“Great occasions do not make heroes or cowards; they simply unveil them to our eyes. Silently and imperceptibly, as we wake or sleep, we grow strong or weak; and at last some crisis shows what we have become.”

This quote is as relevant today as when it was first spoken more than a century ago by Brook Foss Westcott, a famous British bishop, biblical scholar, and theologian. It’s one that the staff of the Environmental “Protection” Agency and all senior leaders of companies regulated by it should repeat like a daily mantra.

Jaclyn Jaeger is a freelance contributor to Compliance Week after working for the company for 15 years. She writes on a wide variety of topics, including ethics and compliance, risk management, legal,...