A crisis is not a crisis unless you can not manage the change it brings, according to Myles Munroe, an internationally renowned bestselling author and life coach.

Munroe made the comments during his address to the 2011 Visionary Business Leaders and?Entrepreneurs Awards Conference, which was held in Nassau last month under the theme Change Agents:?In It To Win It In 2011.

“Mastering the change of crisis determines your ability to benefit from the crisis,”?Munroe advised. “In other words, change must be managed and controlled, if you are going to be in it to win it.”

To protect against the negative impact of change in this fast-paced global environment, he continued, businesses should expect and plan for change, while taking steps to pre-empt it.

Successful people are winners with the ability to handle change, said Munroe, a 1998 recipient of the Queen’s Birthday Honors of the Order of The British Empire (OBE) Award bestowed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, for his spiritual and social contributions to the national development of The Bahamas.

According to Munroe, winning is a bi-product of intentional persistance. “A loser is a winner who quits. There are no losers in life, only quitters.”

Conversely, a winner is a loser who did not quit. “Every multi-millionaire, or billionaire, I’ve met (and I’ve met a few) have a story of bankruptcy,” he said.

The leadership mentor advised businesses to make persistence “a priority,” and never take no for an answer.

“Persistence is only possible where faith in change is present,” said Munroe. “We quit because we believe that our present state is permanent. A winner always knows that the present state is temporary. Everything has a season.”

As a government consultant, the senior pastor of Bahamas Faith Ministries International Fellowship has travelled around the world training leaders in business, government, education, sports, media and religion.

He will be speaking next year at the 2012 Swiss Economic Forum.

tblair@dupuch.com