Not every company can be a lighthouse. But all Businesses around the world have rapidly adapted companies can create a plan that illuminates to the pandemic. There has been little hand- what needs to be done (and by whom) to reach a wringing and much more leaning in to the task at stated goal, guarantee the resources to get there, hand. For those who think and hope things will train employees in digital tools and cybersecurity, basically go back to the way they were: stop. They and bring leadership to bear. To get out of “pilot won’t. It is better to accept the reality that the future purgatory”—the common fate of most digital- isn’t what it used to be and start to think about how transformation efforts prior to the COVID-19 to make it work. crisis—means not doing the same thing the same way but instead focusing on outcomes (not favored Hope and optimism can take a hammering when technologies), learning through experience, and times are hard. To accelerate the road to recovery, building an ecosystem of tech providers. leaders need to instill a spirit both of purpose and of optimism and to make the case that even an uncertain future can, with effort, be a better one. Kevin Sneader, the global managing partner of McKinsey, is based in McKinsey’s Hong Kong office; Shubham Singhal, the global leader of the Healthcare Systems & Services Practice, is a senior partner in the Detroit office. Copyright © 2020 McKinsey & Company. All rights reserved. From thinking about the next normal to making it work: What to stop, start, and accelerate 93