“This is a unique moment to be a CEO,” says Asutosh Padhi, managing partner for McKinsey in North America. Padhi is talking about what he calls the “jolt” of COVID-19: the way the pandemic has accelerated ecommerce, digitization, hybrid work, and government interventions, all “at a pace and scale we have never seen before.” In a new episode of CEO Perspectives, The Conference Board President and CEO Steve Odland sits down with Padhi to discuss why it took a pandemic to speed up business transformation, and what companies can do to maximize the effect of these transformations on productivity. Tune in for insights on:

• New areas of CEO scrutiny: “Supply chain resilience [to take one example] was never a CEO topic, but now it is one,” says Padhi.
• The pandemic’s three jolts: First came the pandemic itself, then came the pressures (on healthcare, government, and trade) that accelerated opportunities. Next: how businesses and industries will reshape in response.
• The next CEO mindset: Normally cautious and iterative regarding major change, CEOs are now seeing the speed at which their companies are capable of moving—and changing their own mindsets accordingly.