An Enter the Boardroom “Wrapped” Insight — drawn from conversations with world-class Chairs, NEDs, CEOs and governance leaders

Every great leader carries scars from bad advice. Across our Enter the Boardroom conversations in 2025, directors at the top of their fields recalled the worst guidance ever offered to them.

Bad advice matters. When taken to heart, it narrows thinking, suppresses contribution, and reinforces the very behaviours that weaken board performance: conformity, silence, superficiality and fear.

Here are the worst pieces of professional advice directors encountered on their path to leadership, and what they learned instead.

“You can’t do that.” Natasha Frangos

A reflexive barrier to creativity and change. She rejected it — and argues boards must embrace new ideas, not discourage them.

“Lean in.” Cited by Professor Alison Taylor

Not because ambition is undesirable, but because the phrase implies you can overcome structural barriers simply by performing harder. 

“You should never say, ‘I don’t know.’” Tamara Box

One of the most damaging beliefs leaders can adopt. Boards depend on honesty, not performative certainty.

“Be quiet and just play your position.” Dorothy Burwell

Terrible governance advice. She emphasised that directors must speak up, especially when something feels wrong.

“Put any bum on a seat. You’ll fix it later.” Ali Parsa

Across episodes, leaders agreed: poor hiring decisions don’t get fixed, they compound.

“Do something you’re passionate about (because you may not be very good at it.)” Eamon Devlin

A contradictory piece of guidance that confused passion with competence. He later learned the blend matters: passion helps, but skill sustains.

“Professional women like you are ruining our leadership model.” — said to Fiona Hathorn

Offensive and revealing. She used it as fuel to build a career defined by inclusion and impact.

“I don’t have a worst piece of advice.” — Jock Lennox

You can learn from all advice, good and bad. The challenge is knowing what lessons to learn

“Try to be less emotional.” — Lisa Gordon

She now sees this as an attempt to suppress legitimate intuition, energy and perspective.

“Dress a certain way to be taken seriously.” — Karen Blackett CBE

The implication that credibility hinges on appearance, not judgment, was firmly rejected.

“Give it more time” when a senior hire is failing — cited by Gerry Murphy

A familiar trap.
He learned that early concerns rarely improve with patience.

“Hire a consultant.” — Nadhim Zahawi

Offered humorously, but reflective of a deeper theme: Boards often over-rely on external validation instead of owning judgment.

“It’s not personal, it’s business.” — Steve Rigby

He rejected it outright. Boards make decisions that affect people. It is always personal.

“To succeed in a meeting with a minister, just say something interesting.” — Pamela Dow

A push toward performance over substance.
She argued this promotes shallow interaction instead of rigour.

“There is no such thing as a free lunch.” — Jurga Zilinskiene

Given early in her career. She now laughs about it, having benefited enormously from generosity, reciprocity and shared opportunity.

What These Examples Reveal About Leadership in 2025

1. Bad advice often aims to shrink leaders, not grow them.

The worst guidance discourages ambition, challenge, dissent or individuality.

2. Many leaders were told to make themselves smaller but succeeded by doing the opposite.

Directors who ignored suppressive advice went on to build more authentic, impactful careers.

3. Poor hiring and silence are the most recurring traps.

Several examples centred on tolerating underperformance or avoiding hard conversations.