DISTINGUISH CRISIS FROM DISASTER: 5 NOTES FOR MAKING DECISIONS

One of the most common forms of leadership failure is treating a crisis like it is a disaster, and treating a disaster like it is a crisis. The Greek root of the word crisis means “to decide.” It is a word ancient physicians used to describe the moment when an ill body made the decision to recover or fail. A disaster, on the other hand, means literally “an ill star,” a harmful event beyond our control — a bad year for crops, or a global pandemic, for instance. Crisis, then, is a moment that demands exceptional decisions from us, vital ones about who we are and which directions we must take. A disaster is precisely the end of decisions. The two, in fact, can occur at the very same time. The difference is in our degree of freedom: the line between those things over which we have no