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By Henry Uche
The Co-Founder and CEO of Edusage Consult Limited, Dr. Florence Oluchi SunnyIbeh has called on corporate leaders to adopt leadership development strategies that empower more people to take responsibility, drive innovation, and sustain institutional growth.
SunnyIbeh, who was recently nominated Alumni President of Lagos Business School Human Resource Academy class of 2026, challenged captains of industry to develop their human capital to get the best, noting that building a high-performing organisation takes more than a classroom.
As alumni president, her top priorities for the Class of 2026 and the broader LBS HR Academy community are connection, continuous learning, contribution, and visibility.
“Keeping members engaged through regular touch points so the relationships we built do not fade.
“Knowledge-sharing sessions and HR clinics that draw on the expertise already within our network, mentoring younger HR professionals and giving back to the LBS community that shaped us and celebrating the achievements of our members so the wider profession sees the impact of the HR Academy are our top priorities”
She explained that the most common gap in human resource management is the transition from technical expertise to people leadership.
“Many managers are promoted because they are excellent at their jobs, but nobody teaches them how to lead others. As a result, we see difficulty with performance conversations, giving honest feedback, delegating, and holding teams accountable. Other recurring gaps are execution discipline, data-driven decision-making, emotional intelligence, and resilience under pressure,” the HR expert said.
Addressing some gaps, she advised corporate organisations to move from control to trust, noting that micromanagement does not build the agility today’s business environment requires.
SunnyIbeh stressed that ethics must be non-negotiable for a leader, nor a policy document, but culture is shaped by what leaders tolerate.
“Retention and wellbeing deserve serious strategic attention. Talent is mobile, and people leave managers long before they leave companies. Organisations must build leadership at every level.”
She stressed that theory helps one understand why people behave the way they do at work and protects organisations from chasing management fads, while a framework is only as good as its fit with reality.
“Importantly, a model developed elsewhere must be tested against Nigeria culture, its economic conditions, and the way work actually gets done,” she declared.
