Oprah to HR: ‘You’re the Custodians of Culture’

At a time when workplaces are being reshaped by artificial intelligence, economic uncertainty, and rapidly evolving employee expectations, Oprah Winfrey has a message for the HR professionals who are at the center of it all: Don’t lose focus on the most important part of the job — people.

"You all are in the business of creating culture. You’re the custodians of culture,” Winfrey — a media icon, business leader, and philanthropist — said at SHRM26 in Orlando. “Human resources isn’t just about spreadsheets and policies. It’s about human potential.”

It’s a vital job, Winfrey said, because people are always looking to feel seen. That need for recognition resonates in workplaces and beyond.

Toolkit: Building a Strong Organizational Culture

After interviewing thousands of people throughout her career — from presidents and celebrities to everyday individuals — Winfrey said she discovered a universal truth: Everyone wants to know they matter.

“After every single show, in one form or another, somebody would say to me, ‘Was that OK?’ Beyonce, Barack Obama, George Bush, even a guy who murdered his whole entire family when I went to interview prisoners … they all asked me if [they did] OK,” Winfrey said.

“There is a common denominator that runs through all of our experiences and all of our encounters. There is not a person that you meet or see, and certainly not anybody that you're dealing with in your work environment, that doesn’t want to know that they’re OK,” Winfrey explained.

Putting People First

As organizations increasingly rely on data, automation, and AI-driven decision-making, employees — perhaps more than ever — seek connection, validation, and meaning at work. Winfrey argued that leaders who overlook that reality risk missing what drives engagement and performance in the first place.

“The chief people officers in these companies are the ones who actually get to determine what the human experience is going to be like,” Winfrey said.

Winfrey described HR professionals as “masters of human potential,” responsible for identifying strengths, developing talent, and helping people become the highest expression of themselves. The work often goes unnoticed, Winfrey added.

“You’re the unsung heroes because nobody’s doing headlines about the fact that there wasn’t some crazy controversy at your job. Nobody’s doing headlines on the fact that somebody decided to stay, that you saw a very talented person and you nurtured them, and you were able to bring out the best of them,” Winfrey said.

Event: All Things Work 2026

Prioritizing Intuition and Intention

Winfrey’s focus on empowering people was partially born from an experience she had decades ago while hosting The Oprah Winfrey Show, at a time when many talk shows sought out shock value.

In the early years of her show, after witnessing a guest experience humiliation during an interview, Winfrey made a deliberate decision to change course.

“I said, ‘This will never ever happen again,’ ” Winfrey recalled, choking up. “The worst thing that can happen to anybody is to be humiliated. People never forget it.”

The experience led her to adopt a principle that would guide her career — intention.

Before every show, Winfrey began asking producers a simple question: What is our intention? The answer, she said, mattered more than ratings or audience numbers. Every conversation needed a purpose rooted in truth, learning, or service. That same principle applies to organizational leadership.

Looking Back and Learning from Mistakes

Winfrey also said it’s important to trust your instincts, something she acknowledged she has not always done.

Reflecting on what she called one of the biggest mistakes of her career, launching her television network, OWN, while ending The Oprah Winfrey Show, Winfrey said she ignored what her intuition was telling her. 

“I should have waited. I should have taken a year. I should have done nothing, because when you don’t know what to do, you’re supposed to do nothing,” she said. “When you don’t know what to do, you’re supposed to get still enough until you do know.”

Winfrey also reflected on lessons she learned building her own company, admitting that she was “a terrible manager.” One of the biggest mistakes she made was not letting people go sooner when it became apparent that they weren’t a good fit, she said.

“I learned the hard way that everybody who had talent could not be a manager,” she said.

The first time she tried to fire someone, the conversation lasted two-and-a-half hours, she said. “At the end of the conversation, [the employee] said, 'So, are you firing me?’ ” Winfrey recounted. “That’s why you need a good HR person.”

Winfrey said those experiences ultimately reinforced a broader leadership lesson — that not every decision comes from analysis alone.

At times, she said, the most effective leaders are those who learn to recognize and trust a quieter internal signal that Winfrey referred to as a form of higher guidance or intuition.

“Life whispers to all of us,” she said. “The question is, ‘Are you paying attention to the whisper?’ ”