Global People Summit 2026: Leadership, HR Strategy and International Collaboration Across BDO

On 23–24 September 2026, Lisbon hosted the Global People Summit 2026, a global HR conference that brought together around 70 delegates from 47 countries. 

The main objectives of the event were:

• strengthening interaction among HR professionals from different countries;
• sharing experience;
• discussing the challenges firms face in implementing the global HR strategy.

 

HR conferences of this scale are held every two years. This article provides a brief overview of the key highlights from this year’s Summit.

The Global People Summit 2026 in Lisbon was opened by Pat Kramer (Global CEO) and Alicia DeFreitas (Global Head of People & Culture), who shared the key priorities of BDO’s global business strategy and global HR strategy with participants.

Alicia and Pat then handed over to Jim Lawless, the guest speaker, who challenged Summit participants to consider an important question: why is implementing a strategy so much harder than developing one? Often, the greatest challenge is finding the courage to do something we have never done before. Drawing on his own experience, Jim encouraged participants to take bold action and highlighted the key principles of coaching, an approach increasingly embraced by leaders to drive organisational growth and support their own professional development. After this inspiring and thought-provoking session, participants turned their attention to practical business topics.
 

Considerable attention was given to the importance of building a strong and consistent global BDO employer brand. This will enable our people around the world, as well as those considering BDO as a potential employer, to see us as one global organisation, with firms that share common values, collaborate closely and strengthen one another. Together, this makes BDO stronger in both local and international markets. Colleagues from the Global Office, Malaysia and Australia shared their experience of implementing the refreshed approach to positioning BDO as an employer.

Leadership was another key topic of discussion. Colleagues from the UK, Canada and Denmark shared their experience of leadership development programmes. While these programmes differ in terms of their target audiences, content, duration and delivery approaches, they all share a systematic approach to developing future leaders, while also placing significant emphasis on strengthening the leadership capabilities of those who already hold senior positions, lead large teams and develop different areas of the business. The world is changing. Younger generations joining our firms today have different perspectives, lifestyles and expectations from those of previous generations. How can we enable different generations to work effectively as one team? How can leaders continue to grow and develop themselves? What does supportive leadership mean, and how can it help leaders positively influence the way each team member works? How can change be successfully implemented across the business? These are just some of the topics addressed by leadership development programmes in different countries. Working in groups, Summit participants shared their current leadership development needs and successful practices already in place. Going forward, this will help strengthen collaboration and the sharing of best practices across the network, while saving time and resources in developing and implementing such programmes.

Cross-border collaboration was a key focus throughout the Summit. Colleagues from Finland, Colombia, the Caribbean and Mauritius shared their journeys, achievements and lessons learned. The One Africa initiative, presented by the Managing Partner of BDO Mauritius, received this year’s People Excellence Award. The award is presented every two years in recognition of the successful development and implementation of HR projects with the potential to be scaled globally. At the previous Summit, BDO in Ukraine was the winner of this award with its Talent Sharing Platform project.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) was, unsurprisingly, another important topic on the Summit agenda, particularly its integration into client service delivery and other business processes. Colleagues from Canada, the US and the Global Office contributed to the discussion and responded to numerous questions from Summit participants. Group discussions and brainstorming sessions on how the HR community can support this process highlighted that AI is a relevant topic across all countries. Greater collaboration and coordination of efforts across the global network could help accelerate progress in this area.


 

“The two days of the Summit flew by. There were plenty of opportunities to ask the speakers questions, discuss a wide range of topics in working groups, share experiences and learn about colleagues’ successful projects and initiatives. There was also plenty of informal interaction, along with many fun and light-hearted moments that lifted everyone’s spirits, brought participants closer together and made subsequent business discussions even more open and productive. I would like to thank everyone involved for the excellent organisation of the Summit, with special thanks to our colleagues at BDO in Portugal for their hospitality, warm welcome and interesting insights into the specifics of working in the Portuguese market.

My key takeaways from the Summit are:

• successful implementation of the global HR strategy depends greatly on each BDO firm implementing it in its own country;
• stronger collaboration across countries will be successful when it is built on trust;
  says Anna Chepurna, HR Partner at BDO in Ukraine.
•  people have always been and will continue to be at the heart of BDO. Our organisation is prepared to make significant efforts to ensure that every employee has the opportunity to develop their professional and personal skills and build a successful career with BDO.

In my view, events like this contribute to the further globalisation of our business and reinforce our confidence that, together, we can achieve more,”

 


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