From Crisis to Calling: Finding Your Moral Center in the Toughest Decisions

From Crisis to Calling: Finding Your Moral Center in the Toughest Decisions

We may never know when or where our calling as leaders will be revealed and put to the test. The decisions we make when faced with a crisis may shape our purpose for the rest of our lives. Sasha Chanoff here expands on his own story, first recounted on The Moth podcast as "An Impossible Choice." Charged with evacuating a specific number of refugees, Sasha and his colleague find a group of widows and orphans not on the rescue list. Leaving them behind will mean their death. But attempting to take them will jeopardize the lives of all those on the list.

Sasha and David have gathered other stories of crisis and decision, and have drawn out six principles for confronting critical decisions. They reveal the opportunities present in the hardest decisions. From Crisis to Calling is about recognizing your moral center, acting on it, and using it to shape and guide your life and the life of your organization. It’s about how preparing for hard decisions can transform you into an inspiring, trusted and ethical leader. It celebrates the power of altruism, which is too often unappreciated in the leadership toolkit.

Review

Powerful and deeply personal stories highlight the important role of moral courage in answering the type of call to action many of us face. We can all learn from these lessons. 
Sandra Waddock, Galligan Chair of Strategy, Professor of Management, and Carroll School Scholar of Corporate Responsibility, Boston College

The array of dramatic stories in this book is nested in the context of neuroscience, primatology, and sociology in prose that is elegant and a pure pleasure to read. 
Louis Wade Sullivan, MD, former Secretary, US Department of Health and Human Services, and Founding Dean and President Emeritus, Morehouse School of Medicine 
From this extremely readable book, we see that there can be paths of action at times when the choices seem untenable and that more than courage, this sort of journey requires planning, rehearsal, and honest conversations, both with our colleagues and with ourselves. 
Mary C. Gentile, author of Giving Voice to Values

"Sasha and David Chanoff have written a powerful argument for sorting through critical moral beliefs whenever a leader is faced with a difficult decision or crisis. Although the book begins with Sasha's experiences while in Congo, his path to reach the right decision is also compelling to me and my colleagues in Silicon Valley. Though delivered by a renowned expert in refugee affairs, these lessons are useful in all walks of life. On top of everything else, the book is gripping to read and an exciting page turner."
-Bill Draper, Venture Capitalist and co-founder of the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation