A conversation with Lucien Alziari, Executive Vice President and Senior Advisor of Prudential Financial
In this wide-ranging conversation, Hein Knaapen, Managing Partner at CEO.works, sits down with longtime friend and globally respected HR leader Lucien Alziari to explore a central question: What truly drives company performance from the talent side?
Lucien, who has served as Chief Human Resources Officer at Prudential Financial, A.P. Moller-Maersk, and Avon, brings decades of experience to the table—much of it shaped by formative years at PepsiCo, which he calls a “factory of exceptional HR leaders.”
Their discussion touches on foundational themes: clarity of purpose, frontline accountability, the evolving role of HR, and how leaders create enterprise-wide performance. The insights are as sharp as they are deeply human.
The Muscle-Building Era of HR—and What It Got Right
Alziari recalls the roots of high-performing HR at PepsiCo, which began as a business necessity: consolidating a patchwork of family-owned bottling operations into a unified corporation. Andy Pearson, a tough-minded leader with a relentless focus on performance, saw HR not as an administrative function but as a business-critical lever. This seeded a performance culture that shaped hundreds of future CHROs.
That legacy endures, Alziari argues, because great companies create clarity about expectations—especially for people leaders.
“You never had to beg for a seat at the table,” he says. “The seat was already yours. The question was what you were going to do with it.”
The Frontline Manager: Still the Overlooked Link
One of the most striking themes in the conversation is the persistent blind spot in many organizations: middle management. Despite carrying responsibility for most of the workforce, frontline managers are often underserved regarding performance enablement.
Knaapen puts it bluntly:
“We spend years romanticizing leadership development at the top, while overlooking the skills required by the poor bugger on the front line.”
Alziari agrees and adds a crucial nuance: the missing piece isn't always skill, but clarity. Organizations often launch massive reskilling efforts without first asking a simple question: What is the job actually accountable for?
On Accountability: Alignment Is Not Enough
Much of the conversation centers on the distinction between alignment and commitment. Knaapen, reflecting on his years advising CEOs, notes that while leaders can often identify where value lies in a strategy, translating that into clear, actionable commitments across the top team is another matter.
“I’ve stopped using the word ‘alignment,’” he says. “We’ve replaced it with ‘contracting’—because that word forces real decisions.”
Alziari is more forgiving of the term but agrees with its spirit: clarity must precede capability. Once the decision is made, teams must move from “we disagree” to “we commit.”
The HR Role: Not in the Middle, But in the Architecture
When it comes to defining the role of HR, Alziari offers a powerful analogy: the CFO doesn’t make every financial decision, but they define the logic of financial decision-making across the organization. HR, he says, should do the same for people decisions.
“HR’s job is to make the relationship between the frontline manager and the employee work, not to get in the middle of it,” he explains. “Because that erodes accountability.”
He outlines a clear model:
- Managers own performance conversations and decision-making.
- Employees own their actions and contributions.
- HR professionals build the systems, principles, and clarity that make those interactions effective.
Culture, Courage, and the CHRO’s True Job
Asked about what separates good HR leaders from great ones, Alziari answers with conviction: boldness and perspective. He reframes the question of courage this way:
“You have to be prepared to lose your job in order to do your job.”
He and Knaapen both argue that HR leaders must be businesspeople first—not HR professionals who support the business but business leaders who happen to oversee talent and culture.
Alziari challenges HR leaders to examine their self-concept: “Are you someone who loves doing HR work? Or are you someone who wants to help the business win—and just happens to lead HR?”
Clarity, Commitment, and the Rule of Three
Alziari has followed a personal philosophy throughout his career: In every role, I will be remembered for three things. After a 100-day listening tour in a new company, he refines those three priorities into what he calls “commitments to the company”—not areas of interest or responsibility, but non-negotiables that define impact.
Once those commitments are set, they don’t change. The work underneath them may evolve, but the directional clarity persists for years. And the HR leadership team signs up together:
“We disagree, and then we commit.”
What He’s Most Proud Of
Knaapen closes by asking what achievement Alziari is proudest of. His answer is humble and revealing: 25 former direct reports who have become public company CHROs. For him, it’s not about taking credit but about being part of their journey and remaining in contact.
“Some of those conversations weren’t easy,” he reflects. “But they were always made with noble intent. If people trust that you have their best interests at heart, they’ll forgive just about anything.”
Final Thought
Lucien Alziari’s view of HR is bold, clear, and refreshingly unsentimental. It reminds us that leading through people is not about complexity—it’s about clarity, courage, and commitments made real through execution.
As Knaapen puts it:
“Complexity is too often used as a hiding place. What looks complex is often just difficult. And difficult decisions don’t age well.”
Listen to the full conversation for practical insights on linking talent to value creation and leading HR through exponential change.
For more insights on aligning talent with value creation, download our Talent to Value paper using the QR code at the end of the video.
