The situation had been so tense—and the stakes were so high—that I knew we had to give POTUS as much time as he needed. The meeting ended up lasting about an hour and a half, and we took off out of Copenhagen two and a half minutes before we would have been held there because of weather. Although it was the roughest landing we ever made in Air Force One, POTUS got an agreement out of that meeting. Persistence will get you far, and leaders have to champion the push.