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About Cindy Lu 

 

 Why This Room Exists 

 

After more than two decades building and running people-centered businesses, I learned something that permanently shifted how I see the CHRO role.

Strategic HR does not support the business.
It shapes the trajectory of the business.

At one point in my consulting firm, we were experiencing nearly 50 percent annual turnover on our consulting teams. That level of churn eroded our gross margins from our 40 percent target down to 37 percent.

It looked like an operations issue.


It was not...

The CHROs on my advisory board challenged that assumption.

They helped us examine the data differently and pushed us to redesign our career pathing and development infrastructure.

Within nine months,

 

*Turnover dropped from 50 percent to single digits.

*Gross margins increased to
43 percent.

*Sustained  BOTH for
consecutive six years.

But the margin improvement was not the most important outcome.

 

When turnover stabilized, our consultants were no longer cycling through short-term roles. They built expertise.
Client relationships deepened. Engagement improved. The culture shifted from survival to growth.  

I love watching businesses grow
when their people are set up to win.

When employees thrive, businesses scale differently.

  • Employees gain stability and opportunity.

  •  Executive teams gain confidence.

  •  Boards gain predictability.

  •  Shareholders gain performance.

I was one of those CEOs who did not fully understand that leverage.

That experience changed me.

 

This is why I am committed to
strengthening the CHRO role. 

 

We cannot control how every CEO initially sees HR. But CHROs can control how they operate, how they frame decisions, and how visible their impact becomes.

That gap between expectation and support is why this room exists.

The role has evolved faster than the infrastructure around it. CEOs expect enterprise-level judgment. Boards expect strategic clarity. Yet many HR functions are still operating with lean teams, limited analytical depth, and systems that struggle to produce even basic reporting.

The expectations are enterprise-level.


The resources often are not.

Operating under those conditions can be isolating.

What I Believe 

 The HR profession does not need another checklist.

Business acumen, analytics, change leadership, executive presence, and cost discipline are baseline expectations.

What separates influential CHROs from sidelined ones is judgment in consequential moments.

Influence compounds decision by decision.
Lost credibility is rarely restored.

The role has evolved faster than the narrative around it.

If CEOs and boards underestimate the leverage HR can create, organizations pay the price.

Perception does not change gradually.

It changes when leaders operate at a higher standard and make that visible.

This is why I Built the
CHRO Advisory Room

I created the CHRO Advisory Room because even the strongest operator cannot see every angle alone.

You can move quickly on your own.
You build long-term influence through disciplined peer perspective.

Inside this environment, senior CHROs bring real decisions forward:

  • CEO succession strategy
  • AI adoption at the executive level
  • Organizational redesign
  • Talent acquisition infrastructure
  • Board-facing initiatives

  • They pressure-test thinking before entering high-stakes conversations.

  •  They develop pattern recognition across industries.

  •  They expand and protect executive influence.

This is not networking.
It is not passive learning.

It is a confidential environment for serious CHRO operators who intend to shape enterprise outcomes.