Why Chief People Officers are the linchpin in leading culture in a post-strategy world

Peter Drucker famously said that “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
 
I would argue it’s eating it for lunch and dinner too these days.
 
Culture has quietly overtaken strategy – and it’s time we said it out loud.

There was a time when strategy ruled supreme. Five-year roadmaps and carefully crafted vision statements were the darlings of executive teams and boards. Detailed plans were de-rigour. 

But in today’s whirlwind of disruption and unpredictability, there’s something that’s more important. 

Culture is emerging as the real MVP. 

And guess what? This means that it’s the Chief People Officer’s time to shine. No one is better placed to influence that than today’s CPO.

A proviso: Strategy’s still important, but it’s no longer the be all and end all. 

To be clear, I’m not saying strategy has become irrelevant. Far from it. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that the best-laid strategies don’t mean much if your organisation’s culture is crap. 

You can have a strategy so good it makes McKinsey swoon, but if you don’t have the cultural muscle to execute that strategy, it’s not worth a jot. 

A beautifully crafted plan is lovely. But if your people are burned out, misaligned, or quietly disengaged? That plan will gather dust on a shelf.

What carries you through complexity is not just a roadmap, it’s mindset. It’s values in action. It’s how your people behave on the tough days, not just the terrific ones. That’s culture.

Culture is a strategic lever and CPOs hold the controls.  

Here’s the good news. No one’s better placed to lead this cultural charge than today’s CPO.

You’ve already got your finger on the pulse of your organisation. You influence leadership capability, employee experience, and performance. Increasingly, your seat at the table isn’t just a courtesy, it’s a necessity.

But here's the challenge: success here isn’t just about implementing wellbeing programmes or flexible work policies. It's about helping your executive peers see culture as a core business asset – one that is just as essential to growth as capital or customers.

That requires courage and influencing skills. 

Here are three questions you should be asking if you’re a CPO:

1. Are we intentionally shaping culture or is it happening by default?
   (Spoiler alert: It’s always happening — whether you're steering it or not.) If you are being intentional about culture, think about whether your organisation’s current systems and processes (like reward and recognition policies) help or hinder what you’re working to achieve.
2. Does our leadership team role model the values we claim to stand for, especially under pressure?
   Culture lives and dies in the spaces between the values on the wall and the behaviours in the hallway. You’ve likely heard that saying “the fish rots from the head”. Well, this is a perfect example for that analogy. Are your leadership team shining examples of your culture or is there room to improve? (If it’s the latter, one of my programmes – The Executive Team Map – could be just the thing to bridge the gap 😊) 
3. Are we equipping leaders at every level to be culture carriers, not just task managers?
   Your culture is only as strong as your weakest leader. Yet too often organisations forget middle managers and emerging leaders as critical cultural champions. (If that’s the case, my other programme – The Leader’s Map – increases the skills and engagement they need to succeed). 

So, here’s my challenge: Chief People Officers (CPOs) of New Zealand – help make culture your strategic superpower. Make it visible. Make it loud. And make sure your voice at the executive table is not only heard but heeded.

Because in a post-strategy world, culture isn’t just the foundation. It is the plan.

I’d love to hear your take:

• Do you agree that culture has overtaken strategy in importance or not?
• What do you see as the biggest barrier to CPOs in improving organisational culture right now?
• Where have you seen culture drive exceptional performance in a company? What were your key insights or learnings from that example?

Drop a comment below – or better yet, share this with someone who’s championing culture where they work 😊.