestyle, things would look a lot different today. At the end of the day, I earned everybody's respect because I was more disciplined. I treated everybody with dignity. I wasn't blasting about what I wouldn't do. I just showed up, did the work, and was always reliable."

That pattern — quiet conviction expressed through consistent character — became the foundation of how Vesta leads today.

Humility as a Leadership Strategy

Ask Vesta how faith shapes his professional decisions, and he doesn't lead with vision statements or mission language. He leads with humility.

"The biggest thing I've noticed — and it's taken some lumps to get there — is the humility that comes with a deep and mature faith," he says. "Spending time in the Word daily, allowing that to mold and shape your decisions. It keeps you out of investments you shouldn't be in. It gives you patience with employees you would have never had patience with otherwise."

He's developed what amounts to a management philosophy rooted in this patience: if you find yourself getting angry at an employee, something is already off. Either your approach needs to change, or the fit simply isn't right — and there's no reason for anger in either case.

"You can separate from an employee without making it something that involves anger. Faith gives you that. It helps you see value in your human capital where, in a different state of mind, you might have given up early and missed out on some real gems."

But Vesta is equally clear that faith-led leadership is not the same as conflict-avoidant leadership. He draws a sharp distinction between genuine kindness and what he calls "hiding behind niceness."

"The Bible's pretty clear — love is built on truth, trust, and honesty," he says. "If a partner or an employee is off track, you're not loving them by staying silent. Jesus doesn't shy away from the truth. Paul doesn't. Timothy doesn't. And I don't think you're truly being kind if you're not being honest. You're just avoiding conflict — and that's primarily a selfish endeavor."

His prescription: go to the person with the truth, delivered in the right manner and at the right moment, and then work to rehabilitate the situation. Scripture is clear about resolving conflict, he notes — and prayer is part of that process, not an afterthought.

When the Market Becomes the Teacher

The cattle industry's brutal four-year cycle could have broken Vesta's confidence, his finances, or his faith. Instead, he describes it as a proving ground.

"We're called in the Bible to expect suffering," he says. "Market forces aren't persecution exactly, but you are going through suffering. And I kept asking: am I still doing what God's asking me to do? Does it align with Scripture? If so, let's keep going."

The freedom that came with that posture was real and practical: if the whole thing failed for reasons outside his control, it alleviated the anxiety. God would take care of him. This wasn't the end of the story. He wasn't so tied to earthly outcomes that a business failure would define him.

That kind of detachment from outcomes — not apathy, but genuine trust — is rare in executive culture. It's also, Vesta would argue, a competitive advantage. Leaders who aren't desperate make better decisions.

The Real Challenge: Navigating an Increasingly Hostile Culture

Vesta doesn't minimize the cultural pressure Christian leaders face today. He acknowledges the legal complexities, the shifting workplace norms, and the growing tension between institutional expectations and personal conviction.

"We're being put in a place, increasingly, where you're going to have to make that decision," he says. "Certain policies, certain cultural directions — they rub against your beliefs. You don't have to give in. But you have to be wise."

His aim isn't to create a confrontational environment but one where authentic witness can happen organically — where people notice something different about the way he leads, feel it, and ask questions. Creating space for evangelism rather than forcing it. Fifty years ago, he acknowledges, that balance was easier to strike. Today it requires more discernment.

"The culture has never really supported Christianity," he says. "It didn't in the first century, either. So we shouldn't be surprised — but it does take courage."

What Actually Matters at the End

For anyone in the middle of a hard season — a struggling business, a difficult team, a culture that seems to push back against everything you believe — Vesta has a word of honest encouragement that cuts through the noise.

"It's hard to see it in the moment. But whatever the outcome — whether you're successful or not — that's really immaterial. What's valuable is your spiritual growth. The challenges, the trials: it's iron sharpening iron. It does unbelievable things to your ability to find peace on the hard days, your ability to have discernment, your ability to be a husband, a father, a church member. Stay in the Word. Stay in prayer. There's going to be something beautiful that comes out of this."

And when pressed on what he means by beautiful — does he mean financial success, a growing company, a turnaround? — he doesn't flinch.

"It might not be hundreds of millions of dollars. It might not be a business that explodes. But when you're at the end of your life, what's really going to matter? Is it going to be the state of your faith — that you moved off milk and became a firm, confident believer with a mature theology? Or is it going to be that you had a Cadillac?"

He pauses, then smiles.

"I feel much better about where my soul is today than I did before the trials. And I think those challenges can really push you toward that — if you let them."

That's the invitation Jeremy Vesta is extending to every leader who reads this. Not a formula. Not a shortcut. Just the steady, proven work of letting difficulty do what it was always meant to do: sharpen you into someone who can lead, love, and last.