DUBBED as one of the longest years for many businesses, the events of 2020 plunged the global economy into its deepest recession since World War II and organisations were forced to change to survive.

Covid-19 has been one of the toughest leadership tests for chief executive officers (CEOs) as they sought to strike a balance between addressing immediate concerns to keep their companies afloat while planning for the future. Now that the dust has settled and terms like digital transformation and hybrid work have become commonplace, we need to focus on what comes next.

As the outlook for the economy takes a positive turn - especially in Singapore where economists expect the country to make a strong recovery in 2021 and beyond - the role of the corporation has also been re-imagined in the wake of the pandemic, with growing societal expectations and additional external realities.