Stronger in the Broken Places: Nine Lessons for Turning Crisis into Triumph

For James Lee Witt, the man who rebuilt America's emergency response system, the most inspiring and effective lessons-about personal responsibility, team building, planning, and taking action-have guided real-life heroes through extraordinary situations and can pull you and your business through the pressures you face each week or once in a career.

Drawing on his experiences handling disasters such as the Mississippi River floods and the Oklahoma City bombing, Witt identifies the tools leaders need to motivate others and triumph over adversity:

- prepare with triage plans and early warning systems
- prevent recurring and avoidable crises
- respond with teamwork, confidence, and customization
- recover by delegating leadership and mining successes and failures

To bring the lessons home, he shares examples and strategies from corporations-from Malden Mills and Intel to Swissair and Kmart-who have overcome crisis by applying the same principles to their businesses, every day.

A native of Arkansas, James Lee Witt served as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency from 1993 until 2001. An international consultant and speaker, he lives in Washington, D.C.

James Morgan is author of the New York Times Notable Book The Distance to the Moon and co-author of Leading with My Heart, Virginia Kelley's bestselling memoir of raising Bill Clinton. He lives in Little Rock, Arkansas.