It has been a year since the global workforce left their workplaces and set up shop in kitchens, living rooms and home offices. In the past year, we’ve seen every customer become a digital customer, with companies accelerating transformation agendas as a result. We’ve experienced an uneven recovery, with some sectors thriving and others struggling, and we’ve worked to make sure stopgap measures taken last year could be made more sustainable. Along the way, companies have needed to unlock value drivers through a remote workforce, virtual innovation and faster decision making. In the process, new working models are redefining conventional notions of corporate culture and leadership.

As vaccination programmes worldwide create hope for an end to the pandemic, organisations are facing the task of weighing up the advantages and disadvantages of maintaining their virtual workforce going forward. Instead of building a reactive culture where external factors dictate decisions, savvy leaders are embracing adaptability to challenge organizational mindsets. Executives are also exploring how to turn strategies into action more quickly. While the pressure to act promptly can drive senior executives to make decisions on their own, leaders are now looking for new ways tapping into the collective wisdom of  increasingly remote organizations.

This panel of CEOs, organised by the Financial Times in partnership with EXL, addressed the key challenges facing leadership in the midst of wide-scale change, with expert speakers sharing their experiences and strategies for the future. 

Topics for discussion included:

How have senior executives been creating more adaptive cultures to accelerate innovation?

How are leaders making decisions with certainty and speed yet still drive alignment while creating flexibility?

What type of talent is needed to help companies thrive in our virtual world and how is it nurtured within the organization?

Understand

How leaders are adapting their company culture to build adaptive, innovative and agile businesses

Connect

With decision makers working to create flexibility in a virtual business environment

Discover

Value drivers through new working models

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