The CHRO Strategy Room | Previously CHRO Mastermind Groups
The playbooks werenβt written for your company. Your plan should be.
Big-firm models are built for jumbo organizations and are dated by the time theyβre published. The CHRO Strategy Room helps you name the season your company is in, build a plan that fits it, and test every big call with peers whoβve already made it.
A confidential, vendor-free room where sitting CHROs build their plan for the year and work it together.
Trusted by HR Leaders at...
The Real Problem
Youβve read every article on what a strategic CHRO should do. Youβre still building the pay spreadsheet at 7 on a Friday.
That isnβt a you problem. Youβve been handed answers written for someone elseβs company.
Most models from the big consulting and research firms are built for the largest companies in the world. They miss what talent looks like at a company your size, with your CEO, your budget, and your team.
And they canβt keep up. Research takes months to gather and years to reach the classroom. Employers expect 39% of workersβ core skills to change by 2030. By the time a report reaches your desk, the CHROs in our rooms already know what worked this quarter.
So the most important calls youβll make this year donβt have a report yet. That leaves your own judgment, and judgment sharpens fastest when you say it out loud to people whoβve been there.
The Real Cost
The most expensive decisions a CHRO makes are the ones made alone.
CEO Succession
One CHROβs board asked for a CEO succession plan in 11 days. Sheβd never built one. Within two days she was on the phone with peers who had.
βI walked into a board conversation on CEO succession with a framework I pressure tested in the room the week before. I was not guessing. I was leading it. It changed how the board saw me, and it changed the recommendation we landed on.β
CHRO, Global Financial Services Enterprise
AI and Workforce
A board-level AI conversation or a misread rollout can run into the millions, and youβre often the only one in the C-suite expected to have answers. No playbook exists yet. Your peers are writing it in real time.
βTheyβve been a true resource to me, especially during the pandemic, as new things came out... hearing what others are doing gave me ideas to take back and implement for our organization, solutions that really fit my company.β
Melissa Goebel, CHRO, Graco Roberts
Org Design
A model borrowed from a parent company or a big-firm deck can look perfect on paper and fail in your building. Youβll see it in churn, lost trust, and stalled execution long after the deck is approved.
βBenchmarking and networking with this team on pros and cons from big companies and small companies has really given us a great point of view on how I think about structuring our teams.β
Erica Chapman, VP HR, Head of HR for Supply Chain, PepsiCo/Frito-Lay
This room exists so the judgment behind your biggest calls is pressure tested before itβs on the line, not second-guessed after.
Itβs Not You
If youβve been circling the same decision for weeks, thereβs a reason.
Youβre not short on answers. Youβre short on a safe place to say them out loud.
Inside your company, everyone assumes you already know. Your CEO expects a recommendation, not a draft. Your team needs you steady. Peers in the C-suite have their own agendas. And the advice you do find was written for a company that isnβt yours.
So you think it through alone, late, between everything else. Maybe you tried a networking group once and left with a stack of business cards and the same problem. Maybe youβre too buried to step back long enough to see the whole board.
None of that is a judgment problem. Itβs a room problem.
βAbout the time that you think youβre the only one with some challenge in your space as an HR leader, thatβs not true. Thereβs others that are dealing with the same challenges.β
Debbie Dennis, CCO, SVP and CHRO, Oncor Electric Delivery
βItβs lonely being in that air traffic tower, but I know I am not alone because there are others going through the same thing... Itβs a lifeline. Itβs how I stay hydrated!β
Marion C. Terrell, CHRO, TruSource Foods
Name Your Season
Every CHRO is in a different season. Your plan depends on which one youβre in.
After 11 years in the room with CHROs, weβve seen heads of HR move through four seasons. They arenβt a ladder. You can be in two at once, or land back in one when a new CEO arrives.
Setting the Table
Youβre here if youβre new in the seat, hired to transform HR, or your company just got a new CEO, owner, or merger.
The work: earn trust, fix the basics, and learn what the business needs this year.
Youβre through it when the basics run without you and the CEO calls you in early.
βWhen I took on a new group, one of the first things I did was share that with my group and say, βWhat are some success stories?β Getting some of the ideas provided some immediate relief for me and made me more successful this past year.β
Amy Brashear, Chief Human Resources Officer, FinThrive
Making Room
Youβre here if the basics work, but everything still lands on your desk.
The work: stop some things, hand others to your team, push some back to managers, and automate the rest.
Youβre through it when your team runs the day to day and a real share of your week goes to the companyβs top priorities. Aim for 40 to 45% of your time, not 90. Even CEOs rarely get more.
Removing the Mats
Cindyβs gymnastics coach never wanted her athletes to depend on her. She started them on the low beam, then stacked mats to beam height on the high beam and took away one mat at a time until they were up there alone.
Youβre here if your company would struggle if you were out for a month.
The work: do the same for your number two. Give them real decisions, then step back a little more each time, one mat at a time.
Youβre through it when HR runs well while youβre away, and the CEO and board know the plan.
Maximizing the Hand Youβre Dealt
Youβre here if youβre good at your job at a company that isnβt asking for strategic HR right now.
The work: read the situation honestly, pick a few battles on purpose, win on what leadership already cares about, and find the work that brings you joy.
Youβre through it when the hand changes, often with a new CEO or owner.
Not sure which season youβre in? Thatβs the first thing weβll figure out on your fit call.
Imagine what your year looks like with a plan that actually fits.
Imagine your CEO bringing you in at the start of the conversation, not after the decision is made.
Imagine walking into the board meeting with a recommendation youβve already pressure tested, knowing exactly where the pushback will come from.
Imagine your team running the day to day, so the hours you get back go to the work only you can do.
Imagine your Friday nights being yours again.
βIt was a long work day with a hot employee issue and I came home feeling invigorated rather than tired.β
Aja Howell, CHRO, GuideStone Financial Resources
Why Cindy Lu?
For 11 years, Cindy has sat in the room while hundreds of heads of HR worked through the hardest calls of their careers: CEO successions, mergers, reorgs, a pandemic, and now AI.
She doesnβt bring a playbook. Her strength is drawing out what you already know, asking the question youβve been avoiding, and knowing which CHRO has already faced your exact situation.
βCindy is the greatest curator of wonderful people, and every conversation is an opportunity for learning and connection.β
Maryam Morse, EVP Human Resources and Communications, Topgolf
Introducing
The CHRO Strategy Room
A confidential room where sitting CHROs build a plan that fits their company, and test it with peers whoβve been there.
The CHRO Strategy Room is for heads of HR at companies with 500+ employees who want a plan built for their own company, not borrowed from someone elseβs.
Itβs perfect for the CHRO whoβs new in the seat or just got a new CEO, the CHRO whoβs still the place everything lands, the CHRO getting her number two ready, and the CHRO making the most of a company that isnβt asking for strategic HR yet.
In the room, youβll:
Name your season
so that you stop forcing models that werenβt built for your company
Define what good looks like for the business
so that every HR priority starts with βso that the business can...β
Pick the few moves that matter most
so that your quit list is as clear as your to-do list
Test your biggest calls before theyβre on the line
so that you walk into the boardroom leading, not guessing
Shift what your CEO believes
so that your plan gets approved in the first meeting, not the third
Hand off what shouldnβt be on your desk
so that your team grows while you get your time back
βIf we can connect with people who have already seen the movie before, that access is critical. It is the difference between reacting and deciding.β
CHRO, Large National Food Services Business
How It Works
You bring the company. The room helps you build the plan.
Your work starts one-on-one with Cindy, naming your season and setting your priorities. Then you work it with peers every month, the same way every time:
- Say it out loud and dig. Name whatβs broken, unclear, or stuck, without the filter you need at work.
- Define good. Finish the sentence: βWeβre doing this so that the business can ___.β
- Prioritize. Plot your options on impact vs. ease, and pick the one that matters most.
- Solve. Build the fix, borrowing from what peers did when they faced the same thing.
- Shift the belief. Figure out what your CEO believes today, and what would change their mind, before you pitch the plan.
Cindy checks in with you one-on-one along the way, so that your plan keeps moving even when your calendar doesnβt. You meet on Zoom, so that you can join from anywhere. A few times a year, CHROs gather in person in Dallas, centrally located and an easy flight from either coast.
TestimonialsΒ
Inside The Situation Room
What happens in the Situation Room.
Hereβs a real session, so you can see how decisions get tested,
not just talked about.
1. A CHRO brings a live, high-stakes call.
βThe board wants my succession recommendation in three weeks. Hereβs where Iβm leaning and where Iβm not sure.β
2. Peers whoβve made that call interrogate it.
They probe the blind spots, board dynamics, and second-order risks she hasnβt named yet.
3. The call gets sharper.
She leaves with a tested point of view, language she can carry into the boardroom, and her next step.
4. It compounds.
Next month, someone brings the call youβre about to face. You watch it get solved before it becomes your problem.
βThereβs what we call the hot seat (the Situation Room) where I can bring in and talk to a group of peers about challenges Iβm having and they can offer their advice.β
Debbie Dennis, CCO, SVP and CHRO, Oncor Electric Delivery
When the right thinking gets tested early,
it shows up in the numbers.
Turnover was cut from 50% to single digits.
Gross margin moved from 37% to 43%
and held for six consecutive years.
That is what changes when a CHRO's judgment is sharp at the moment of decision.
The kind of memorable outcome members come here to create. Against results like these, the annual investment is a rounding error.
Seats are limited.
Each cohort is capped at 30 seats, so that the room stays small enough for every CHRO to bring her real decisions. You can take your seat any time of year. Your work with Cindy starts as soon as you join, so that your plan starts working the month you do.
This is also when next yearβs budgets get set. A fit call now means your seat can be in the plan, rather than waiting for the next budget cycle.
And every month on your own is another big call made without a second opinion.
βThese are great minds I can call and lean on. More than that, they kept me from making calls I would have regretted.β
Chief People Officer, Global Hospitality
Fit matters more than fees
Who this room is built for.
This is for you if...
- Youβre a seated CHRO or Chief People Officer at a company with 500+ employees
- Your biggest calls land on your desk with no true peer to test them against
- Youβre tired of forcing models that werenβt built for your company
- Youβre ready to bring real decisions into a confidential room
- You need something that gives you time and energy back, not one more thing to manage
This is not for you if...
- Youβre mainly looking to network your way to your next role
- You want a place to vent instead of taking action
- You want a large conference or a passive newsletter
- You want information, not a plan youβll actually run
- Youβre not yet making C-suite-level calls
The Investment
Straight answers on cost.
This is a paid seat, not a sponsor-funded event, vendor community, or free networking group.
Most CHROs categorize it as executive development, coaching, or consulting.
Against the cost of one decision made alone, itβs a rounding error.
Need to make the case internally? On your fit call, weβll help you write the one-paragraph business case in your CEOβs language, starting with βWeβre doing this so that the business can...β
There are no sponsors in regular meetings. The room is funded by the CHROs in it and their companies, which keeps the conversation clean, confidential, and peer-led.
FAQ
Questions CHROs ask before the fit call.
Is this a networking group?
How much time does it take?
Whoβs in the room?
Is it confidential?
My company is different from everyone elseβs. Will this work for me?
I already have research subscriptions, a consultant, or an executive coach. How is this different?
Can I join mid-year?
How do CHROs usually fund it?
Do I have to be in Dallas?
What happens on the fit call?
Hereβs the truth.
The playbook for your company hasnβt been written yet. Nobody at a research firm is going to write it for you, and you wonβt find it circling in your own head at 7 on a Friday.
Youβll find it the way the best CHROs always have. Say it out loud to someone who knows how to draw it out. Test it with peers whoβve been there. Then walk into the room with your CEO knowing youβve got it right.
Thatβs what The CHRO Strategy Room is for. The first step is a 45-minute conversation.
The Next Steps
Take the first step toward your seat.
Book a confidential 45-minute fit call.
Bring whatβs on your desk right now. Youβll leave knowing which season youβre in and the one move that matters most this quarter, whether or not you take a seat.
No pressure. No pitch. A straight read on fit.
1: Complete the form below, then pick a time on the next page.
2: Check your inbox for your confirmation and what to expect.
3: Weβll talk for 45 minutes to see if The CHRO Strategy Room is the right fit.
For sitting CHROs at companies with 500+ employees.
Cindy Lu
Founder of CHRO Partners and The CHRO Strategy Room
Since 2015, Cindy has convened confidential peer groups where heads of HR challenge assumptions, sharpen their thinking, and build plans that fit their own companies. Hundreds of HR leaders have been through her rooms.
She started CHRO Partners after seeing firsthand how misunderstood HRβs impact can be, and how rarely the standard playbooks fit the company in front of you.
HerΒ workΒ focuses on helping CHROs:
Organizations led by Cindy Lu were recognized by...
Complete the form below,Β
then select a convenient time on the next page.
