What is a crisis? In leadership it is essential to bring clarity to this word. Merriam Webster defines crisis as an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending. Words are important for a few reasons. First, they shift the thinking of leaders and employees. When words like crisis are spoken, they capture (or should capture) the attention of people as shouting stop or freeze would.

According to Dictonary.com, to invest is “to use, give, or devote (time, talent, etc.), as for a purpose or to achieve something.” As you might invest time in a garden to take in its beauty or consume its vegetables, or as you might invest in real estate to create more income, you invest in people to gain something; that something is to make them better people.