A crisis is not a detour, it’s a catalyst. Going back to normal after disruption is a missed opportunity, and true reinvention begins in chaos.

In 1666, the Great Fire of London raged for days, destroying large parts of the city. Historic accounts cite various reasons why the fire raged so long and why it was finally defeated.

Reasons include delayed decisions to create effective fire breaks by the city leadership, conflicts between the city leadership and The Crown, as well as environmental impacts such as changes in winds.

This all smells of crisis, and not of emergency. More on this later.

After the fire, different opinions on rebuilding the city emerged. The Crown suggested radical restoration plans, but instead, much of the old street plan was recreated in the new city.

Nevertheless, the reconstruction along the old street plan brought improvements in hygiene and fire safety: Streets became wider, wharves along the Thames more open and accessible, and, most importantly, new buildings were constructed of brick and stone instead of wood.

Last but not least, rumor has it that the Great Fire of 1666 saved lives in the long run by burning down so much unsanitary housing with their plague-transmitting rats and fleas. After 80,000 deaths in 1665 and the Great Fire of 1666, London never saw a plague epidemic again.

Nothing cleans like a fire.

Emergencies vs. Crises

What’s the difference between an emergency and a crisis?

An emergency is a situation of extreme time pressure and uncertainty, triggered by a surprising event. The prototype of any emergency is a fire. You can react to a fire outbreak by working through previously prepared checklists: Call the fire brigades. Close the windows. Don’t use the elevators. Evacuate the building.

A crisis, on the other hand, might require new solutions you cannot instruct and train for before the crisis hits. Returning to the Great Fire of London, who would have thought that a leadership contest between The Crown and the city leadership would prevent the timely creation of fire breaks, which was the state-of-the-art technique to fight city fires at the time? And who would have thought that a favorable change in wind strength was the main reason to ultimately win the fight against the fire?

Crises can unfold like a game of dominoes. Unlike the real game, you never see all the dominoes in a crisis and all the possible causes of why the first domino falls. That’s why you can only create new solutions during the crisis, and you could never have thought of them before the crisis.

Never Waste a Good Crisis

It’s unclear whether Winston Churchill ever used the quotation “never waste a good crisis”. If he did, it would surely have been for a good reason, as Winston Churchill lived through many crises during his lifetime.

Let’s translate this quotation to our current times. No matter if we are talking about Donald Trump’s tariffs, Vladimir Putin’s attack against Ukraine, or Xi Jinping’s constant threats to invade Taiwan, all these crises have changed or will change the world for good.

Whenever a crisis hits, don’t waste your time and energy complaining about how unlucky you are or how much damage the crisis does to you.

Use your time and energy to make the best of the crisis. Bring everything to the table, question every aspect of the status quo. Have the courage to change things fundamentally; there isn’t a better change agent than a crisis.

Returning to Status Quo: Really?

All the world speaks about resilience. In crisis management terms, resilient organizations are able to return to the status quo as quickly as possible after a crisis hits.

But do you really want to return to the status quo? Remember that the crisis probably hit you because the status quo wasn’t as optimal as it seemed.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb speaks of antifragile organizations. Those organizations rise out of a crisis much stronger than they were before.

Let’s return to the Great Fire of London. The city emerged stronger after the 1666 fire than it was before. No more plague epidemics, wider roads, new wharves, and stone buildings instead of wooden buildings.

What a fruitful crisis this Great Fire of London was. Never waste a good crisis.