The Real Problem

Every CHRO has heard this one:
“Why do we need an in-house recruiting team? Let’s just use search firms.”

On the surface, it sounds practical. External recruiters feel faster and easier. But underneath, that objection isn’t about cost - it’s about context.

CFOs are thinking: fixed headcount equals fixed cost.
CEOs want agility and speed.
Private equity sponsors want proof it moves EBITDA.

When you hear that question, what they’re really asking is:
“Can we scale without locking in overhead - and still get quality hires fast?”

The Truth

You can’t outsource scalability.

Recruiting is a core business capability, not a back-office task.
If your company plans to grow, acquire, or pivot, you need an internal recruiting engine that can flex with business priorities - not a patchwork of vendors chasing requisitions.

External search firms fill jobs reactively.
Internal recruiters build relationships and pipelines proactively.

That difference determines whether your comp...

In this 30-minute CHRO Chat, Cindy Lu and Aja Howell unpack how to turn succession planning into a true leadership accelerator. Aja shares the behind-the-scenes systems that move talent conversations from static binders to dynamic, development-driven conversations.

They cover:

• Building alignment around what C-suite readiness looks like
  
  
• Defining executive presence behaviorally so leaders know how to grow
  
  
• Embedding learning into the workday instead of pulling leaders out for long sessions
  
  
• How to use AI tools to accelerate calibration and competency modeling
  
  

This is a must-watch for CHROs who want to stop reacting to leadership gaps and start engineering readiness for the future.

Hi, I’m Cindy Lu, founder of CHRO Partners and creator of the CHRO Mastermind Groups for Chief HR and People Officers of companies with over 500 employees.

If you’ve ever walked out of an executive meeting thinking,
“I know this is the right move for the business, why can’t they see it?”
…you’ve already experienced what sales teams call objection handling.

In sales, objections aren’t rejection. They’re buying signals.
When a customer says, “This sounds expensive,” or “We’ve tried that before,” they’re not saying no.
They’re saying, “Show me why this matters enough to say yes.”

Smart salespeople expect those moments. They train for them.
They have playbooks full of real-world objections and responses that build trust, not tension.

But in HR?
We’re often expected to navigate the same level of executive skepticism without the training, tools, or language sales teams get.

The Missing Skill in HR

When a CFO says,
“We don’t need an in-house recruiting function, we can just use search...

How to Cut L&D Content Creation Time by 80% Without Hiring More Staff, Even If You’re Starting from Scratch

When your organization grows 40% in two years, the pressure to scale training, SOPs, and onboarding materials becomes real.

That’s exactly what happened at Child Care Resource Center (CCRC) in Los Angeles, a nonprofit that went from 900 to nearly 1,400 employees in record time.

Their Chief People and Culture Officer, Lisseth Zouhbi, realized her team needed to produce learning content faster, without ballooning headcount or budget.

So, she turned to a combination of AI-powered tools — Scribe, Articulate360, and later Kindo AI — to streamline how her L&D and HR teams worked.

Below, we unpack what she did, how it works, and what results she saw so you can borrow the playbook for your own HR function.

Q1: What Problem Was CCRC Trying to Solve?

When CCRC implemented Workday, they had to create 50+ SOPs from scratch.

Without automation, that would have meant hours of s...

MBA programs teach future executives how to read a P&L, model cash flow, and pitch investors, but not how to leverage HR as a growth engine.

That blind spot has a real price tag.

When leaders don’t understand how to use strategic talent practices, three things happen:

• Businesses lose efficiency and competitive advantage.

• Employees lose opportunities to grow and thrive.

• CHROs lose time re-educating peers instead of accelerating impact.

It’s not a small gap. It’s systemic.

The Blind Spot in Executive Education

Business schools focus on finance, strategy, and operations, but rarely on strategic HR or talent management.

AACSB accreditation doesn’t require it either.

You can graduate from a top business program having never learned how to align talent with strategy.

The Data Is Overwhelming

McKinsey found that companies that develop and deploy human capital well are the most profitable in their industries.

Gallup shows highly engaged workforces deliver 23% h...

Are You Carrying Too Much Alone?

Why Even Top CHROs Need a Hive  - Not Just a Network

As a Chief HR or People Officer, you are entrusted with decisions others can’t touch. You advise the CEO. You influence culture. You lead people through change.

Yet one thing many CHROs don’t say out loud is: you often don’t have someone to talk to.

You’re expected to have the answers  - for the executive team, the board, the organization. But where do you go when you don’t know?

You’re probably seeing all of this:

• The business landscape feels more volatile than ever  - AI, shifting workforce models, board scrutiny. You’re asked to “see around corners” while also putting out fires today.
  
  
• Reading reports and case studies helps  - up to a point  - but ideas get flat in isolation. It’s not the same as being inside a conversation with peers wrestling with the same issues, live.
  
  
• You pour energy into others  - your CEO, your leaders, your teams. But who is pouring into you? Even elite athletes bui...

AI is moving into HR faster than anything we’ve seen before. At the CHRO Event 2025, one word kept surfacing from every corner of the discussion: urgency.

Felicia Taylor, Chief People Officer at WebPT, summed it up perfectly: “AI is the new COVID.” Think back to 2020—companies that adapted quickly thrived, those that waited were left behind. AI is presenting that same inflection point today.

Why does HR play a unique role in AI adoption?

Maruchy Cantu, EVP and Chief Administrative Officer at DFW Airport, explained it clearly: “HR’s unique role, the thing only HR can truly do, is rewiring how the organization works. It is about mapping how humans and intelligent machines interact.”

And the urgency is real. Her stat was chilling: 80–85% of jobs posted today will be impacted by AI. This isn’t a minor shift—it’s a workforce reshaping.

Why fix data before adopting AI?

Doug Dureau, CHRO of Hillwood, gave a strong warning: don’t chase shiny tools before your foundation is ready...

Overview:
A CEO change can shake the C-suite — and often the CHRO role is one of the first to be replaced. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

In this session, Amaris McComas, CPO at TrueBridge, shares how she turned a first-year CEO transition into a career accelerator. You’ll learn how to:

• Build board relationships that last beyond any leadership change
  
  
• Reset and strengthen the CEO-CHRO relationship, even if they were a peer
  
  
• Leverage transformation periods to expand your influence
  
  

Who It’s For:
CHROs and Chief People Officers navigating or preparing for executive transitions.

Key Outcomes:

• A practical framework for handling peer-to-boss dynamics
  
  
• Strategies for earning board trust quickly
  
  
• Ways to position yourself as an indispensable transformation leader
  
  

📌 Next Step: Join the CHRO Mastermind to access more unfiltered strategies from peers who’ve been there. Apply now: https://www.chropartners.com/ 

“When your peer becomes your CEO, everything changes. S...

For many CHROs, a CEO change is a career hazard. A new CEO often brings in their own trusted people.

When Amaris McComas, Chief People Officer at TrueBridge, faced this challenge in her first year, she turned it into a defining moment.

1. Build Board Trust Early

She didn’t just participate. She led the process alongside the board, becoming a trusted advisor and learning exactly what they valued in leadership.

2. Reset the Relationship

Her new CEO had been a peer. Amaris initiated a boundary-setting conversation to preserve trust with both her peers and the new leader.

3. Lead Through Transformation

The CEO change sparked an enterprise-wide transformation. Amaris leaned into the challenge, guiding the people strategy through sweeping changes.

Business Impact

Surviving, and thriving, through a CEO transition can cement your strategic position and broaden your influence at the highest levels.

📌 CHRO Mastermind — learn the unfiltered playbooks from peers who’ve been there...

This session is with Chris McKay and Dr. Jess Conser our Keynote Workshop Team at the Big CHRO Event (part 2 of 2)

Why CHROs Need This:
AI isn’t just streamlining recruiting - it’s redefining the roles of recruiters, HR business partners, and even CHROs. What began as automation is rapidly moving toward fully agentic AI that can orchestrate sourcing, screening, onboarding, and mobility end-to-end. The leaders who stay ahead now will shape how talent is found, developed, and retained in the next decade. The risk isn’t missing the latest tool - it’s failing to reimagine HR’s operating model fast enough.

What You’ll Learn:

• How agentic AI will shift HR from process execution to orchestration and oversight.
  
  
• What AI-native onboarding could look like - personalized pre-boarding, digital coaches, and seamless day-one engagement.
  
  
• Why skills-based taxonomies (Eightfold, Gloat, Beemery) will replace static succession plans and nine-box grids.
  
  
• The organizational risks CHROs must manage - fr...