What's your advice for leaders trying to adapt to the ‘New Normal’ in the Post-COVID-19 era? My main advice is to mobilize the organization to recognize that we are not going back to the old normal. I tell executives to use this crisis as an inflexion point to reflect on: (1) what should we stop doing? (2) what should we keep doing and stay the course as before? and (3) what should we start doing that we didn’t do before?” This ‘stop-staystart’ assessment questions those tightly held “sacred cows” and lets them go in favor of embracing new experiments and innovations that take advantage of impressive developments in digital technologies. This is the time to design the new
way of work. Treat digital technologies as a tailwind to get to the next, new normal and not just wish that we could go back to the old normal.
How should leaders across organizations respond in the postCOVID-19 world? This is the leadership test for this generation of managers. The CEOs of the future will arise from the ranks of leaders that have stepped up to this challenge and defined the transformation logic for the postCOVID-19 world. I believe that the leaders should respond in three stages. Stage 1 is about restart. What’s your value proposition to customers, employees, suppliers, partners, community and shareholders going forward? Is your message one of forging
ahead to the next normal or resetting back to the old normal? I hope it’s about the future. Stage 2 is about redesigning the foundations for the revised business and organizational models. If you are Airbnb or Uber, how will you pivot and adapt? If you are Raffles Hotels or OCBC, what’s your new value proposition and how have you changed because of the crisis? Stage 3 is about reinvention. Every crisis offers opportunity for new models and this crisis is no different. Use this crisis to reinvent your business for the end 2020s. The future is not what we thought the world would be when we rang in 2020. Restart with an eye towards redesigning to fundamentals focused on the future. Redesign with a view to reinvent for the long-term. AUGUST 2020 |
Future of Work
real-estate cost per employee in New York City is more than $15,000 per year on average. How can companies better use that money to redesign work? Facebook is giving the option for its employees to work for home and relocate if necessary. Twitter has decreed that WFH is the new norm. I believe a set of new principles of work will emerge. We may even see WeWork— or other innovators in the real-estate space—pivot to provide workspaces that complement traditional corporate buildings or campuses.
59