I think we can all agree, 2020 was quite a year. From a global pandemic to a rapidly changing work environment and economic uncertainty, the changes we’ve seen have come to affect us all.

As CEOs, we’ve been left to find a solution to a problem none of us really expected to face.

We’ve had to adjust.

Since the pandemic began, I have been thinking about how Spyder Works can help corporate leaders make sense of the future and its uncertainty. While speaking to clients and colleagues internationally, I developed an hour-long program titled “Macrotrends and the Next Abnormal.”

My goal was to discuss how macrotrends—long-term directional shifts that can impact your business on a global level—are impacting company operations, culture, marketing and more. By building an awareness of macrotrends, which range from anything like automation and ruralization, to the continuum of health, artificial intelligence and sweeping changes in technology and social media platforms, CEOscan ensure their organizations continue moving forward in the best way possible.

During the first session, each member was asked to put their strategic, CEO hats on to discuss a number of macrotrends. Throughout the hour, we shared insights with each other as we spoke about the trends and how company leaders can prepare their organizations for the future.

The main takeaways of the session relate to the art of the pivot and the need for scenario planning, which is at the core of my Dynamic Organization model. The Dynamic Organization speaks to a fundamental change in our businesses’ organizational structure to better address frenetic change.CEOs need to learn that the interface between their brand, their company and the consumer now channels through operations. If you want to learn how to keep your company healthy and vibrant, you need to see operations as the pivotal core to your business.

People are always talking about the “new normal” or the “next normal,” but they rarely talk about the abnormal, which is what I believe the future is all about.

There is a need, now more than ever, for companies to preact the future and better anticipate and prepare for the needs of potential “exceptional” challenges (which seem to be happening every other week this year).

What I want to do is help CEOs and leadership teams learn to identify true macrotrends, which will affect their industries for years to come, and recognize the most relevant ones for their business. If you learn to understand the macrotrends and have the tools to embrace them, then you can prepare your organization to pivot and become winners in the long-term.

Ignoring the future won’t make it go away. Organizations need to understand the future, see how it may come to affect them and be ready to adapt as necessary.