Industry experts urge CEOs to take ownership of workplace culture

Business leaders and chief executives must take direct responsibility for shaping corporate culture, as reliance on human resource policies alone cannot fix deep-seated organisational challenges.

​This was the central submission of industry experts at the 2026 Beyond HR Conference and Excellence Awards (Beyond HR 3.0), organised by HR Talent Hub and DAC Consulting. The two-day event, themed: “Leadership, Growth, and Business Success,” gathered human resource professionals, executives, and entrepreneurs to address the critical intersection of leadership, people management, and corporate performance.

​Delivering a keynote address, Dr. Mojisola Olubunmo said corporate character is a direct reflection of executive conduct rather than written documents.

​”Organisational culture is what a business leader tolerates, rewards, encourages, accepts, or punishes. Employees do not learn culture from HR executives or policy manuals. They learn from what they see their chief executive or managing director doing every day,” Olubunmo said.

​Using workplace punctuality as an example, she noted that a chief executive who consistently arrives late inadvertently signals that tardiness is acceptable across the board. “Meaningful transformation requires leaders to model the exact standards they demand from their teams,” she added.

​Echoing these sentiments, Mr. Olabanjo Alimi, CEO of Quoray Mobilities, urged founders and business owners to stay actively involved in workforce management rather than delegating employee relations entirely to HR departments.

​”Founders and chief executives cannot leave people management solely to HR. Building productive workplace relationships is a core leadership function, not just an administrative task,” Alimi noted.

​Explaining the vision behind the conference, Dr. Omotola Adedapo, Convener and Lead Consultant at DAC Consulting, stated that the annual event—launched four years ago—aims to elevate HR practitioners from administrative handlers to strategic business partners.

​”This year’s theme was designed to merge HR strategy directly with overall business strategy. We want to bridge the gap between HR professionals and corporate decision-makers so both sides align to drive measurable growth,” Adedapo explained.

​A key highlight of the conference was the unveiling of DAC Consulting’s IMPACT 120 Project, an initiative offering free advisory and consultancy services to 120 organisations seeking to resolve operational and structural challenges.

​The conference also featured the graduation of participants from HR Talent Hub’s HRCAP training program, alongside an awards ceremony honoring outstanding industry achievements with cash prizes and recognition.

​The conference concluded with a unified message for business leaders: achieving sustainable growth requires leadership accountability, consistent executive modeling, and tighter integration between C-suite strategy and workforce management.