There have been suggestions that nursing professional governance must give way to more controlling and unilateral decision making models and processes in the presence of crisis (COVID-19). In a number of different systems and situations across the country, nursing professional governance has either been abandoned or modified to facilitate critical decision-making. However, the evidence indicates that it is precisely in critical events that the value and power of nursing professional governance demonstrates its significance. This session will focus on principles and exemplars that validate the legitimacy and veracity of nursing professional governance during times of crisis. Through stories and examples, nursing professional governance is shown to be of equal or greater value in the critical moment for the nursing profession as it is in any other circumstance.