CEO Awards, Power Women To Watch, And 2020’s Top Stories In Leadership And Careers

Plus: The Collapse Of The Office Building

Good morning.

In today’s special edition of the Daily Dozen, let’s review how the pandemic has forced changes in the careers and leadership space, as well as the players who have been affected by them.

I’ll bring you the biggest innovation stories of the year.

In a year that felt like a decade, Forbes contributors have focused on analyzing how the experience of the pandemic will affect the working world for years to come.

From earlier retirements to slower hiring processes, some new trends and dramatic changes have emerged that will affect your career and any job search you might undertake.

No corner of working life has been left untouched by the pandemic, but office jobs will no doubt be among those most transformed.

To adapt and thrive in this new economy, office environment, and job market you’ll need to ascertain certain skills: here’s what will be most in demand.

The pandemic has claimed a devastating toll on American workers. Those looking for jobs in 2021 would be wise to focus on the Midwest.

It’s never a bad idea to have some prepared answers to interview questions—NBA star Stephen Curry asked Bill Gates to play the role of a junior software engineer interviewing for a job at Microsoft, and his answers provide valuable lessons for job seekers.

For those in leadership roles, 2020 was the year they realized they needed to be human, as faceless, top-down leadership revealed its ineffectiveness in a time of crisis.

Coronavirus wasn’t the only phenomenon affecting working relationships this year. 

The resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in response to a series of appalling episodes of police brutality had a deep impact on conversations around racial equality across boardrooms and Zoom calls. For Black professionals, this often meant dealing with emotional trauma on top of already challenging working conditions.

At least two of the year’s biggest career crashes involved race-related controversies, showing an increasing refusal to put up with racially charged language and biased behavior in corporate environments.

Speaking of cautionary tales, you cannot miss this story of hypergrowth, executive turnover, legal turmoil and the whims that caused America’s richest jeweler, Alex and Ani’s Carolyn Rafaelian, to lose $900 million (and the roles she held at the company she founded) in less than two years.

Power isn’t static—and as one leader fades, others rise. This year’s list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women counted 17 newcomers, and 10 more who did not make the list are women to watch for 2021.