How To Redefine Your Purpose For The New Business Reality

APAC Vice President at Center for Creative Leadership, offering cutting-edge leadership solutions.  

Recently, our head of Asia-Pacific research and I interviewed a number of C-suite leaders across Asia and asked them what the key differentiator will be between organizations that come out of this pandemic stronger and those that suffer and perish. Their answer? Leadership.

As the adrenaline rush that many leaders found themselves in during the first weeks of the crisis settles, important questions related to the purpose of the business and the purpose for people arise. Deliberately slowing down to consider and solve for what is really needed in the COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 era will be a key differentiator for the organizations — and leaders — who come out stronger. 

Strategize for the long-term.

I remember the fight-or-flight response I experienced around mid-February when a team member ran into my office to inform me that there was a suspected case of COVID-19 on another floor of our Singapore office. My management team and I spent the first weeks of what was then an epidemic spreading primarily in Asia frantically putting safety measures and business continuity plans in place. Now, months into what is an ongoing pandemic, we realize we’ve still just gotten through the first couple kilometers of a 42-kilometer marathon. While we had to take immediate action, by around week six, we also deliberately paused to revisit what the organization set out to achieve, whether we would be able to do it in this new world and what changes would be required to pivot our business for success in the COVID-19 era. Here’s how to do the same:

• Pause for purpose. With a plethora of epidemiologic and economic data and predictions coming at us on a daily basis, the business landscape for senior leaders and leadership teams is and will continue to be very noisy in the coming months. Therefore, it’s extremely important to look ahead several years to consider what purpose the organization will serve in the post-COVID-19 world.   

Read more: forbes