Enter the Boardroom podcast

The Enter the Boardroom podcast helps you build a board career and stay current in the boardroom. Join Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings as he sits down with the extraordinary people shaping the world's boardrooms.

Latest podcast episodes


160. Lubomila Jordanova: What founders don’t say out loud in the boardroom: vulnerability, partnerships and key connections

Lubomila Jordanova is co-founder and CEO of Plan A, recently acquired by Diginex, Co-Founder of Greentech Alliance and Advisory Board Member at the European Investment Bank and Chloé. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: The best and worst moments that shaped Lubomila’s boardroom approach (03:00) How and when to create a board with complex stakeholders (04:44) How external board positions have helped Lubomila navigate her own board (11:27 The biggest challenges Lubomila has faced with her board (13:27) How geopolitics impacts board discussions (15:24) How boards can create a safe space for founders to raise personal issues in the boardroom (18:53) Deep dive: one board discussion that changed the direction of the business (25:12) How boards should evaluate a partnership strategy (27:04) The key relationships founders and CEOs need to build (30:43) The biggest mistake boards make on sustainability (40:23) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(42:39)

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159: Sir Ian Cheshire: How to be a high-impact board member (2/2)

Sir Ian Cheshire is Chair of Land Securities Group and Spire Healthcare Group. Formerly, he was Group Chief Executive of Kingfisher plc and Chair of Channel 4, Barclays Bank UK and Debenhams. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: Top moments where Sir Ian’s seen boards add most value (01:57) How boards can prepare for crises (04:50) Two key ways boards should be engaging with AI (06:03) How Sir Ian’s boards are approaching geopolitical changes (11:34) How they’re assessing inflation risk (14:06) How they’re preparing for a liquidity crisis (17:52) Sir Ian’s resignation as Debenham’s chair (19:34) When and how board members should push back on legal advice (24:25) How board members can deal with activist shareholders (27:21) The role of commercial people on public sector boards (29:45) Mistakes Sir Ian’s made transitioning to public sector boards (33:14) The key lesson every exec has to learn as they transition to non-exec (34:46) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(38:10)

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158: Sir Ian Cheshire: How to get the most value from your board as a CEO (1/2)

Sir Ian Cheshire is Chair of Land Securities Group and Spire Healthcare Group. Formerly, he was Group Chief Executive of Kingfisher plc and Chair of Channel 4, Barclays Bank UK and Debenhams. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: The three most important interventions boards made to Sir Ian as an exec  (01:28) The main difference between reporting to and sitting on a board (06:04) How CEOs and execs build better relationships with their boards (08:48) How they can make sure boards focus where they can add most value (12:57) How and why boards should use cooling off periods when making decisions (15:39) How NEDs are able to pick up on things execs miss (17:18) The right and wrong way for NEDs to be persistent (19:59) Where CEOs can rely on Chairs to help them with divestments (23:18) Sir Ian’s hardest board meeting as a CEO - firing senior execs (26:32) How CEOs should present redundancy decisions to the board (28:25) The moments where Ian and the board have got things badly wrong (32:07) Heuristics to understand retail boards (33:06) Why organisations continually lose focus on the customer (36:57) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(38:10)

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157. Professor Malcolm Press CBE: University boards - lessons from the Vice Chancellor of Manchester Met and President of Universities UK

Professor Malcolm Press CBE is Vice-Chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University and President of Universities UK. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: The skills university boards need to add value (00:58) How boards can help timetable risk (04:09) What university boards can teach about managing multiple stakeholders (05:59) The three main issues university boards are facing today (10:23) Unlocking the financial conundrum universities face (14:22) When boards should collaborate rather than compete (18:13) The challenges and benefits of international expansion (22:47) Market research: a cautionary tale (24:34) How to make tech investment decisions as a non-expert (27:14) How to challenge a forceful CEO constructively (29:42) Why behaviour matters as much as skills when appointing a Chair (33:35) How to assess behaviour in candidates (34:46) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(35:37)

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156. David Sproul: How boards help CEOs create sustainable growth - lessons from Deloitte & Starling Bank

David Sproul is Chair of Starling Bank and Chair of Pennon Group. Formerly, he was Deputy Global CEO of Deloitte UK. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: Deloitte UK expansion: the toughest conversations David had with his board (00:46) How to reframe board risk discussions positively (03:28) Balancing logos and pathos when influencing (06:13) Should CEOs come to the board focused on upside or downside? (08:58) How the board helped improve David’s thinking about Deloitte’s expansion (12:02) How they helped give credibility and bandwidth to David’s strategy (15:41) The specific value independent directors gave David (18:01) Starling Bank: key lessons in chairing a high-growth business (22:48) How boards can help reconcile failing fast with regulatory scrutiny (25:59) Lessons from Starling Bank’s FCA fine (27:23) How to do due diligence on a company before accepting a board position (33:39) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(41:05)

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155. Amanda Mackenzie OBE: From Advertising Executive to FTSE 100 NED: How Amanda Built a Purpose-Led Portfolio Career

Amanda Mackenzie OBE is NED at British Land and at Lloyds Banking Group, where she chairs the Responsible Business Committee. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: Why Amanda first started non-exec roles (1:10) How she repositioned herself as a non-exec candidate (1:44) Crafting a compelling board CV (3:13) Why Amanda started with pro bono rather than paid roles (5:44) How she landed her first paid role (8:48) Networking hacks to build a plural career (9:56) How to identify and position yourself for the right board roles (12:23) How to demonstrate vertical and horizontal value in applications (19:28) How to gain influence as a new board member (27:44) Positioning ESG in board discussions (30:03) What happens when purpose collides with commercial pressure? (32:40) Should every board have a responsible business committee? (34:19) How boards create psychological safety (36:48) Balancing structure and free-thinking time in board agendas (38:31) The key ethical questions, challenges and risks of AI (43:05) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(46:53) 

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154. Sir James Wates CBE: How to be a good board chair - family businesses & the RFU

Sir James Wates CBE is Chair of the Rugby Football Union and Vestey Holdings Ltd. Formerly, he was Chair of Wates Group. Tune in to hear his thoughts: Key board-level decisions that helped grow Wates from 950m to 2bn revenues (02:20) How the board weighed the risks and benefits of increasing average transaction value (05:08) Key decisions the board used to assess risk (08:00) How the board decided when to quit and when to stick (10:03) CEO appointments: what’s worked and what hasn’t (14:02) Board succession planning: how to pick the right chair (18:11) How to handle redundancies as a CEO or Chair (22:45) The single governance practice Sir James would insist every family business adopt (26:12) Key lessons transitioning from a family to a fully independent chair (27:25) Independence versus centralisation in a group structure (30:21) Chairing the RFU: why Sir James took on the role and what it entails (37:54) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡ (41:34)

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153. Phil Walker CBE: University boards: lessons in stakeholder management, ethical decision-making and data points

Phil Walker CBE is Chair of Council at the University of Roehampton and member of the England & Wales Cricket Board. Formerly, he was COO at Capgemini. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: Phil’s journey into the boardroom (02:02) How university governance differs from corporate (03:15) Key stakeholders for higher education boards (04:23) Heuristics Phil uses to understand university boards (05:30) Key data points every education board should look at (07:45) Three defining moments that most shape how Phil operates as a board member (11:25) Lessons in crisis management from Covid (15:08) The role of summation in effective chairing (16:56) Why Phil thinks boards need to become less formal and more human (21:19) The board’s role in ethical decisions - why Roehampton banned fossil fuel companies from career fairs (26:04) How Phil’s thinking about AI (32:06) Advice for university board candidates (34:58)  How Phil thinks about board composition (36:40)⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(38:10)

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152. Rupert Soames OBE: How to be a good listed company chair

Rupert Soames OBE is Chair of the CBI and Smith & Nephew plc and  former CEO of Serco Group plc and Aggreko plc. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: Key moments from Rupert’s time as CEO that shape how he Chairs (1:33) Lessons from Aggreko’s acquisition of GE’s energy rental business (3:42) Was there anything a board could have done to mitigate Rupert’s disagreement with the Misys CEO when he was a divisional manager? (5:33) When chairs added most value to Rupert as CEO (9:35) How Philip Rogerson, Aggreko Chair, said “no” without demotivating Rupert (11:37) How Rupert tries to help CEOs iterate and communicate strategy as a board member (17:09) The macro-trends Rupert’s focused on as a Chair (21:22) How Rupert thinks about CEO compensation in a global market (26:17)⚡The Lightning Round⚡ (30:07) Audience Q&A (36:54) The value of execs taking non-exec positions alongside their main role (37:07) Rupert’s thoughts on the value of board evaluations (38:18) Where boards need to professionalise further (40:02)

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151. Natasha Frangos: How to sustain culture whilst growing rapidly - boardroom lessons from HaysMac

Natasha Frangos is Managing Partner of HaysMac. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: Key moments in HaysMac’s growth (1:50) What board members can do when they feel too many people are having a say in decision-making (7:39) How boards needed to communicate when overseeing change (10:02) The respective roles of management and the board in developing and communicating strategy (11:17) How boards ensure they have internal candidates for CEO succession (16:58) Tash’s hardest challenges stepping up to CEO as an internal candidate (19:34) How a sector-first approach led to growth (22:38) The pros and cons of international expansion (25:43) How South African expansion unlocked talent pipeline (29:15) The role and nature of growth targets in scaling (31:38) How Tash thinks about financing risk and liquidity as the firm scales (34:35) Why HaysMac appointed independent directors and how they’ve added value (36:42) ⚡The lightning round ⚡(40:08)

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150. Sir Douglas Flint CBE: Chairing listed companies - lessons from the BP Macondo crisis, HSBC and the abrdn rebrand

Sir Douglas Flint CBE is chair of Aberdeen, IP Group and the Royal Marsden NHS Trust and former chair of HSBC Group Holdings and NED at BP. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: The most valuable lessons Sir Douglas has learnt from the chairs he’s worked with (2:07) How chairs build consensus - the example of BP Chair Peter Sutherland (4:45) How to handle a split board (7:26) Lessons from the boardroom in the BP Macondo crisis (13:11) What the crisis teaches board members about risk (20:37) What it teaches about stakeholder relationships (24:44) What it teaches about how boards can help CEOs during crises (26:44) The board’s rationale for the Standard Life Aberdeen to abrdn rebrand (31:21) Why the board decided to rebrand again to Aberdeen (38:13) Advice Sir Douglas would offer to a board member facing a rebranding decision today (39:27) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(42:11)

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149. Mark Winlow: Bank & Insurance Boards - lessons from the boards of Aon and Starling Bank

Mark Winlow is Chair of several financial services companies, including Aon UK and Redwood Bank. Formerly, he was Audit Chair at Starling Bank and NED at Tesco Underwriting, AIG Life Ltd, and others. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: Three examples where insurance boards have changed the trajectory of their businesses (2:18) Non-execs transitioning to CEO (5:19) Mark’s heuristics for understanding insurance businesses (8:02) Three things every board member needs to understand to add value (12:34) Where board members need to go to understand people & culture (14:50) The relationship between insurance and bank boards and respective regulators (17:37) Starling Bank - the moment key execs left and founded Monzo (29:55) How Monzo out-marketed Starling (32:44) Why Mark thinks the tortoise strategy will beat the hare (34:05) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(40:16)

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148. Professor Doyin Atewologun: Should boards ditch DEI?

Professor Atewologun is the former Dean of the Rhodes Scholarship at the University of Oxford and is currently the Founder and CEO of Delta, Advisor to the board of the Tearfund and Trustee at the Old Fire Station. In this conversation, we cover: What did the Parker review get right and where did it go wrong? (01:47) Is there a relationship between diversity and performance? (5:39) The difference between equity and equality, and when it’s right to pursue one versus the other (09:50) Should boards ditch DEI? (20:43) Practical examples of boards that get DEI right (29:07) Examples where they get it wrong (32:48) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(37:04)

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147. Tessa Clarke: Sticking, quitting & the ideal NED: The board’s role in Olio’s success

Tessa Clarke is co-founder and CEO of Olio, which  has over 8.5 million users, across 65+ countries, who have together shared over 125 million meals and 15 million household items. Tessa is a member of the Small Business Growth Forum, Advisory Board Member at Stop Ecocide International and Venture Partner at Mustard Seed MAZE. Listen to hear her thoughts on: The Olio story  (02:08) The three moments the board added most value (3:19) The hardest moments in the journey (4:23) Where board members can add more value to founders (7:58) How Tessa decided to stick or quit with strategy and tactics (10:19) How boards members can help founders set time and ambition frames (14:18) Where uncertainty is helpful and necessary (16:01) Why Tessa felt she needed non-exec board members (21:01) Key qualities Tessa looks for in board members (23:58) Critical moments where board members have added value (25:48) Tessa’s unique “rules of the road” board document (28:27) Why Tessa does board assessments (34:22)  ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(39:45)

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146. Dame Marie Gabriel CBE: structuring board meetings, dancing in the boardroom, and taking risks - lessons from an NHS Chair

Dame Marie Gabriel CBE is Chair of the NHS Race and Health Observatory and NHS North East London Integrated Care Board and former Chair of NHS Improvement’s London Regional Board. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: Creating a positive culture in board meetings open to the public (2:11) Laptops in meetings (4:23) Creating a sense of psychological safety and humanity in board meetings (5:52) Marie’s unique way of compiling board agendas (7:43) Using temporary committees to bridge the gap between sub-committees and the main board (9:42) How to deal with the length of public board papers (13:02) Lessons on time discipline (17:39) How to maintain board member engagement in the face of such a challenging environment (19:04) How to develop junior board members (20:57) Why public boards need entrepreneurs to balance risk appetite (23:34) What public boards can do to increase innovation (26:18) How to create sufficient psychological safety for innovation, risk and mistakes (30:43) The most challenging conversation Marie has had on a board (32:23) An overview of NHS boards (34:48) How Marie dealt with 50% cuts to NHS funding (38:18) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(42:02)

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145. Thomas Thune Andersen: Impacting culture, managing IPOs and embracing the climate revolution - Boardroom Lessons from the former/Chair of Ørsted and Lloyd’s Register Group

Tune in to the conversation to hear about: The three moments that have had the biggest impact on how Thomas chairs today (01:48) International cultural differences every board member needs to know about (04:15) Practical steps to bridge cultural gaps with younger generations (6:22) The benefits of reverse mentoring versus surveys (12:15) How to de-mystify the board beyond the C-suite (13:22) Why and how boards should share board meeting conclusions with the rest of the organisation (17:35) The Ørsted story: dropping the core product, breaking into the US and managing an IPO (24:49) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(41:01)

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144. Professor Alison Taylor: Should boards speak up or shut up?

Professor Alison Taylor is a Clinical Associate Professor at NYU Stern School of Business and author of Higher Ground: How Business Can Do the Right Thing in a Turbulent World (Harvard Business Review Press, 2024). Tune in to hear her thoughts on: Why it’s so hard for businesses to be “good” (01:37) Should boards speak up or shut up on divisive issues (04:06) Where boards get it wrong with stakeholders (11:08) Should boards continue selling into Russia (18:17) The Astronomer Romance: lessons for board members (24:32) What are the most common challenges businesses face when trying to be “good”? (30:50) How sustainable is the competitive advantage of AI? (32:26) How can boards get better at navigating ethical questions? (39:01) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(41:07)

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143. Charles McManus: Quick growth in heavy regulation — the board’s role in ClearBank’s success

Charles McManus is co-founder, non-executive director (NED) and former CEO of ClearBank, the UK’s first new clearing bank in more than 250 years. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: The three most important calls Charles made as CEO (02:08) How the board helped Charles with strategic focus (06:45) The board’s role in navigating 26 regulatory stakeholders (12:14) How the board helped balance risk and growth (17:30) How Charles would have changed his board’s composition to deliver more value (22:31) Lessons from Charles’s transition from CEO to plural non-executive (24:19) How to add value as a NED without becoming too hands-on (29:30) The key ingredients of a high-performing board (30:48) ⚡ Lightning Round (33:56) ⚡

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142. David Dein MBE, Premier League co-founder: The heart of the deal: lessons from vice-chairing Arsenal FC

David Dein MBE was Vice-Chair of Arsenal, where he signed Arsène Wenger, co-founder of the Premier League, and trustee of the Twinning Project. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: Betting on potential, not just past performance (2:19) David’s distinct approach to deal-making (4:46)  The Sol Campbell and Ian Wright deals (6:29) How David created such a successful relationship with Arsene Wenger (12:04) Superforecasting: Why David started the Premier League (14:35) Innovation: the importance of looking elsewhere (16:23) How David thought about investing in women’s football (19:33) Asset allocation: How the Arsenal board thought about investing in the Emirates stadium (23:47) Strategy and stakeholder management: lessons from the failed Super League and Arsenal investors (25:29) Lessons from David’s role as trustee of the Twinning Project (31:56) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(37:30)

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141. Louise Hill, GoHenry Founder: Product Market Fit, Scaling and Exit - the board’s role in the GoHenry story

Louise Hill is Exec Chair, former CEO & Co-founder of GoHenry. Her board roles include Sibstar and Innovate Finance’s Unicorn Council for UK FinTech. Listen to the conversation to hear about: Louise’s sources of support and challenge in the early stages of GoHenry (2:01) How the board helped her with product market fit and go-to-market strategy (4:27) Three key strategic decisions where the board added value (10:22) Why it can be better to target end-users than distribution partners (12:56) The pros and cons of crowdfunding: the story behind the $5.6 million raise on CrowdCube, the highest ever at that point (14:28) Key principles of fundraising every board member should know (21:19) Where Louise could have got more value from her board (26:11) Board and founder lessons from The GoHenry exit (30:38) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(34:22)

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140. Professor Randall Peterson: How to influence people in the boardroom

Professor Randall Peterson is a Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School, where he focuses on CEO personality, top management team interaction, board dynamics, leading diverse teams, and the effects of member personality on group interaction and performance. Listen to the conversation to get his thoughts on: The biggest mistakes board members make when trying to influence people (2:14) How board members can get better at influencing (4:27) The difference between executive and non-executive influence (5:25) How power dynamics and key individuals shape decisions boards (8:37) How expertise really influences decision-making on boards (14:27)  The six archetypal board members and how to influence them (16:20) The stakeholder representative challenge: a cautionary example (24:28) How board members can influence organisational culture (27:50) Strategy vs. culture: how board members should think about the balance (36:58) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(40:09)

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139. Fiona Hathorn: How and why to get board roles: mastering applications, transitioning to paid roles and building a plural career

Fiona Hathorn is CEO and co-founder of Women on Boards UK, now known as WB Directors and recently acquired by Nurole. Listen to the conversation to hear about: What motivated Fiona to help more women get board roles (1:40); One woman’s success story that illustrates how to get board roles (5:32); The benefits of taking on external board positions as an executive (8:15); The biggest misconception CEOs and CHROs have about board positions (16:02); The most common challenges faced by board members today (18:35); Why culture is such a challenge for boards and what to do about it (21:24); Key advice for those at the start of their board journeys (25:24); The most common mistakes people make when applying for board positions (28:40); How to transition from pro bono to paid board roles (30:02), and ⚡the Lightning round ⚡(33:17)

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138. Steve Rigby: Risk & acquisitions - the growth story of the Rigby family business from £0 to £4bn annual revenues

Steve Rigby is Co-CEO of Rigby Group, one of the UK's largest family businesses and in the top 500 largest family companies in the world. Listen to the conversation to hear about: Three key career moments that have shaped Steve’s boardroom thinking (2:02) NED lessons from the retail sector and financial crisis (5:01) How to survive a potential future of inflation, rising prices and crashing assets (9:29) Steve’s playbook for growing and selling businesses (11:51) Lessons on internationalisation (13:40) The best markets to aim for (15:29) The one big inflection point per decade of Steve’s career (17:43) Return on net assets as a north star metric (21:50) Steve’s risk-effort-reward-fun framework (23:33) Why Steve has shifted from a scientific to intuitive assessment of risk (27:03) Key lessons from 50+ acquisitions (30:59) When Steve mistakenly overruled advisors (33:17) How boards help navigate family in family businesses (35:23) ⚡The lightning round ⚡(37:58) 

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137. Baroness Dido Harding: NHS Test & Trace & the TalkTalk Cyber Attack — Board Leadership in the Public Eye

Baroness Dido Harding is a former Chair of NHS Improvement, Executive Chair of NHS Test & Trace, NED at the Bank of England, and CEO of TalkTalk Telecom Group plc.In this conversation, we cover: How Dido handled Ofcom scrutiny after taking on her first CEO role at TalkTalk (01:50) Lessons learned from the TalkTalk cyber attack (08:21) The value of functional experts on boards (24:23) Governance lessons from leading NHS Test & Trace (26:56) and the ⚡ Lightning Round ⚡ (33:18)

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136. Jock Lennox: How to be a listed Chair and get the most from audit committees

Jock Lennox is Senior Independent Director and Audit Committee Chair at Barratt Developments plc, and Chair of Johnson Service Group plc and Clarion Housing Group. Listen to his thoughts on: the three most definitive experiences in your board career (2:01); approaching uncertainty in the boardroom (6:59); shifting boardroom thinking to focus on what’s possible rather than a binary sense of right and wrong (10:21); how to challenge the executive as a board member (11:47); the best way to harness cognitive diversity (14:40); where boards add the most value (16:51); getting the most from strategy days (20:19); what separates good audit committees from bad ones (24:42); how audit committees can assess and influence culture (32:21); getting past people telling you what you want to hear (37:28); when Jock has misjudged an individual — and what he learned (40:50); and the ⚡Lightning Round⚡ (43:54).

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135. Dr. Margaret Heffernan (2/2): How boards make the best decisions: agendas, wilful blindness and super chickens

Dr. Margaret Heffernan is author of seven books, including Wilful Blindness, Uncharted and Embracing Uncertainty. A former CEO of InfoMation Corp, ZineZone Corp, and iCast Corp, she was inducted into the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame in 2024. In this episode, we discuss: Balancing rigidity with flexibility in board meetings (1:35) What great board agendas look like (6:47) When ice -breakers help, and when they don’t (8:35) Helpful versus unhelpful challenge (10:58) Wilful blindness - and why smart people suffer from it (13:32) How to mitigate wilful blindness (16:36) Collaboration versus competition - lessons from The Human Genome Project (18:39) The super-chicken problem, and what should boards can learn from it (21:32) And the ⚡Lightning Round⚡(24:06)

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134. Dr. Margaret Heffernan (1/2): How boards make the best decisions: cooling-off periods, embracing uncertainty and deep hanging out

Dr. Margaret Heffernan is author of seven books, including Wilful Blindness, Uncharted and Embracing Uncertainty. A former CEO of InfoMation Corp, ZineZone Corp, and iCast Corp, she was inducted into the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame in 2024. In this episode, we discuss: What uncertainty does to board decision-making (2:47) Practical ways boards can mitigate it (6:25) Squaring “take your time” with decisiveness (11:10) What a robust boardroom decision process looks like (14:36) Being agile without flip-flopping (18:13) When and how to use cooling-off periods (21:22) What deep hanging out means in practice (22:37) Absorbing context beyond datapoints (25:38) The value of unstructured time in the boardroom (27:54) An example of reaching the right answer without an agenda (32:10)

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133. Peter Clark: 200 years’ growth - inside the Clarks’ family business

Peter Clark is a NED at Clarks. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: What makes a great i-NED on a family board? (2:15) What should you look for when recruiting NEDs in a family business? (5:27) What questions do you ask when interviewing a NED candidate? (8:07) What mistakes have you made when hiring NEDs in the past? (11:18) How has Clarks remained a family business for 7 generations? (13:39) What is a family council? (16:01) What discussions do you have on the council? (18:39) How do you navigate a professional relationship with a family member? (21:22) How do you select family members to join the council? (22:28) Where do you think you have added the most value as a NED? (26:42) Why did you bring outside investment into Clarks? (28:10) How did the relationship between the Clarks family and the business evolve post investment? (32:28) What advice would you give to other family businesses looking at external investment as an option? (34:03) And ⚡ The Lightning Round ⚡ (39:19)

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132. Carl-Peter Forster: Boardroom politics, operational discipline, and the cost of poor R&D

Carl-Peter Forster is Chair of Vesuvius plc and Keller Group plc. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: What experiences from your executive career have shaped your non-executive career? (2:09) How would you counsel a new CEO coming into a business looking to set up their own team? (7:06) What lessons did you learn from the General Motors crisis? (10:12) What did you learn from your time at Tata Motors? (13:56) How do you advise a headstrong founder? (17:11) How do you navigate different business cultures? (21:16) What's been the most difficult board conversation you’ve had as a CEO? (22:36) What frameworks best help a new NED navigate an industrial company? (26:57) How useful is spending money on R&D? (31:05) What risks should boards be most alert to in the defence industry? (35:47) And the ⚡Lightning Round⚡ (40:48)

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131. Laurence Garrett - Navigating exits and expanding into the US

Laurence Garrett is General Partner at Highland and NED at FeatureSpace. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: What have you learned from your exit at FeatureSpace? (2:01) How do you advise about pricing strategy as a board member? (9:44) What patterns or experiments should companies adopt when bringing a new product to market? (12:59) What do NEDs or founders need to keep top of mind when expanding into the US? (17:31) How do you set up a new executive team away from your home market? (22:09)  What were the toughest conversations to have in a boardroom during an exit? (26:28) How do you approach price negotiations during an exit? (30:45) What do you do when an exit falls through? (39:28) And the⚡ The Lightning Round ⚡(40:25)

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130. Ian Phillips: How to be a great GoaT (Governor or a Trustee)

Ian Phillips is Chair of Watling Park Primary, consultant at Clew Education and author of How to be a great GOAT, a guide to being a brilliant governor or trustee. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: What does the role of governor or trustee involve? (1:57)  Are there archetypal board member profiles that you think are most needed? (6:20) What questions should candidates be asking to decide whether they take on a role? (10:46) Can board members add value to schools running at a deficit? (17:03) How do you think about the board’s relationship with the headteacher? (18:48) What metrics do you use to assess a headteacher’s performance? (20:31) Why do data and innovation remain such a challenge in the education sector? (24:21) Why should boards encourage headteachers to allocate time to marketing instead of developing a better offering? (29:03) Are school boards doing enough to address the challenge of students for whom English is a second language? (31:26) What did you mean by “the board employs the headteacher, not the other way around”? (32:50) Why do schools get so many exclusion decisions wrong? (35:41) And ⚡ The Lightning Round ⚡(39:31)

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129. Karen Blackett CBE: The board’s role in transformation

Karen Blackett CBE is NED at Diageo plc and Chancellor of the University of Portsmouth. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: Where have boards added most value for you as a CEO or a president? (2:21) What advice would you give to CEOs going through a transformation? (7:07) What does good internal communication look like? (14:11) What questions should board members be asking to help a transformation process? (15:15) How do you strike the balance of being a proactive vs overbearing NED? (17:24) How does an organisation like Diageo think about transformation, especially with something like AI? (18:31) How can board members add value on the topic of AI? (25:36) How can boards help build brands? (27:08) What questions should board members be asking about their company’s marketing strategy? (34:16)  When have you been proudest of the cultural change you've created at an organization? (36:27) And ⚡ The Lightning Round ⚡(43:09) 

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128. Yvonne Bajela: Founder breakups, deciphering moats, and the new role of governance

Yvonne Bajela is Partner at LocalGlobe and Latitude. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: What value can a board bring to startups? (1:28) What is a North Star metric for startup boards, and should  they be looking for one? (5:28) How do you effectively challenge a founder as a NED? (8:58) How do boards  navigate hypergrowth, with the associated challenges? (10:47) What have been the three most challenging situations you've faced as a board member? (12:02) What have you learnt about dealing with founder breakups as a board member?? (12:54) How should boards navigate a rapid change in market dynamics, such as a pandemic or the introduction of AI? (18:26) What approach should organisations take with regard to AI? (25:20) What heuristics can you use to determine whether an AI business has a moat? (28:13) At what stage should founders build a board? (30:32) What are the moments where you've seen independent directors add transformational value? (32:42) How can founder-CEOs ensure their board is giving them a high return on investment? (36:12) What makes a good investor director? (41:05) And the ⚡ The Lightning Round ⚡ (42:54)

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127. Rita Clifton CBE: What boards get wrong about brand

Rita Clifton CBE is Chair of Simplyhealth and Deputy Chair of the John Lewis Partnership. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: Why should boards care more about brand? (1:52) What framework do you use to assess brand when joining a board? (5:49) How should CEOs think about return on brand investment? (8:03) How should boards manage the lag between internal changes and market perception?(17:59) When has your brand expertise helped unlock board-level value? (20:18) What did you do at ASOS when the share price collapsed? (28:17) How should boards handle intense public scrutiny of  their brands? (31:29) Where do boards most often go wrong on brand? (37:19) And ⚡The Lightning round ⚡(40:44)

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126. Fred Destin: How start-up boards create & destroy value (and whether we should be thinking about value at all)

Fred Destin is founder of Stride VC and was lead investor at Cazoo, Deliveroo, Integral Ad Science and Zoopla. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: Where have you seen start-up board members add most value to their organisations? (1:39) How did the Zoopla board get comfortable with giving away 30% equity in one go? (6:16) How did you manage having customers on your board? (7:26) What KPIs should board members be looking at? (8:27) Have you spotted patterns across particularly valuable board members? (10:34) Why is it wrong to frame board-level discussions around value add? (19:10) You’ve said most boards destroy value - why is that? (34:47) Should board members be more like scientists and less like prosecutors and preachers? (39:48) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(44:20) 

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125. Elena Lytkina Botelho: The CEO Next Door: Why Boards Get CEO Succession Wrong—and how to get it right

Elena Botelho is co-author of the international best-seller, The CEO Next Door, and partner at ghSMART. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: What mistakes do boards most often make in CEO succession? (1:50) How should boards use external advice when evaluating CEO candidates? (6:23) What lessons can board members learn from failed CEO hires? (19:46) How can individual board members overcome deference to powerful CEOs? (22:34) What's your framework for hiring a CEO? (25:49) Should CEOs have board roles? (32:53) How should boards decide whether to invest in developing a potential CEO candidate? (36:27) What can boards learn from the companies that consistently produce great CEOs? (40:15) ⚡The Lightning round ⚡(44:11)

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124. Malcolm John: How to get board roles and what boards get wrong about racial diversity

Malcolm John is Founder and CEO of Action for Trustee Racial Diversity, a trustee at the Association of Chairs, and former Vice-Chair of Anti-Slavery International. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: What was your journey to the boardroom? (2:23) How do you add value to boards? (7:00) How do you gain confidence in the boardroom? (9:53) How do you make someone feel welcome on a board? (15:21) What are the lows of your non-executive journey? (17:28) How much time should you allocate to board roles? (20:15) What is the current state of racial diversity on UK boards? (22:51) What are the most common mistakes organisations make when trying to improve ethnic diversity on their boards? (31:20) How do you ensure diverse board members feel valued on boards? (33:35) And ⚡The Lightning round ⚡(42:34)

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123. Christian Unger: Why experts beat generalists on investor-backed boards

Christian Unger is Partner at Partners Group. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: What is the Partners Group approach to boards? (1:49) How do you attract CEOs to board roles? (5.23) What is the perfect board size? (10.18) How much ownership do individual NEDs have over specific strategies? (17:56) Where have you seen NEDs add the most value? (26:28) How do you stop disagreement for disagreement’s sake on board? (30:09) How do you measure board member value? (37:44) How many board roles are too many? (39:17) How should boards structure meetings? (40:52) And ⚡The Lightning round ⚡(43:31)

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122. Dorothy Burwell: Communications in the boardroom - exerting non-exec influence and building trust with management teams

Dorothy Burwell is a Partner at FGS Global, NED at Post Holdings, and Pennon plc. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: What key lessons as a comms exec have shaped the way you act as a board member? (2:13) How did you navigate merging four founder-led businesses together at FGS? (4:21) How quickly should changes occur post-merger? (11:17) What advice do you give to an executive team going through a merger? (12:54) How do you discover the culture of an organisation? (13:40) How has your experience at ‘Which?’ shaped your approach to comms in the boardroom? (15:42) What are the cultural differences between a US and UK board? (20:02) How do you deal with crisis comms? (22:18) What are the classic comms errors you see boards making? (24:55) How can organisations surface and escalate crises more rapidly? (27:10) How should boards manage political shifts around things like D&I? (31:56) Should boards be politically active? (34:45)How did you transition from pro bono to paid board roles?? (40:44) And the ⚡The Lightning round ⚡(43:02)

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121. Lisa Gordon: UK capital markets reforms - how should boards respond?

Lisa Gordon is Chair of Cavendish and a NED at 3i Infrastructure PLC, JP Morgan MidCap Investment Trust PLC and Magic Light Pictures Ltd. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: What sort of a NED are you? (2:10) How do you gain confidence in the boardroom? (7:37) How reliant are you on outside support to maintain your courage? (11:59) How challenging are capital markets? (15:57) How can board members help position their organisations better in a challenging macro environment? (19:02) What should NEDs be discussing about the capital markets? (23:57) What capital market reforms are currently in the pipeline? (27:12) How can board members capitalise on the opportunities reforms will produce?? (29:46) ⚡The Lightning round ⚡(33:26) and the Audience Q and A (37:30)

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120. Tim Jackson: Coaching CEOs: how Chairs, NEDs and Investor Directors add most value to their most senior executive

Tim Jackson is the founder of QXL and a General Partner at Walking Ventures. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: What is your founder and CEO journey? (2:03) Where did the board add most value? (7:23) What do you wish your board had done for you knowing what you know now? (10:50) What are the most common reasons for a CEO to lose control of a company? (12:42) How can CEO’s better prepare for breaking point crises? (16:40) Are there patterns in behaviour of CEO’s who get the most value out of boards? (18:58) Should assessing particular characteristics be a part of CEO recruitment? (20:43)  As a coach, do you ever anticipate that a board should replace A CEO before it ends up happening? (22:27) How should CEOs adapt as their companies scale? (23:57) Do investor directors add value? (30:50) What metrics should boards be assessing their management teams on? (37:55) What macro-trends should NEDs be watching out for? (39:02) and ⚡The Lightning round ⚡(41:51)

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119. Jurga Zilinskiene MBE: Building scale-up boards

Jurga Zilinskiene is founder of Guildhawk, Evernoon, Today Translations and Today Academy. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: How does the board at Guildhawk add value? (1:49) What roles did friends and advisors play early on in your business journey? (6:03) How did you transition from receiving informal advice to establishing a formal board? (10:32) How did your board advance your strategy? (15:37) How should boards be responding to AI? (18:39) How has your board helped you think about geographic distribution? (25:57) What makes a good NED recruitment process? (30:58) What lessons have you learned from past recruitment processes? (35:03) How do you performance manage board members? (38:22) And ⚡The Lightning round ⚡(41:58)

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118. Gerry Murphy, Tesco & Burberry Chair - How boards add strategic value

Gerry Murphy is Chair of Tesco and Burberry, Trustee at Burberry Foundation, Senior Advisor at Perella Weinberg and Mentor at J&A Mentoring. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: What were the three most consequential boardroom moments for you as a CEO? (1:42) How can boards assess how much control they have over external factors? (6:26) What frameworks do you use to assess risk? (9:33) What megatrends should be shaping strategy today? (12:29) How do you decide whether a trend is structural or cyclical? (15:01) What are the practical, board-level implications of the AI megatrend? (16:51) As CEO and Chair, where have you seen CEO succession work best? (20:30) Where do you see boards adding most value now? (27:01) How should boards strike a balance between long and short term issues? (28:34) What KPIs do you ask for from the exec team? (33:32) What can private and listed boards learn from each other? (34:22) What’s stopping them from learning these lessons? (36:11) If you could design an ideal management incentive structure, what would it look like? (37:27)⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(38:24)

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117. Cindy Rampersaud: How to excel as a trustee and transition to paid board roles

Cindy Rampersaud is NED at Sage Homes and formerly SID at Hipgnosis Songs Fund Ltd. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: How have you decided which pro bono roles to take on? (1.47) What have you gained from pro bono opportunities? (3.36) How do you build relationships on boards? (5.19) How does a board recruit the right CEO? (10.42) What role should the board play in shaping digital strategy? (13.15) What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced as a trustee? (18.16) How do you navigate the pro-bono to commercial transition? (21.14) What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced as a commercial board member? (28.38) How do you ensure constructive dialogue on a board? (33.41) What have you learnt about crisis management in the boardroom? (37.16) And ⚡The Lightning round ⚡(40:01)

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116.  Kate Swann: How board members and chairs add most value to CEOs

Kate Swann is Chair of Moonpig, Beijer Ref, Parques Reunidos, and IVC Evidensia and former CEO of WH Smith. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: As a CEO, where have seen boards add most value? (1:56) Are board members more valuable as individuals, or as a collective? (7:35) What boardroom archetypes are most useful to a CEO? (8:54) What have you learnt from being a NED that would have made you a better CEO? (12:24) What can listed boards learn from PE boards? (14:53) What's the thread that goes through your portfolio roles? (18:53)  What has been hardest for you during your CEO to chair transition? (21:57) Are there different CEO archetypes? (27:04) What have been the most challenging situations you have faced as a chair? (28:26) How do you allocate your time as a chair? (31:15) How have you dealt with acquisitions as a chair? (32:32) What is the difference between chair leadership and CEO leadership? (37:46)  What personal development are you doing to get better as a chair? (39:48) and ⚡The Lightning round ⚡(41:24)

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115. Annemarie Durbin: Chairing building societies & why coaching makes you a better chair

Annemarie Durbin is Chair at YBS. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: How did you become comfortable as Chair of the Yorkshire Building Society (YBS)? (1:50) How much time did you commit, as a new chair, to YBS? (4:45) What lessons have you learnt from previous chair transitions? (7:48) How valuable was having a mentor during your chairship? (9:30) Who are some examples of good chairs you have served under? (11:15) What are some examples of bad chairing you have experienced? (14:09) What are the most difficult situations you face as a chair? (16:24) What is the difference between a subsidiary board and top co board? (18:38) How does the relationship between a CEO and a Chair differ from that between a CEO and their coach? (21:00)Do coaching qualifications make you a better chair? (25:43) What are building societies? (28:11) What are the strategic threats facing Yorkshire Building Society? (33:18) Has previously being a company secretary made you a better NED? (36:40) Has the fact that you sat on a ‘sin-stock’ board ever been an issue in finding new non-exec opportunities? (39:54) And ⚡The Lightning round ⚡(41:55)

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114. Richard Meddings: Chairing NHS England

Richard Meddings is Chair of NHS England. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: What is the governance landscape of the NHS? (3:48) Which parts of the system are most interesting to get involved with as a NED? (6:17) What are the typical challenges NHS Trust board members face? (11:40) Do NHS and commercial organisations approach strategy differently? (16:01) Where have you seen NHS board members add most value? (22:02) Is the turnover of ministers a bad thing for the NHS? (31:11) How power does the NHS England board have to influence long term strategic thinking? (33:26) How did NHS England help resolve the pay dispute? (37:26) Do chairs need prior sector knowledge? (40:11) What board archetypes are NHS England looking for? (42:32) And ⚡The Lightning round ⚡(45:21)

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113.  Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic: Why do incompetent men become leaders?

Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic is the Chief Innovation Officer at ManpowerGroup and a Professor of Business Psychology. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: How can board members add value during a CEO recruitment process? (2:05) Why do boards still hire incompetent leaders even when they know what traits and behaviours to look out for? (5:51) How should board members assess CEO’s? (13:06) Are psychometric tests useful and worth using? (18:59) What assessments show if a candidate is ‘smart, driven and honest’? (25:57) How do you identify if your CEO is a psychopath? (31:51) How do you remove a narcissist from a board? (37:33) Should boards invest in leadership development for their executives? (38:50) How do you assess someone’s coach-ability? (42:34) and ⚡The Lightning round ⚡(44:47)

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112. Rain Newton-Smith, CBI CEO - How CEOs get most value from their boards

Rain Newton-Smith is CBI CEO and NED at F&C Investment Trust. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: What advice would you give to CEOs preparing for a new position? (1:45) How have you built a relationship with your Chair? (8:47) How do you ensure a distinction between the roles of CEO and Chair? (13:36) How do you decide whether to share something with your Chair? (17:17) Can you offer some examples where your board has added value to you? (20.01) How has your background as an economist helped and hindered you? (23:10) What sources of support & challenge do you use as CEO? (27:27) How have your non-exec positions informed the way you operate as CEO? (30:13) And ⚡The Lightning round ⚡(35:01)

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111. John Allan CBE - Chairing listed boards: crisis and turnarounds

John Allan, CBE, is Co-Founder of J&A Mentoring Partners. He was Chair of Tesco PLC and also served as President of the CBI. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: Why did you feel like you had to step down from your roles at Tesco and the CBI? (1:54) How should boards handle personal reputational risk? (5:15) Would you handle the situation differently now? (7:07) When should chairs step down in a crisis? (7:57) As chair, how did you help turnaround Tesco? (10:14) How can boards balance financial returns with ethical conduct? (13:33) How did you think about strategy at Tesco? (15:48) What questions mould a good strategy? (19:39) As Chair, what frameworks do you use to help organisations with international expansion? (26:06) How did you navigate competitive threats? (28:26) How well did the Tesco board understand competition ? (32:37) How can board members get comfortable that management are on top of competitors (33:58) And ⚡The Lightning round ⚡(39:33)

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110. Pamela Dow - D&I in the boardroom

Pamela Dow chaired the government's Inclusion at Work Panel. She is the COO at Civic Future and former exec director at the Cabinet Office. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: What were your key takeaways from the government's D&I review? (1:57) Common mistakes organisations make with DEI? (7:50) What data should inform boards decisions on DEI? (10:02) Which organisations are getting DEI right at the moment? (19:28) What are the biggest barriers to implementing D and I strategies? (26:46) Should boards get involved in politics? (30:11) What is 'HR Britain’? (34:23) And ⚡The Lightning round ⚡(40:00)

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109. Professor Stanislav Shekshnia - How to be a good board Chair

Stanislav Shekshnia is a professor at INSEAD, where he directs board development programs. He is Chair of TechnoEnergy AG and has held numerous chair and director positions across the EU and US. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: How should Chairs prepare for new roles? (1:42) What can Chairs do to build a sense of team on their boards? (5:42) What are the most effective means boards can use to assess themselves? (13:21) Do you see value in constructive disagreement on boards? (15:51) Do Chairs need industry expertise? (22:21) How do you assess facilitation skills in prospective Chairs? (25:28) How do you handle a CEO who isn’t engaging with the board? (27:56) Would we be better off using professional facilitators or AI instead of Chairs? (30:39) How do you assess yourself as a Chair? (32:09) What do Chairs need to do to own the prep work? (35:38) ⚡The Lightning round ⚡(39:14)

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108. Angela Seymour-Jackson - horizontal board careers, AI and CEO succession

Angela Seymour-Jackson is Chair of Page Group, Deputy Chair of Pikl, SID at TrustPilot Group, and NED at Future and Janus Henderson Group. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: Can you describe your journey into the boardroom? (1:47) As Chair, what archetypes do you want around the board table? (6:25) What frameworks do you use to understand the range of organisations across your portfolio? (12:32) How do you understand businesses which have less obvious purposes? (17:54) How do you make sure technology is sufficiently embedded in your organisation? (20:04) How are you approaching AI specifically? (23:23) How do you identify and prioritise strategic discussion points like AI on your boards? (28:15) How do you approach CEO succession? (32:15) Are boards too reactive when it comes to succession? (39:11) ⚡The Lightning round ⚡(42:55)

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107. Nadhim Zahawi, former Chancellor of the Exchequer - How government and business should leverage non-exec expertise

Nadhim Zahawi is a former cabinet minister and Conservative Party chair. Before his parliamentary career, he founded YouGov, where he was CEO for a decade. Tune in to hear Nadhim’s thoughts on: What have been your sliding doors moments in your journey into the boardroom? (1:58) How did you cut through bureaucracy with the Vaccine Task Force? (10:59) How do you deal with the court of public opinion as someone from a commercial background? (17:50) You brought in previous education secretaries as a pop-up board when you took on the role - was it effective? (24:37) Does government (and business) need a more agile means of accessing external expertise? (30:50) Should people with commercial backgrounds bother applying for government roles? (34:29) Were there specific moments when board members created breakthroughs at YouGov? (36:56) How do you reflect on your decision to go public? (39:46) And ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(43:48)

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106. Tamara Box - Advisory & professional services boards

Tamara Box is a partner at Reed Smith LLP, Chair at Interpath Advisory & The Eve Appeal, NED at Hanover Capital, and Trustee at the Chartered Management Institute. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: Why and how did you put in place an advisory board at Reed Smith? (2:10) Given the talent around the table, why are so many boards dysfunctional? (6:21) How did your advisory board add value to you, and where could it have added more value? (9:29) What would you do differently if you were setting up your advisory board again? (15:49) What challenges did the InterPath board face, transitioning to PE ownership? (19:03) As a board member, what heuristics do you use to understand professional services businesses? (22:21) How do you engage with the exec on vision and strategy? (27:30) How do professional services boards think about beating competition? (28:50) What opportunities did PE ownership provide you as a board? (33:18) How have you built your plural career? (36:37) As Chair, what are you looking for in candidates? (41:35) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(44:01)

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105. Eamon Devlin - Board meetings as half-time team talks: boardroom lessons from elite sport

Eamon Devlin is adjunct professor and associate fellow at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, founder of Minute9, an elite sports consultancy, and co-founder of MJ Hudson, a private equity law firm. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: To what extent do board meetings resemble half-time team talks for the executive? (1:53) How do you decide who should be present at half-time, and can boards use similar criteria? (5:07) How can you get external voices into the discussion without derailing it? (6:42) What lessons can board members learn from alignment around the purpose of team talks? (8:55) What have you learnt about transitioning into team talks that could apply to board meetings? (12:22) How can boards foster the kind of experimental mindset we see in elite sport? (20:59) Can you explain how Chairs might use the ctrl-alt-delete speech in board meetings? (23:00) Do you have any other storytelling tips board members might find helpful? (28:23) Where did the board add value to you at MJ Hudson, and where could they have added more value? (34.28) What are the biggest risks boards need to be aware of when a company goes public? (37:06) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(38:49)

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104. Nuala Walsh - Key biases board members need to know to increase influence and reduce decision risk

Nuala Walsh is NED at British & Irish Lions and Basketball Ireland, Chair of Innocence Project London, Founding Director of the Global Association of Behavioural Scientists and author of Tune in. Listen to hear her thoughts on: Can you bring to life, blind, dead and dumb spots - the trilogy of errors that lead to bad decisions? (2:00) If these errors are often unconscious, how can board members know if they are making them? (6:07) How can board members apply the perimeters framework to determine whether they’re being impacted by their biases? (7:15) When should they use it? (13:52) Is there an antidote to these biases? (20:18) Are there examples from your own experience where you’ve been able to help a board think differently and reach a better decision as a result? (23:23) I once failed to prevent a deal which had backing because of interpersonal dynamics rather than economics - what could I have done differently to persuade people? (28:39) Can you reverse-engineer the perimeters framework to influence other people’s decisions? (31:42) How have you built your plural career? (39:03)⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(42:26)

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103. Gerry Brown - Disaster in the boardroom: 6 board dysfunctions you need on your risk register

Gerry Brown is Chair of Novaquest Capital Management and G Brown Associates. A plural Chair and NED across private equity, family and listed businesses, Gerry is co-author of three books about boards, including Disaster in the Boardroom. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: Is there such a thing as a comprehensive risk checklist applicable to all boards? (2:07) How do you apply your framework of the six archetypal board dysfunctions on the boards you sit on? (4:01) With a limited number of seats, how do you ensure you get the right voices in the boardroom? (6:57) How do you bring outside voices into the boardroom? (9:04) Can you talk about the problem of the distended board at Uber? (12:27) Are some dysfunctional archetypes more prevalent than others? (16:37) What relevance do these dysfunctions have beyond big corporates? (19:48) What advice would you give a new board member who wants to challenge a successful CEO? (23:54) How do you define and measure healthy board culture? (28:50) Can you give an example where you’ve changed a problematic board culture? (32:42) When haven’t you been able to change board culture? (34:59) How do you remove control shareholders who are damaging other stakeholders? (35:38) How do you assess independent directors as a Chair? (37:29) How do you assess integrity? (39:52) What professional development do you undertake? (40:43) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(44:12)

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102. Dr. Doug Gurr, ex Amazon China President - How boards add most value to CEOs: forecasting, challenge, ways of working, the environment and AI

When have boards added most value to you as an exec? (2:48) When was the last time your board challenged you as CEO? (5:38) How can non-execs challenge execs, without compromising trust? (7:05) How have you and the board of the Natural History Museum got comfortable that your 550m transformation project won’t overrun? (8:52) Could you distill Amazon’s ways of working and how they might apply to boards? (12:33) Can non-execs help instil good judgement in execs? (18:46) What are the other ways in which non-execs can materially impact their organisations? (25:12) How should board members be thinking about AI? (28:44) What can board members do to better undertake their environmental responsibilities? (32:44) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(35:11) Audience Q&A (40:57)

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101. Christmas Bonus: Dr. Ali Parsa - The rise and fall of Babylon Health

Ali Parsa founded Babylon Health, which he grew to a $4.1bn equity valuation in 2021 before it entered Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in 2023. Tune in to hear this amazing story, including Ali’s thoughts on: How has your backstory, escaping Iran in the 80s, informed your approach to entrepreneurship? (2:20) How have you managed to fundraise so successfully? (3:21) What advice do you have for others who are fundraising? (8:01) How did you scale revenues so quickly?(11:24) How did you break into the right distribution channels? (15:12) How do you identify the right person at partner organisations? (16:18) Was launching in the UK rather than US a mistake? (20:40) How did you decide which markets to go after? (25:06) What can board members do to encourage better cross-functional collaboration? (28:24) What value did you get from investor-directors? (31:13) What lessons did you learn through bankruptcy? (35:44) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(38:39)

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100. Professor Amy C. Edmondson - Psychological safety: how boards have the best conversations to make the best decisions

Amy C. Edmondson is a Professor of Leadership & Management at Harvard Business School. Ranked #1 management thinker in the world by Thinkers50, Amy has written seven books, including Right Kind of Wrong and the fearless organization. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: What is psychological safety and why does it matter for board members? (1:44) Can we overcome our fear of what others think of us, even if we’re aware of it? (4:02) Isn’t psychological safety just a grandiose term for inclusion? (5:12) As board members, what should we be looking at to assess our organisation’s psychological safety? (7:24) Are there predictable events that trigger drops in psychological safety? (10:16) How can organisations mitigate the impact of remote work on psychological safety? (13:10) How can boards increase the quality of their conversations through psychological safety? (14:14) Can you talk about “setting the stage” and specific tactics boards can use to have more candid conversations? (17:02) How do you sanction violations whilst maintaining psychological safety? (19:27) How would you advise board members to challenge execs in meetings? (24:46) How can boards decide if their CEO is a difficult genius to stick with or someone they should let go? (26:11) Where do we go wrong when thinking about failure? (28:51) When is it right to proceed via first principles versus A|B testing? (34:50) Could the boards at VW, Wells Fargo and Nokia have prevented their respective failures? (36:08) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(40:01)

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99. Sara Weller CBE - Building a plural career across the private and public sectors, representing customers and disability in the boardroom

Sara Weller CBE is Chair of the Money and Pension Service and former/NED at BT, Virgin Money and Lloyds Banking Group and UK Department for Work and Pensions amongst many others. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: How have you built a plural career across the private and public sectors? (2:04) What are the similarities and differences between the public and private sector board roles? (4:08) When should people take on their first board position? (6:25) Can you take on a role too early? (9:35) How can board candidates make themselves stand out? (11:49) Are you always the voice of the customer in the boardroom, irrespective of product? (19:24) How do you balance your personal customer experiences with big data? (22:19) How do you express challenge as a NED? (24:44) Can you talk about your own experience of disability in the boardroom? (27:07) How much time should boards allocate to think about disability? (32:13) What three things can boards do now to help disabled board members and customers? (34:03) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(36:51)

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98. Jenny Knott - Compensation, breaking into new sectors and adding value as a board member

Jenny Knott is NED at the British Business Bank, the UK Development Bank & SimplyHealth and Founder of FinTech Strategic Advisors Ltd. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: What was your journey into the boardroom? (1:44) How did you transition from internal to independent boards? (3:50) When you were CEO, was your board your highest return on your time invested? (6:06) Do board members add more value in or outside meetings? (10:10) Who is board performance for? (12:38) Can boards really perform their monitoring function? (13:19) What do NEDs need to understand first when they come onto FS boards? (15:45) Where do they go wrong? (17:52) How can NEDs from different sectors get their heads around unfamiliar regulations? (20:06) Do start-up boards have a different relationship with regulation (versus larger firms)? (24:12) Where do they go wrong, engaging with the regulator? (26:44) What are your key value levers as a Remco member? (28:15) What would your dream incentive structure look like? (32:45) Should we include debt in compensation packages? (35:05) And ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(41:18)

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97. Professor Renée Adams - 6 myths about female board members

Professor Renée Adams is a professor of finance at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and Fellow of the European Corporate Governance Institute. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: Do popular boardroom surveys provide an accurate picture of women’s underrepresentation? (0:56) Would the financial crash have happened if Lehman Brothers had been Lehman Sisters? (3:38) Are crises inevitable? (5:02) Are there any differences between female and male directors? (6:59) Why is our current way of thinking about the causes of female under-representation wrong? (10:19) Does adding women to your board improve shareholder value? (16:02) Are quotas effective for improving female director representation? (18:04) What are the latest boardroom myths that need debunking? (19:44) How would you build your dream board? (21:39) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(22:26) Audience Q&A (23:54)

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96. Edwina Dunn OBE - how the board added value to dunnhumby, the company behind Tesco’s clubcard

Edwina Dunn the co-founder of dunnhumby, the data analytics company behind Tesco's Clubcard and numerous loyalty programs worldwide. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: What were the key value adds of the dunnhumby board? (0:50) How did you manage to land the transformative deal with Tesco? (3:14) How did it feel when you landed the deal? (6:54) How did you get comfortable making one big bet on one customer? (7:56) Why were Tesco happy to share their sensitive data with you and not others? (9:36) Did your investor directors add any value? (12:42) What was the board’s role in your growth? (16:20) When and how did you break into new markets? (19:16) Did all the markets work out equally well? (20:16) How did you make sure you got the best deals in your strategic partnerships? (22:20) Did you get your pricing right? (23:41) If you’d had a board, do you think it would have been able to add more value to you on that journey? (28:37) What was the single biggest value add of your independent director? (31:27) How did you do your exit? (34:58) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(38:22)

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95. Nick Jenkins - How NEDs add value to high-growth businesses: the board’s role in Moonpig’s success

Nick Jenkins is Founder and former CEO of Moonpig, former Dragon on Dragon’s Den, Chair of Virtualstock, NED at Green Energy Options and Trustee at Operation Fistula. Nick has recently founded the South Wilts Ski Club, an infinity ski slope in Wiltshire. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: What were your key sources of support and challenge in the early days at Moonpig? (2:26) How did you pick your first investor-directors? (4:40) What distinctive value did each of your investor-directors bring? (5:42) How did you keep going when your investors told you it wasn’t going to work? (7:06) How did you unlock the value of your board? (8:14) What was the biggest disagreement you had with the board? (9:05) Can you talk through your transition from Founder to Exec Chair? (10:01) How did you strike the balance between autonomy and oversight for your successor? (11:34) How do you add value as a NED today? (13:10) What advice do you have for those trying to scale a successful culture? (13:51) As a board member, how do you make sure organisations make the best use of data? (17:09) Why did you choose repeat rate as your north star metric at Moonpig? (19:32) Should all businesses have north star metrics? (20:09) How do you assess business plans as a board member? (22:18) How important is it to hit business plan targets? (24:53) Would your CEOs say your boards are the highest return on their time invested? (26:13) How do you help your businesses spot opportunities as a board member? (28:47) How do you help them identify their growth levers? (33:52) ⚡ The Lightning Round ⚡(39:57)

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94. Dame Alison Carnwath - Breaking into new sectors, setting remuneration and managing crises in the boardroom

Dame Alison Carnwath is Audit Committee Chair at EG Group and Asda, NED at PACCAR and Coller Capital, Chair of Livingbridge Strategic Advisory Board and Senior Advisor at Evercore. She was formerly Chair at Land Securities. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: What was your journey into the boardroom? (2:22) How did you transition to new sectors as a NED? (4:08) How do you determine what the critical issues are as a board member? (9:23) Do you ask for information about why employees leave the company? (12:04) What do you see as the best board structure? (13:34) What are your guiding principles for thinking about executive compensation? (17:12) How have you learnt to deal with non-unanimous agreement in the boardroom? (21:52) How did you navigate the financial crisis as chair of Land Securities? (26:01) What was the dynamic between you, the CEO and the rest of the board in that situation? (31:37) As Chair, what were your sources of support and challenge? (32:52) ⚡ The Lightning Round ⚡(34:59)

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93. Joy Harcup & Dame Una O’Brien - The art & psychology of board relationships

Joy Harcup is an executive coach and board reviewer at Praesta Partners and author of The Art & Psychology of Board Relationships. Dame Una O’Brien is on the boards of Lloyd's Register Museum and Ashmolean Museum. A former Permanent Secretary of the UK Department of Health, she is a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Government. Tune in to hear their thoughts on: Can you explain the 7 archetypal negative dynamics you’ve identified? (2:53) Can you talk through how some of the specific archetypes have played out for you in the boardroom? (8:46) Can we use the above example to look at the psychology of see-sawing? (12:21) What do the terms “projection”, “transference” and “pairing” mean in a boardroom context? (16:55) What would you say to those who dismiss these ideas as psychobabble? (19:21) Can you give a boardroom example where you have resolved someone’s projection? (21:34) How have you experienced the doomsday scenario in the boardroom? (24:45) Can you talk through the “stand-off” dynamic in boardrooms? (33:50) ⚡ The Lightning Round ⚡(36:50)

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92. Professor Lynda Gratton - How boards can help redesign work

Lynda Gratton is Professor of Management Practice at London Business School, best-selling author of The Shift and The Hundred Year Life, Advisor at Pictet Group and Skills Builder, and Founder of HSM Advisory. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: How can board members help execs redesign work to create a competitive advantage? (2:49) Can every organisation have purpose and meaning? (4:38) Can you talk through your idea of different “modes” of work? (5:47) Do you have any data on the optimum mix of remote versus in-person work? (9:28) Given the lack of data, should board members encourage execs to experiment? (13:22) How can boards balance individual and structural factors when designing work? (15:46) How do you ensure fairness across teams when structuring work? (20:41) How do you use personas when thinking about internal talent? (22:50) What patterns do you see in organisations redesigning work effectively? (25:12) Where do you see them going wrong? (27:21) Why isn’t there a clearer link between poor CEO behaviour and share price? (28:03) Are those who redesign work to be more employee-focused at risk of losing out to those who don’t? (32:34) What key levers can board members focus on to help execs learn and develop? (34:47) How should board members think about investing in managers? (37:40)⚡ The Lightning Round ⚡(39:32)

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91. Lord Mervyn Davies - Navigating crises in the boardroom

Lord Mervyn Davies is Chair of LetterOne, the LTA, Glyndebourne Opera and a variety of high growth companies and SID at Teneo. Formerly, he was a Labour peer and Minister of State and CEO of Standard Chartered plc. As Standard Chartered CEO, was the board a help or hindrance? (1:42) What are the key lessons you’ve learnt from mentors? (3:03) What were the biggest strategic challenges you faced, and how did the board help? (4:53) As a CEO, did you get better at getting value from your boards? (8:50) How should CEOs prepare for board meetings? (10:18) What would your biggest boardroom critics say you got wrong? (11:27) What happened at LetterOne after Russia invaded Ukraine? (15:18) How do you manage stress, with such a full portfolio? (19:28) How did you decide to stay rather than leave at LetterOne, and how did you persevere? (21:02) What did you learn about communication through the crisis? (24:34) What did you learn through the crisis at Garden Bridge Trust? (28:44) What did it teach you about media relations? (31:52)⚡The Lightning Round⚡(33:39) Audience Q&A (37:23)

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90. Vicky Gosling OBE - Sport Boards

Vicky Gosling is Chair of GB Surfing, Board Director at the British Olympic Association, Board Member at Invictus Games UK, and CEO of GB Snowsport. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: What was your strategy for developing such an elite program at GB Snowsport, given the lack of resources? (0:48) How did you do things differently to your competitors? (3:11) Would you have made the same decision if you had unlimited funding? (9:05) How has the board helped on the GB Snowsports journey? (11:57) Has the board ever been a hindrance? (14:10) How do you strike a balance between constructive and unconstructive tension? (15:09) As a CEO, what have you learnt about Chair transitions? (18:55) What are the most valuable things your board could have offered you as CEO? (21:20) How do you manage being a Chair and CEO at the same time? (25:43) Any tips for those looking to get roles on sport boards? (29:31) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(33:01)

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89. Mary Ann Sieghart - How women are taken less seriously than men, and what boards can do about it

Mary Ann Sieghart is SID at Pantheon International plc, Remco Chair at Guardian Media Group and best-selling author of The Authority Gap. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: What is the authority gap? (0:56) What would you say to those who challenge the idea women are taken less seriously than men? (2:15) Why should men close the authority gap, apart from it being the right thing to do? (8:16) Why has the authority gap developed in the first place? (11:12) Why aren’t more organisations making the most of the arbitrage opportunity of female talent? (15:52) Why hasn’t the market corrected the authority gap? (17:38) How does the authority gap manifest on boards? (20:26) What can board members do to counteract their bias? (22:27) How can boards assess their inclusivity? (25:09) Have you come across organisations that have closed the authority gap successfully? (27:55) What can men do to promote female voices in the boardroom? (30:45) Do men and women add different value to boards? (33:22) What have been the highlights and lowlights of the board dynamics you’ve experienced? (38:22) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(41:09)

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88. Cedi Frederick - Building a board portfolio: housing association & NHS Trust boards

Cedi Frederick is Chair of NHS Kent & Medway and the Centre for Healthy & Empowered Communities, and NED at Sage Homes and Impact Healthcare REIT plc. Tune in to hear his answers to: What does work on a housing association board involve? (0:47) Practically, how does the Sage Homes board add value? (4:50) What risks do you worry about most on Housing Association boards? (9:38) What are the rewards of being on a Housing Association board? (12:46) What are your key areas of focus on NHS Trust boards? (15:10) Does the government need to spend more on healthcare? (19:01) What advice do you have for people with commercial backgrounds who want to join NHS Trust boards? (22:55) Have you ever felt discrimination in the boardroom? (26:27) Where have you seen the most positive impact of diversity? (28:28) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(31:19)

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87. Isabel Fernandez-Mateo - Rejections & professional relationships in the boardroom

Dr Isabel Fernandez-Mateo is a professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at London Business School, where she holds the Adecco Chair. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: What have you learned about rejections that those involved in board hiring should be aware of? (0:53) Have you noticed any demographic differences? (3:11) What are the practical implications for organisations hiring board members? (4:02) How can applicants get the most out of rejections? (5:09) Does an organisation's rejection process impact its performance? (7:17) What are the most common barriers to gender diversity? (9:16) What can board members do to remove them? (12:05) What data do boards need to diagnose and address the problem? (14:47) How do organisations know what their demographic targets should be? (15:53) How should boards define someone’s qualifications for a role? (18:38) Why should board members be more aware of their organisation’s internal professional relationships? (20:15) How can board members monitor these relationships? (22:00) What would you say to those who feel that relationships should be measured by gut, rather than analytics and data? (24:12) What are the ways in which relationships are influencing career outcomes which would be most surprising for our listeners? (25:33) How can people identify which relationships to invest in? (27:34) What is people analytics, and where do people get it wrong? (29:24) Do you have any examples of best practice? (34:17) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(36:09)

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86. Dan Gardner (part two) - How boards get big things done

Dan Gardner is the international best-selling author of Superforecasting, How Big Things Get Done, Risk and Future Babble. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: What are the key things boards need to get things done on time, within budget? (1:06) Can you explain how board members can “build with lego”? (4:25) What would you say to boards that don’t have climate risk at the top of their agenda? (7:16) How does our emotional response impact our assessment of risk? (10:44) When should board members use their gut, and when, their intuition? (18:01) Does gender impact risk perception, and what are the boardroom implications? (20:39) How do the availability, anchoring and representative heuristics impact our decision making? (25:17) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(35:26)

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85. Dan Gardner (part one) - Superforecasting and fat tail risks

Dan Gardner is the international best-selling author of Superforecasting, How Big Things Get Done, Risk and Future Babble. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: What are the key insights from Superforecasting for board members? (1:15) Can you expand on the idea of probabilistic thinking? (10:00) Practically, how can board members apply concepts like epistemic humility and base rates to their decision making? (12:56) Can board members be victims of their own success? (14:43) Do people account sufficiently for luck in previous successes? (17:04) How can boards make sure members get sufficient feedback on their decisions? (20:53) How can boards assess a prospective member’s judgement? (23:55) Why do smart people consistently underestimate the costs of projects, especially fat tail risks? (25:01) How can board members use base rates for IT and building projects to challenge and support? (31:52) Have you established any base rates for budgeting? (37:51)

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84. Sir Nigel Rudd - A chairman’s tale

Sir Nigel Rudd is former/Chair of Pendragon plc, Pilkington, Invensys plc, Heathrow Airport, Business Growth Fund, Signature Aviation plc and Meggitt plc. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: Are listed boards entrepreneurial enough? (1:15) Why has private equity superseded conglomerates? (3:08) Should board members have skin in the game? (5:40) How do you approach negotiations? (8:51) How do you think about risk? (12:50) How do you assess business propositions? (15:26) How do you think about strategic acquisitions? (17:26) What should board members do if the board isn’t listening to them? (21:14) What have you learnt about Chair succession? (23:19) About CEO succession? (25:41) And about the Chair-CEO relationship? (28:49) How do you develop a strategy? (29:49) Do Chairs need sector knowledge? (31:23) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(33:26)

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83. Lucy Walker - Chairing investment trusts & building a non-exec portfolio

Lucy Walker is Chair at Aurora Investment Trust plc, SID at Henderson International Income Trust plc, Audit & Risk Committee Member at SportsAid and Founder at AM Insights. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: Why did you build a non-exec portfolio so early in your career? (0:34) How have different kinds of pro bono roles helped you in your non-exec career? (3:51) How did you transition from pro bono to paid roles? (6:38) What have been the biggest challenges for you as a relatively young non-exec? (8:54) How can investment trusts reach younger retail investors? (10:54) Should investment trusts be going direct to consumers? (13:12) How are you thinking about the cost of shareholder acquisition? (14:46) What value do the boards add at Aurora and Henderson? (16:05) What process do you use to develop strategy? (19:24) Is there ever tension between what shareholders want and what will produce the best returns? (25:38) How would you assess a potential merger? (29:27) Any tips for others wanting to transition from NED to Chair? (31:14) As a Chair, what are you looking for in prospective board members? (33:46) Can you walk me through a board skills matrix you’ve done recently? (35:26) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(37:17)

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82. Suranga Chandratillake - Startup boards and investor directors

Suranga Chandratillake OBE is General Partner at Balderton Capital, where he sits on nine portfolio company boards, Advisory Board Member at Cambridge University Endowment Fund and Founder of Blink, which he took public and achieved a market cap of $1bn. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: What role did the board play in your highs and lows as a Founder? (0:41) Where did the board add most value for you? (1:56) What were the biggest highs with the board? (3:44) What were the biggest lows? (6:40) What advice do you have for Founders / CEOs, pre-exit? (8:35) What makes a good and bad investor director? (10:37) How can CEOs deal with bad investor directors? (13:32) When should investor-directors swap out? (17:58) What have you learnt about investor-directors through tough recent times? (20:14) What lessons can we learn to make sure investor-directors don’t flip into panic mode? (22:59) How can boards help CEOs make tough decisions? (26:46) When should business first have boards? (29:39) What’s your playbook for selecting Chairs? (31:06) And⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(33:42)

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81. Rebecca Robins - Next Generation Boards

Rebecca Robins is Founder & CEO of a consultancy at the intersection of brand, culture and leadership, lecturer at Cambridge University, advisor at Chartered Management Institute and Quilt.AI, and former NomCom Chair at EY Foundation. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: Can you summarise what you see as the five generations opportunity? (0:57) What can we do to foster more intergenerational collaboration? (3:13) What role do respect and humility play? (6:49) Practically, how can boards get the benefit of younger perspectives? (11:30) Why did you start the next gen board at Interbrand? (17:10) What were the challenges? (22:04) What lessons can we learn from next gen boards at the FT and Pentland Group? (27:25) Where do next gen boards go wrong? (33:34) How would you advocate for the opportunities of next gen boards? (36:20) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(37:45)

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80. Evan Epstein - Governance disasters: cautionary tales from Silicon Valley’s boards

Evan Epstein is host of the Boardroom Governance podcast, #1 governance podcast in the US, executive director at the Centre for Business Law, adjunct professor at University of California Law and founder and managing partner at Pacifica Global. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: What are your top five insights from your podcast guests? (0:54) What level of involvement do board members need to be non-amateurs? (3:52) What is the value of independent board members? (5:27) Can you talk about Tyler Shultz’s insight “fraud is not a trade secret”? (10:05) What lessons can board members take from Theranos? (15:59) How would you sell governance to a sceptical CEO? (18:49) What went wrong at Open AI? (21:51) What could the Open AI board have done differently? (28:01) What patterns do you see in silicon valley governance explosions? (30:43) What options do boards have with high-risk, high-return Founders? (33:02) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(38:06)

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79. Priya Guha MBE - Board opportunities: a comparison of listed, government, start-up, charity and advisory board roles

Priya Guha is a venture partner at Merian Ventures, NED at Herald Investment Trust, Digital Catapult, and Reach plc, and Chair of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in the UK amongst many others! Tune in to hear her thoughts on: Why have you built your portfolio career? (2:34) What were the biggest challenges of moving into a non-exec career? (5:29) What role have expertise spikes played in your applications? (6:49) What are the key challenges you’ve faced on listed boards, and what have you learned? (8:03) What value does your investment trust board add to the manager? (10:06) As a tech expert, how are you thinking about AI and LLMs on your boards? (11:32) What should non tech-experts be reading to get up to speed? (14:03) Can you compare your government and listed roles? (15:01) Why do you do government roles? (16:49) How do startup boards compare with government and listed? (17:52) How can boards do more to support female founders? (19:56) How do your advisory roles compare to your fiduciary ones? (25:04) Why do you do non-profit roles? (26:35) And ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(29:19)

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78. Jim Strang - Investment Trust Boards: managers, risk, valuations & discounts

Jim Strang is Chair at HgCapital Trust, Adjunct Professor at London Business School, Senior Advisor at Bain & Company, Verdane and CVC Capital Partners, and NED at Pictet Alternative Advisors and BGF Group. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: How does the HgCapital Trust board add value? (2:18) Where do your interests/risk appetites potentially diverge from HgCapital’s? (3:35) What are the different products you’re considering, and how do you assess their potential value? (4:48) How do you review strategy and performance? (6:20) How do you think about how you will win? (8:30) When would you consider changing your investment manager? (12:27) How do you think about risk? (14:13) In the face of growing geopolitical risk, what options do boards have? (17:58) How can boards react to the risk concentration in cloud computing? (19:15) Where can investment trust boards add value in terms of accounting policies? (22:15) As a Chair, how concerned are you with valuations of portfolio companies? (24:01) What are the things to look at for, which you’ve got wrong in the past? (26:55) How do you get comfortable with revenue recognition policies? (28:11) How do you think about board composition and succession planning? (29:42) How are you thinking about discount to NAV? (33:28) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(34:55)

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77. Dr. Geoff Smart - How to hire board members and CEOs

Dr Smart is Chair and Founder of ghSMART, a global leadership advisory, which has published three bestselling books: Who? A Method for Hiring, The CEO Next Door, and PowerScore. Tune in to hear his answers to: Where do boards go wrong with hiring? (0:57) Why do boards continue to over-rely on gut feelings and referrals? (2:36) How can boards embrace diverse candidates, without relying on hypothetical questions at interviews? (5:10) What’s best practice for drafting role scorecard briefs? (8:44) Why don’t organisations search more thoroughly when they hire board members? (13:11) Can you talk through the four interviews that constitute your selection process? (19:21) Can you outline the “Who” and “Focus” interviews? (24:19) What do you think of cognitive ability and psychometric testing? (33:43) What do you think of job specific testing? (37:52) Why doesn’t the disclaimer “past performance is no guarantee of future results” apply to individuals? (39:12) And ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(41:40)

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76. Paul Pester - Hard & soft impact: economics, culture & detail in the boardroom

Paul Pester is Chair at Tandem Bank, NED at National Bank of Bahrain and former CEO of Virgin Money and TSB Banking Group. Tune in to hear Paul’s thoughts on: Where did the Virgin Money board add most value to you as CEO? (2:07)Can you talk about the rotating Chair concept? (3:44) Where could the board have added more value to you? (4:52) How did the Santander board help during the banking crisis? (7:56) How much detail should board members get into? (11:03) Why do things go wrong, in spite of experienced boards? (15:03) What keeps you awake at night as a board member? (17:17) How can boards impact company culture? (20:23) Are there quantitative frameworks boards can use to work on culture? (26:14) Do you have data that demonstrates how brand impacts revenue? (27:41) How did you start your board career? (31:23) How do you understand the role of the board? (33:10)⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(35:45)

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75. Shuo Chen - Boards and the future: going plural, encouraging innovation, adding value to entrepreneurs, and preparing for the future of work

Shuo Chen is an investor, board member and faculty member at IOVC, Stanford, UC Berkeley, EY, California Mental Health Commission, Google Female Founders, Reed Smith, Forbes China and Decode amongst others. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: How have you built your plural career? (2:36) How should board members be thinking about the future of work? (7:34) What are the practical implications of fractional work for board members? (10:13) How can boards tread the line between diversification and di-worsification? (13:02) How should boards be thinking about AI now? (16:57) How should boards think about innovation/value capture versus focus? (28:20) What’s your experience of boards as an entrepreneur? (34:28) Where have you seen start-up boards add and destroy most value? (37:03)⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(40:43)

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74. Dominic Joseph - Boards for founders: how boards add the most value to high-growth companies

Dominic Joseph co-founded Captify, the world’s second largest independent holder of search data, after Google. Now a plural NED and Chair of tech scale-ups, Dominic is also founding partner at Creative Capital Ventures Group, a growth consultancy for post Series-A companies. Tune in to his discussion with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to hear his thoughts on: When and why did you first have a board at Captify? (2:15) How did you set your first board up? (4:00) What kind of value did board members bring individually versus as a group? (4:41) What was the balance between presentation and discussion in your interactions with the board? (6:26) Where did the board add most value to you as CEO? (7:22) What do you think about annual budget setting and tracking versus a more agile approach? (12:07) What touch points did you have with board members between formal meetings? (14:53) Which board members did you rely on for what? (16:09) What value did you get from being challenged in the boardroom? (19:49) What advice would you give to founders thinking about board composition? (21:35) Did you have a former CEO on your board? (23:45) Did you work with coaches? (25:58) What tools can board members use to help founders in growth journeys? (27:56) How can founders get the most from investor-directors? (30:14) How can investor-directors add most value to founders? (32:45)⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(34:30)

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73. Anne de Kerckhove - Technology boards: growth, nominations, the role of the SID and getting board roles

Anne de Kerkhove is Chair of Eagle Eye Solutions, and SID & Committee Chair at 888 Holdings and Blackbird plc. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: How have your exec successes as SAAS scale-ups informed your non-exec work? (2:23) What are the key metrics boards need to focus on? (3:54) How much detail should boards ask for? (5:44) What do boards need to focus on for acquisitions? (6:49) Why do people underestimate how long mergers take? (8:33) What do you wish you’d known when you started international expansion? (9:20) What are the common mistakes organisations make with data? (11:18) Do you want to see first-hand data? (12:58) What are your key lessons from nomination committees? (14:22) Who owns the nominations process? (16:58) What have you learnt about asking board members to step down? (19:44) What’s best practice for job specs for board positions? (24:27) What training do you do for your boards? (27:04) Where have you added the most value as a SID? (28:35) How do you approach an underperforming Chair? (31:58) What advice do you have for those at the start of their board careers? (34:03) How can you differentiate yourself as a board candidate? (36:33) And ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(38:13)

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72. Lord Charles Allen - The Chair-CEO dynamic: the most important relationship in the boardroom

Lord Charles Allen, Baron Allen of Kensington, CBE, is Chair of Moelis & Co, Balfour Beatty Plc, Global Media & Entertainment Group, and The Invictus Games. Listen to his conversation with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to hear his thoughts on: As a CEO and NED, what have you learnt from your Chairs which you now replicate as a Chair? (2:26) What are the bad Chair examples you’ve learnt from? (5:39) What have been your most challenging experiences hiring and firing the CEO? (8:04) How do you evaluate incumbent CEOs? (10:07) What role do your NEDs play in the CEO evaluation? (12:10) What are the most effective ways of developing under-performing CEOs? (13:31) Have you ever considered stepping into the Exec Chair role? (17:29) As a Chair, are you still too slow to fire people? (20:19) What have you learned about assessing prospective CEOs? (21:28) What have been your biggest mistakes with CEO succession? (22:36) How do you do due diligence for prospective Chair roles? (24:32) How does your due diligence differ if your prospective Chief Exec is a charismatic Founder-CEO? (26:38) Is there a right time to become a Chair? (27:40)⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(28:37) And audience Q&A: first-time NEDs, challenging dynamics, different styles, ESG, regrets, skin in the game & compensation (34:08)

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71. John Maltby - Chairing: getting the role, performing, and hiring your successor

John Maltby is Chair of Allica Bank, Max Nicholas Renewables, and The West Brom Building Society and NED at Nordea. Listen to his conversation with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to hear his responses to: Can you talk through your transition from CEO to Chair? (2:07) What bad Chair experiences did you learn from? (4:47) What did you do to prepare for the role? (8:54) Do Chairs need prior experience in their firm’s sector? (11:13) Why should firms not go for Chairs who have done exactly what they’re looking for before? (14:11) What are the essential things organisations need to look for when hiring Chairs? (16:21) How can you stand out as a Chair candidate? (18:54) Do you have a framework for assessing Chairs? (21:21) How do you think about board tenure? (25:10) How do you think about risk? (28:50) And ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(35:48)

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70. Dawn Marriott - Chairing high-growth companies: getting the best from CEOs, investor-directors and NEDs

Dawn Marriott - Chairing high-growth companies: getting the best from CEOs, investor-directors and NEDs . Dawn Marriott is a partner at HG, a private equity firm, where she Chairs two portfolio companies. A serial PE Chair, Dawn is also a board member at Geomatikk and Aztecs, where she was formerly CEO. Tune in to Dawn’s conversation with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to hear her answers to: What’s the role of a Scale-Up Board? (2:21) As a Chair, do you have a particular methodology to draw value out of board members? (4:23) Practically, how do you assess the contributions of each board member? (6:20) How do you think about new board members versus external consultants when you need specific functional expertise? (9:38) What is the different value of independent and investor directors? (12:28) How do you think about chairing versus executive chairing? (19:16) Do you have a framework for thinking about where and how you amplify CEO performance to best effect? (21:53) How do you figure out where you can add most value to CEOs need? (24:49) How do you assess both prospective and incumbent CEOs? (26:39) Have you spotted any patterns in CEOs who don’t make the cut? (29:50) How do you think about board composition and archetypes? (34:15) Do you consider the balance of personality types on your boards? (37:19) And ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(39:21)

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69. Alexander Denny - Investment trust boards: managing managers, defining moats, addressing discounts, and building a plural career

Alex Denny is Committee Chair at the Association of Investment Companies and Trustee at the Nautical Archeology Society. He is a former Managing Director at Pantheon Ventures and Head of Investment Trusts at Fidelity International. Tune in to his conversation with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to hear his answers to: Can you give us an overview of the investment trust sector and its appeal for board members? (2:06) What are the hallmarks of the best and worst investment trust boards you’ve seen? (5:32) How many board members are brave enough to split with eponymous fund managers? (7:56) How can investment trust boards hold their managers to account? (11:09) What do you see the best investment trust boards doing around strategy? (19:08) How are the best boards addressing discounts? (26:41) How have you built your plural career in investment trusts? (30:25) How have your non-exec roles influenced your executive career? (33:56) And ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(37:05)

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68. Baroness Helena Morrissey - Taking a stand: how board members can challenge successfully

Baroness Morrissey is former/Chair of Altum Group, Fidelis Insurance Group, Investment Industry Diversity Project, AJ Bell and The Investment Association. In this conversation with Nurole CEO, Oliver Cummings, she answers: Did you see the fee issues at St James’s Place coming? (1:42) How can board members challenge the status quo successfully? (5:52) How do you decide when to stand down and when to dig in? (12:00) What do you know now which you wish you’d known at the beginning of your non-exec career? (13:36) As a board member, how do you build honest and trusting relationships with colleagues? (15:28) What are your most effective board rituals as a Chair? (18:07) How do you formulate strategy with management? (25:19) How can Chairs be more inclusive? (29:25) What is the board’s role in supporting working parents? (31:04) And ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(39:54)

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67. Alex Edmans - Lies in the boardroom: the stories, studies and statistics that mislead boards

Alex Edmans is Professor of Finance at London Business School, Member of the Sustainability Council of Novo Nordsik, and author of Many Contain Lies. In this conversation with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings, Alex covers: Do diverse boards lead to better corporate culture and performance? (1:44) Where have diversity-performance studies gone wrong? (3:37) Does inclusion have an impact on performance? (6:05) Why don’t you think anyone has managed to prove the positive impact of diversity on company performance? (7:01) Does good corporate governance improve performance? (10:11) Do boards work? (12:01) Do financial incentives work? (13:36) Which truths do boards need to be more aware of? (15:43) What is the relevance of confirmation bias and binary thinking to decision-making? (17:37) Why did you focus on these two biases, over any others? (20:00) Can you talk through the “ladder of misinference”? (23:39) Have you ever been challenged that experience trumps evidence? (28:29) What role do you see for experience and intuition on boards? (29:55) What are the most important insights board members can take from May Contain Lies? (31:01) What have you learned about challenging in the boardroom? (34:22) What’s been your emotional experience of challenge? (37:22) And⚡The Lightning Round (39:02) ⚡

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66. Sir Richard Dearlove, former Mi6 Chief - Intelligence: managing information, experts and the court of public opinion in the boardroom

Sir Richard Dearlove KCMG OBE is a former Mi6 Chief, Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge, Advisory Board member at American International Group, and Chair at Ascot Underwriting, to name a few. In this conversation with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings, Sir Richard covers: How do you make sure you are receiving accurate information from execs? (1:41) What lessons did you learn from the implosion of AIG? (4:16) What are the most valuable lessons you can offer someone on a government board, based on your experience working with politicians? (7:40) How can board members manage the court of public opinion? (11:30) How can we make more room for risk-taking and mistakes? (13:17) How have your best board members offered you support? (15:58) What have you learned about getting your point across in the boardroom? (17:36) How do you balance expertise with common sense? (19:10) How do you assess risk, especially geopolitical? (24:36) What do boards need to be thinking about when it comes to China and Russia? (29:20) What lessons have you learned about crisis management? (33:40) And ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡ (35:46)

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65. Stuart Roden - Investors in the boardroom: getting the right CEO, capital allocation, and adding value as former investors

Stuart Roden is Chair / former Chair of Lansdowne Partners, Hetz Ventures, Lewis Advisors, Tresidor, the Design Museum and Unlocking Potential, NED at LSE and Trustee at the National Gallery and Centre for Social Justice. In this conversation with Nurole CEO, Oliver Cummings, Stuart covers: When you were an investor, did the quality of the board come into your investment evaluation? (1:34) Do boards justify their costs? (4:48) Do you think the board is more about governance than value creation? (8:15) Where and why have you made mistakes, hiring the CEO? (12:38) How do you build the best relationship with your CEO? (19:39) Practically, as a Chair, how do you make sure you are discussing what you need to with your CEO? (24:01) How do investors add value as board members? (25:47) How do you think about capital allocation and return on resources in the boardroom? (28:53) And ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(33:04)

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64. Baroness Dambisa Moyo - Boardroom Surprises: black swans, dual-track strategising and marketing yourself as an unconventional board member

Baroness Dambisa Moyo is a current board member of Chevron and Conde Nast, investment committee member of the Oxford University Endowment, and co-principal of Versaca Investments. Join her and Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings in a conversation which covers: Which of your boardroom experiences have been the most challenging? (1:44) How do the best boards deal with uncertainty and risk? (4:31): How do you think about the Risk Committee? (12:43) What do you know now which you wish you’d known when you first entered the boardroom? (14:32) How aligned are board members on the role of the board? (16:28) What have you learnt about adding value across strategy, CEO succession and culture, which might not be intuitive to an experienced executive? (20:02) How can people from non-conventional backgrounds best position themselves for board roles? (22:06) Should boards have strategy and audit sub-committees? (24:57) What is your dual-tracked approach to strategy? (29:35) You once had four CEOs in six years - what did you learn? (34:13) What is the remit of ethics committees? (36:48) And ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡ (40:43)

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63. Roger Martin - Board failure (2/2): the board’s role in assessing and communicating strategy and hiring strategically-minded non-execs

Roger Martin, ranked the world's #1 management thinker, considers the following in the second part of his conversation with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings: What is the board’s role in developing strategy? (2:13) What is the board’s role in communicating strategy across an organisation? (7:37) Do you think every organisation has the potential to build a winning strategy, or are some lost causes? (11:20) How can boards hire the best people? (21:49) and ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(23:01)

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62. Roger Martin - Board failure (1/2): why boards are worst when they need to be best, where they still add value, and the lost art of strategy

Roger Martin, ranked the world's #1 management thinker, has advised the boards of Procter & Gamble, Lego, Ford, BHP, Verizon and more. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: Do you see value in boards? (2:06) Where do you see value in NFP and private, investor-backed boards? (5:13) Can boards perform their monitoring function effectively? (10:05) Why do you think boards struggle to perform their stewardship role? (11:26) How do the best boards think about strategy? (17:33) How can boards determine whether their strategy will win? (18:53) Are there a finite number of ways organisations can win? (23:17), and what is the board’s role in developing strategy? (26:02)

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61. Cathy Turner - Building a plural board career: how to network effectively, develop expertise spikes, overcome uncertainty and position yourself as a candidate

In recent years, Cathy has built a broad plural career at listed companies, with current NED positions at Lloyds Banking Group plc, Rentokil plc and Spectris plc. Tune in to her conversation with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to hear her thoughts on: How did you get your first NED position? (1:50) How did you turn that first position into a plural career? (7:55) To what extent has your performance in current positions created more non-exec opportunities in the future? (11:28) What have been the most challenging moments in building your non-exec career? (14:55) Where do you go for support as a board member? (19:18) Did you consciously develop a board expertise spike in remuneration? (21:30) What are the different archetypes people can lean into to develop their board careers? (24:51) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(28:55) and (Audience question) How do you pitch yourself as a first-timer versus someone who had a portfolio of non-executive roles? (32:52)

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60. Dr Sabine Dembkowski - Board reviews: how to make board effectiveness reviews effective

Dr Dembkowski has led board reviews for firms across the FTSE 100 and DAX amongst others, and her academic work on the subject is internationally recognised and peer-reviewed. Tune in to her conversation with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to hear her thoughts on: Why do a board review? (1:38) Are private companies less inclined to board review, and if so, why? (4:29) What do you say to those who think board reviews are ineffective and overpriced? (6:29) Where do boards most commonly go wrong with reviews? (8:39) What is the most important data to capture in board reviews? (12:58) Given the impossibility of an A|B test, how do we know what “effective” looks like? (14:27) What are the key factors that go to your definition of board effectiveness (18:39) What characteristics do the worst boards have in common? (25:47) Should we review individuals or the board as a whole? (27:21) What can boards do to better implement feedback? (28:56) Should board reviews look at the board’s ability to undertake specific tasks like hiring and firing the CEO? (31:05) How valuable do you think observers are for making boards more effective? (33:35) What aspects of board reviews are you sceptical about? (36:03) and ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(37:26)

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59. Anand Aithal, Cabinet Office Lead Non-Exec - Building a board portfolio: listed, government and charity boards

On top of his Cabinet Office role, Anand is a NED at Saga plc, Polar Capital Holdings plc and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. Tune in to his conversation with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to hear his thoughts on: Was being a portfolio NED always the plan? (1:03) What advice do you have for people in the early stages of their board careers? (1:57) Pre-interview, how did you make yourself stand out as a candidate? (4:00) What role did your entrepreneurial background play in your applications? (6:03) Are the same things that helped you stand out, the ones that help you add value to your boards? (7:31) What executive experiences have been most valuable as a non-exec? (8:37) What was the biggest surprise when you started as a board member? (11:04) What was your thinking around taking on pro bono roles? (11:48) How do government and charity boards compare? (16:46) What is the Cabinet Office board and what does it do? (19:46) How is your role as Lead Non-Exec different from non-exec? (26:03) How do your listed company boards compare to government and charity? (31:31) What have you learned about managing time across your portfolio? (33:59) Are there any rituals common to the highest performing boards you’ve seen? (34:54) And ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡ (39:06)

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58. Andrew Tyler CBE FREng - Becoming the Chair (III): getting the role, developing through self-assessment and operating in complex stakeholder environments

Andrew is Chair of a series of investor-backed businesses, including Ainscough Crane Hire, Winoa Group, Joloda, Detertech, ETL Systems, Hydraroll and Senior Advisor at Blackstone Credit. Tune in to his discussion with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to hear his answers to: What inspired you to move from CEO to Chair, and how did you prepare for it? (1:43) How have you identified and got the most from mentors? (4:23) What prompted you to do a self-assessment as a Chair? (11:31) What lessons have you applied from the self-assessment? (16:52) How do you navigate complex stakeholder dynamics as a Chair? (18:58) What have you learned about managing private equity investors? (26:13) And ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(31:38)

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57. Jennifer Sundberg - Collective intelligence: the remits, thinking and communication styles that define the most valuable boards

As CEO of Board Intelligence, Jennifer has seen what works and what doesn’t across thousands of boards - insights crystallised in her recent book Collective Intelligence. Listen to Jen’s conversation with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to hear her answers to: Do boards still matter? (0:46) How can we determine which decisions need to be made by the board? (2:16) How can boards measure their organisation’s collective intelligence? (5:33) What does critical thinking look like in board papers? (7:27) How can board members encourage execs to do more critical thinking? (8:58) Have you noticed any recurring rituals across the highest-performing boards you see? (16:17) How can boards identify the most important questions they need answered? (18:13) How do the best boards balance thinking in and outside of the boardroom? (19:49) What are the respective roles of execs and non-execs in developing strategy? (22:17) How do you see the ideal Chair-CEO-NED dynamic? (27:42) What are the most common mistakes boards make with communication? (29:00) Does communication really matter? (31:13) What should board members take from your final chapter, “when it all goes wrong?” (34:08) How can boards inoculate themselves against belief perseverance? (35:58) Do you feel like you’ve got it right with your own board? (37:23) And ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(39:00)

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56. Sir Nicholas Coleridge CBE DL - Managing change: how boards can steer institutions through ups and downs

Sir Nicholas is Chair / former Chair of Historic Royal Palaces, Victoria & Albert Museum, British Fashion Council, Professional Publishers Association, Condé Nast Britain and Provost-Designate at Eton College. Tune in to hear his answers to: As a Chair, where have you been most and least effective leading through difficult times? (1:25); How did you know you could handle rapid expansion at Conde Nast? (8:14); When you were Chair of Conde Nast International, how did the board think about cost-cutting? (16:33); What do you think about voluntary redundancy, and how do you balance the welfare of those staying with that of those going? (23:50); What is your approach to fundraising? (27:49); To what extent do boards have an obligation to hold their organisations to account for their history? (33:58) and⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(41:34)

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55. Wais Shaifta - CEOs: how the best boards and advisors add value to their most senior executive

Wais is CEO / former CEO of PrivateDoc and Push Doctor, and NED & Committee Chair at Snappy Shopper, Reach Plc and The Gym Group. Listen to his conversation with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to hear his answers to: How did the Push Doctor board add most value to you as CEO? (1:24) Did you ever get frustrated by board members from big business not understanding the realities of early-stage organisations? (3:58) How did you keep your board engaged? (7:13) How did the board add value beyond their contributions to revenue? (9:54) How have the best boards supported you through challenging times as a CEO? (13:23) How did you think about changing your advisory board members? (21:20) How did you think about the advisory board’s ROI? (22:25) How did the advisory board fit alongside the main board? (25:07) What have you learnt about adversity, as a CEO and non-exec, which others might benefit from? (26:13) How do you think about time management as a CEO and non-exec? (30:21) Why do you sit on listed boards? (34:11), and ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(36:51)

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54. Ann Francke OBE- Management: how boards can quantify the value of better leadership, work with mercurial CEOs and balance managerial and technical competence

As CEO of the Chartered Management Institute for over a decade, Ann Francke has spent some time thinking about what good management looks like and how organisations achieve it. Tune in to her conversation with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to hear her answers to: How can we know that investing in leadership causes high-performance, rather than there just being correlation? (1:31) If investment into management training produces better outcomes, why are market forces not dictating more investment? (5:22) As a board member, how do you handle a visionary CEO who’s a bad manager? (9:13) If you were on the board of a highly-successful organisation and you heard a horror story about the CEO, what would you do? (11:29) How do you decide when to speak up and when to hold your tongue about what you feel is right? (16:22) How can board members evaluate their organisation’s management? (22:55) How do you balance intuition and data-led questioning? (27:52) How do you think about balancing technical and managerial competence? (29:13) What can board members do, practically, to help their organisation improve its management? (32:56) What other mistakes do boards make, which have the most negative impact on management? (36:27) How do you overcome groupthink in the boardroom? (39:22) and ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(41:09)

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53. Hamilton Helmer - Strategy: how boards can use the “7 Powers” to sustain performance in the face of competition

How can boards help businesses keep hold of the value they create? In “7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy”, Hamilton identifies seven powers organisations can develop to protect themselves from competition. Listen to his conversation with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to discover how you can use them as a board member. Hear Hamilton’s answers to: Why are your insights in 7 Powers relevant to board members? (1:58) How do the best boards define strategy? (5:20) How can they use the 7 Powers to inform their strategic input? (13:01) How can boards understand their competitors’ power? (16:51) How can boards assess the power of their brand?(19:49) How do you determine whether your power is subject to diminishing returns? (30:00) How can incumbents use the 7 Powers to respond to new competition? (34:44) Why do organisations struggle to marry strategy and execution?(38:09) How much time do the best boards spend on strategy? (43:30)⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(46:53)

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52. Sarah Flannigan - Trustee to NED to Chair: creating a board profile, transitioning to paid roles and building a value-driven portfolio career as a NED and Chair

Sarah is Chair of Bionic, Yeo Valley, Riverford Organic Farmers and Sawdays and Senior Advisor at OMERS Private Equity. Tune in to her conversation with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to hear her answers to: Why did you take on your first board roles whilst you were still a busy non-exec? (1:33) What do you know now which you wish you’d learnt then? (4:17) What was the biggest surprise of the boardroom? (7:09) In what ways did your exec and non-exec roles inform each other? (9:09) Did you consciously decide to leave your exec career and go portfolio? (10:53) How did you think about transitioning from pro bono to paid roles? (12:31) What were the most challenging aspects of the transition? (16:30) Did you have a breakthrough moment or was it just persistence? (19:12) How do your boards compare across different ownership structures? (20:43) What characteristics would you take from each structure to create the dream board? (25:57) What have you learnt about chairing which you wish you’d known before? (27:49) How would you design a perfect Chair role? (30:55) What have been the good and bad interview questions as a prospective Chair? (32:31) How do investor-backed Chairs ensure they are even-handed with CEOs? (35:01) How do you ensure your values shape your portfolio? (37:46) As a Chair, what do you look for in NEDs? (41:00) and ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(43:12)

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51. Martin Gilbert, Aberdeen Asset Management Co-Founder - Support (& challenge): how the best boards embrace mistakes, look to the future, and support fund managers and CEOs

Martin sits down with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to consider: How did the board add value during Aberdeen’s organic growth? (1:45) How did the board help through acquisitions? (3:45) How have you learnt from your mistakes? (7:35) How did you balance instinct with analysis? (8:54) How does the board’s role at Revolut compare to Aberdeen? (12:19) Has the world become less forgiving, and what can boards do to help? (17:30) Why do you take on roles at listed companies? (19:26) What value can CEO-NEDs add to boards (and vice versa)? (22:10) How do you identify high-risk / high-value employees? (24:49) What value have “future” sub-committees added? (26:18) How should boards manage their high-risk / high-value employees? (28:42) How can investment trust boards help their executive decision-makers? (33:15) What are the traits of the best investment trust board members? (35:44) Do investment trusts need cult fund managers? (39:43) and ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(43:49)

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50. Professor Andrew Kakabadse - Control, service and strategy: why boards are more important than ever, and how they need to change to add value

Professor Kakabadse, one of Harvard Business Review’s most influential management gurus, has spent a lifetime working with boards, publishing 45 books and 250 scholarly articles on the subject. Tune in to his conversation with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to hear his answers to: How do you define and measure the board’s role and effectiveness? (0:57) Can you unpack the meaning of “board stewardship”, with examples? (5:07) How can boards build requisite psychological resilience? (11:35) How can Chairs manage domineering board members? (16:14) What can board members do where they feel impeded by governance?(19:23) Where can boards deliver the most value today? (24:25) Which forms of diversity do boards need to add more value? (29:42) What can UK boards learn from other systems? (41:10) Should Chairs play a more dominant role for boards to be more effective? (43:09) What are the respective roles of CEO and Chair? (46:21) How do Non-Execs slot into a close Chair-CEO relationship? (48:51) and ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(53:05)

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49. Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia, HMRC lead non-exec - From seed to public: the board’s role in two entrepreneurial success stories

Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia has worked with boards from most angles, across every business stage. Tune in to her discussion with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings as she reflects on her journeys with Snoop and Virgin Money, and hear her answers to: How have you thought about fundraising for Snoop? (1:29) When and why did you first create a board? (6:01) How did your investor directors add value? (7:59) Were the boards more than just rubber ducks? (10:35) How have the best boards and Chairs provided you with support? (13:06) How do you think about getting the best out of your Chairs as a CEO or Founder? (18:23) Who sets strategy - the Board or CEO? (22:53) Are there downsides to customer-driven strategy? (26:03) Practically, how have you engaged with your boards over strategy? (27:47) What was your experience of chairing the company you founded? (31:44) How do you think about board composition at different business stages? (34:55) How did you think about board size at different business stages? (37:57) What mix of execs and non-execs has worked best for you? (40:17) And ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(43:13)

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🖋️ Read Dame Jayne-Anne's transcript and show notes

48. Matthew Newcombe-Ellis - Becoming the Chair (II): assessing the role, working with passion, structuring meetings and fundraising

After fifteen years as an investment banker, Matt joined the board of Prostate Cancer Research. Two years later, he was Chair - a job he now does full time. What made him make the leap? Tune in to Matt’s conversation with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to hear his answers to: What advice would you have for someone considering becoming a Chair? (1:36) How did you prepare for your Chair role? (3:36) Why did you want to become a charity Chair, given the risks? (6:29) How can you add the most value as a Chair? (8:36) What have you done to foster a culture where people feel comfortable innovating? (11:13) How have you thought about board composition / hiring? (12:01) What have you learnt about onboarding? (16:17) Does trustee engagement vary depending on how you recruited them? (18:08) What is your approach to fundraising? (21:45) How do you build a high-net-worth network? (26:10) What have been the biggest challenges of chairing a charity board? (27:14) Which areas did you need to improve the most when you started chairing? (28:59) To what extent do you choreograph meetings? (34:47) When do you encourage execs to come with recommendations versus points for discussion? (36:58) What due diligence do people need to do before accepting a charity Chair position? (38:59) How did you know you felt passionately enough about your charities? (42:26), and ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(45:15)

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🖋️ Read Matt's transcript and show notes

47. Roger Parry- Becoming the Chair (I): preparing for the role, managing stakeholders, developing strategy and hiring the right NEDs

Do you aspire to Chair your board? Or better understand how your Chair thinks? Uber NED Roger Parry sits down with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to reflect on his 20+ years chairing global organisations like YouGov and Future Publishing. Tune in to hear his answers to the following questions: How do you prepare to become a Chair? (1:24) What are the different Chair archetypes, and are some better than others? (3:54) Can you become a Chair without being a CEO or CFO? (8:04) What are the key things you learnt from your Chair mentors? (9:28) What is the Chair’s role, and how should it be distinct from the CEO? (11:48) How involved do you get with strategy, and how much time does it take? (15:05) When and where have you added most value as a Chair? (22:11) Where can Chairs add value, beyond managing shareholders? (26:06) When and where have you got it wrong as a Chair? (29:04) What else can you do to prepare to become a Chair? (36:43) How do you hire for genuine diversity of thought, and what is its value? (39:00) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(46:00)

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🖋️ Read Roger's transcript and show notes

46. Dr Shefaly Yogendra - Decision-making: how boards make good decisions (and avoid bad ones)

Boards exist to make decisions. But how often does your board make the best ones? Dr Shefaly Yogendra is a Chair, NED and Advisor with a PhD in decision-making . Tune in to her conversation with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to discover her answers to the following questions: What framework do you use to promote good decision making on your boards? (1:25) What tactics do you use to make boards feel comfortable with discomfort? (7:39) Where has emotion enhanced decision-making on your boards? (14:25) How can board members uncover biases that impact decision-making? (17:54) How good are boards at retrospecting past decisions to inform future ones? (23:32) How do you manage conflicts of interest when it comes to decision-making? (28:50) What impact do term-limits, director investments and compensation have on decision-making? (35:34), and⚡ The Lightning Round ⚡ (42:39)

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🖋️ Read Shefaly's transcript and show Notes

45. Shellye Archambeau, Fortune 500 Committee Chai - Building a board portfolio: how to get board roles, develop non-exec skills, construct a portfolio and manage impostor syndrome

Now on the boards of two Fortune 500 companies, Shellye Archambeau began building her board portfolio whilst she was a Silicon Valley CEO. Tune into Shellye’s conversation with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to hear her answers to: Why did you take on your first board role whilst you were still a CEO? (0:40) How did you make the time to be both CEO and board member? (4:29) How much time did you allocate for your board role? (6:04) How did you develop your non-exec skillset? (8:13) How did you use the audit committee to develop your strategic value? (9:46) How did you gain credibility as a non-exec in a new sector? (11:50) What’s your approach to reading board papers? (13:57) What are the right questions to raise in board meetings (versus outside them)? (15:48) What role have pro bono roles played in building your portfolio? (18:11) How have you thought about the overall construction of your portfolio? (19:48) How did you turn one board role into a portfolio? (21:24) How do you strike a balance between questions and advice? (24:12) What does a good board member look like to you? (26:34) When have you experienced impostor syndrome the most severely? (28:15) What tactics do you have for overcoming impostor syndrome? (31:56) What can boards do to minimise potential impostor syndrome? (34:31) How do you know when to quit, when to stick, and when to swerve? (36:48), and ⚡The Lighting Round ⚡(40:11).

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🖋️ Read Shellye's transcript and show notes

44. Daniel Kasmir - People & talent: the role of Remcos, and how board members can help measure and engage employees in a digital age

The tech revolution and Covid have brought seismic changes to the way organisations engage and assess their employees. Traditional approaches don't cut the mustard. So what do board members need to do to keep on top of their most valuable resource in the digital era? Daniel Kasmir has managed people issues for over 30 years, as a Chair, Remco Chair, Trustee and executive at TalkTalk, YouView TV and others. Tune into his conversation with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to discover: what are the pros and cons of combining the Chief People and Procurement Officer roles? (1:19); how do you calculate return on investment when it comes to talent? (5:19); why aren’t boards more excited by people analytics? (10:03); how do you show employees you're acting on their data? (12:27); how regularly do you have employee development sessions? (14:49); how are you approaching hybrid working? (16:43); are CEOs wrong to think in-person work is more valuable? (19:28); what is the role of the Remco, and how does it differ across ownership structures? (23:29); when can non-execs add the most value to Remcos? (25:34), and The Lightning Round (27:54).

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🖋️ Read Daniel's transcript and show notes

43. Clarissa Farr - High-performance: the key characteristics of highly successful boards

What are the key ingredients of high-performing boards? As High Mistress of St Paul’s, Clarissa Farr worked with her board of governors over a period of marked success. Now a trustee, fellow and board consultant - at the Royal Ballet School, Winchester College and British Museum amongst others - Clarissa shares her key characteristics of high-performing boards. Tune in to her conversation with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to discover: what value did the board add for her as High Mistress at St Paul’s (1:43); what were the key characteristics that made the board so effective (5:13); how did she balance high-performance with wellbeing (7:58); do enough boards think about how this balance is struck in their organisation (12:08); where does she think the boards she's worked with could have done better (15:08); does ageism work against older board members as well as younger ones (17:33); how can smaller boards access fresh perspectives without compromising on experience (18:38); what’s the best way to do reverse mentoring (20:11); what tactics can Chairs use to get the most out of board members (23:03); what are the different ways board members and consultants can add value (27:18); where does the Chair-CEO relationship most commonly run into problems (31:50), and the lightning round (36:38).

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🖋️ Read Clarissa's transcript & show notes

42. Marta Krupinska - Founders: how boards can help them, and how they can help boards

Over 90% of startups fail. How can boards help founders beat the odds? Having begun life as a founder, Marta Krupinska has continued to work with start-ups as an investor (Google Startups UK, Climate VC) and Chair (Youth Business International). Marta sits down with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to reflect on how boards add most value to founders and how founders add value to boards. She answers the following questions: what can boards do to stop start-ups failing (1:28); where do founders most often go wrong with their boards (4:11); when have you seen investor-directors add the most (and least) value (7:35); do you have any hacks for founders or CEOs wanting to get more from their board members (12:57); how do you measure the value of your board members (15:37); what common problems have you seen people run into as boards scale (17:59); what is the value of independent directors (22:42); why do you sit on boards as a founder (26:24), and the lightning round (31:59).

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41. Rory Campbell - Difficult conversations: how, why and where to have them

How can board members have difficult conversations about topics like diversity and inclusion? As a founder, coach, chair and NED, Rory Campbell has deep experience of this question in theory and practice. Join Rory and Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings in a discussion that covers: how we can have difficult conversations in the boardroom (1:33); examples of conversational best practice (4:48); the pros and cons of asynchronous conversations versus dialogues (7:58); whether we really communicate more effectively in person (12:33); the toughest challenges boards face with diversity (19:42); what makes Rory an expert on diversity (24:46); examples of D&I best practices (29:12); what board members need to do to ensure their leaders’ outlooks are evolving (33:31), and the lighting round (37:45).

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40. Jane Routledge - Getting board roles: when to make the non-exec leap, how to position yourself as a candidate, and your first 90 days

In 2019, Jane Routledge decided to leave her impressive executive career behind and take a new non-executive path. After initial set-backs, she now has three board positions. Jane sits down with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to reflect on lessons learnt from the journey. Tune in to discover: why Jane decided to make the non-exec leap (1:28); the biggest surprises of the board world (3:22); how she knew she had what it took to be a NED (4:02); her strategy for getting board roles (5:37); how she differentiated herself as a candidate (7:36); how she dealt with rejection (10:36); how she prepared for interviews (12:42); the best and worst questions she was asked (16:21); the one thing she wished she knew before she started applications (18:33); the impact of pro bono work on her commercial board career (19:38); the advisory experience of MAT boards (22:30); her best and worst onboarding experiences (24:52); tactics for speeding up regulation-bogged discussions (28:30), and how to humanise boardrooms (31:38).

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39. Mads Jensen - Startup boards: finding the right non-execs, sticking to strategy, building trust with founders and working with AI

Is there a playbook for startup board success? As Managing Partner at Superseed, Mads Jensen has sat on dozens of startup boards. He considers the following with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings: does the existence and/or composition of a board impact Mads’ investment decisions (0:44); what does the archetypal problem-solving board meeting look like (2:03); should start-ups hire board members to preempt problems or respond to them (4:17); is it sometimes better to hire inexperienced NEDs with more hunger to prove themselves (6:48); how do you measure board effectiveness (9:11); do you have any examples where boards have failed to add proper value (14:39); have you ever experienced boards where you felt you couldn’t help because of some dynamic (16:14); how do you build trust with executive leaders (18:34); should founders share personal problems with their board (20:02); beyond situational skills, what are you looking for in board members (21:21); what are the candidate red flags (25:20); what do you see as the main threats and opportunities of AI (27:29); how are you using AI on your boards (30:38), and what three key insights would you want listeners to take away from this (31:44)?

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38. Sam Smith - Growth-mindsets: how boards and culture help companies scale

As Founder and CEO of finnCap, an end-to-end financial services firm for high-growth companies, Sam Smith hit a roadblock at 17m annual revenues. But then a chance conversation sparked a mental gear change that broke the stasis. Tune in to discover how non-execs, mentors and business culture drove this extraordinary entrepreneurial success story forwards. Specifically: Where did Sam find support in the early stages of finnCap (1:11)? What behaviours did Sam need to change to unlock growth (8:31)? How can leaders carve out time to think about strategy (11:21)? How did Sam’s Chair help her in the growth journey (14:18)? What are the commercial benefits of inclusive cultures (18:49)? How can boards measure inclusivity (21:32)? Where do organisations most commonly go wrong with their culture (25:28)? How do you onboard in a way that allows board members to add value quickly (28:01)?

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37. John Fallon, Former Pearson CEO - Digital transformation: navigating adversity and disruption

Digital disruption shook the education industry to its core. As CEO of Pearson, a global education publisher, John Fallon was at the heart of this upheaval. John joins Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to discuss the board's pivotal role during Pearson's transformation. Dive into discussions on how boards help: reshape established cultures (1:03), marry disruption with alignment (5:35), build trust with top executives (11:21), gauge team alignment (14:03), leverage data to manage change (17:01), ensure oversight without stifling leadership (20:09), craft robust go-to-market strategies (23:03), manage the repercussions of profit warnings (27:41), and navigate the risks associated with focus (30:03). Tune in for a masterclass in board leadership and change management.

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36. Peju Adebajo- Inclusion: embracing diversity, finding your voice and adding value to CEOs

As former Lumos Nigeria CEO and current NED at Wolseley UK and Ibstock plc, Peju Adebajo has navigated the CEO-board dynamic from both sides of the fence. Peju started her first board role in 2021. So her reflections on finding one’s non-executive voice and how boards can be more inclusive are rooted in recent lived experience. Join Peju and Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings in a discussion which covers: how Chairs build trust with CEOs (1:02); what CEOs need from board members (9:02); how boards can become more inclusive (16:37), and what new board members can do to find their voice quickly (27:08).

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35. Dimitri Chichlo - Cybersecurity: lessons from the War in Ukraine

"Cyber is not a technical matter. It is a business matter. It is something that should be actively managed by the board. If you don’t ask the questions, you are going to miss something.” Join Dimitri Chichlo, non-executive Vice-Chairman and Chair of the Operations & Digital Committee at Ukreximbank (Ukraine’s third largest bank) in a discussion about cybersecurity. Drawing on his experiences in the War in Ukraine, Dimitri covers: where cyber disasters have taken businesses under (1:16); different cyber risks and their respective motivations (4:27); the most common points of cyber failure (10:47); key questions boards need to ask to understand their cyber resilience and risks (14:54); what non-technical boards can do to get up to speed re risks and resilience (18:43) ; how boards can counter risks (19:56); the importance of recovery over defence (24:18); the risks posed by board members themselves (28:16), and three things board members can do to help their organisations with cyber security today (31:17).

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34. Mark Roberge - Scaling: the science of growth

As Founding CRO of Hubspot, Mark increased annualised revenue from $0-100 million through to IPO and grew his team from 1 to 450 employees. Join Mark and Nurole CEO, Oliver Cummings, as they discuss how board can use science-based thinking to make better decisions. Specifically: how Mark applies science-based growth lessons from Hubspot in his role as a board member (1:54); how to determine how fast your company can scale (6:52); how boards can break companies by mandating irresponsible growth (12:34); how board members can plan effectively (and why they don’t) (16:19); the pros and cons of remote and in-person board meetings (18:09); what boards need to understand about pricing (24:49), and how organisations can get the most advisory value from their boards (31:02).

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33. Mike Reid, Frog Capital Founder - Scaling success: how high-value chairs help scale-ups grow

How do Chairs build and run high-impact Scale-up boards? Drawing on decades of experience creating and operating boards in the scale-up space, Frog Capital Founder Mike Reid discusses his 5 part framework for thinking about the role of the Chair. Join Mike and Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings in a discussion which covers how high-value boards: approach strategy; balance executive support and challenge; apportion time to different stakeholders; manage investor directors, and avoid boardroom dysfunction.

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32. Jen Baxter - Career building and metrics for success on education boards

How do education boards go about measuring success? And in one of the world's most complex and idiosyncratic education systems, how do you begin to know where to build a career? As Trustee of the Reach Academy Trust and Deputy Chief Executive at the Chartered College of Teaching, Jen Baxter offers wisdom from a lifetime on education boards. Join Jen and Nurole CEO Oli Cummings in a discussion which covers: how to measure success; MAT and Governor roles - the similarities and differences; hiring best practice - the best questions (and answers), and how to balance passion projects with family life.

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31. Navid Nazemian PCC- Mastering CEO and board transitions

Forty percent of executives last less than 18 months at a company, at a cost of 10-30x the executive's salary. The price tag is higher when it comes to the most senior executive - the CEO. What can boards do about this? Transition coach Navid Nazemian offers answers in a discussion which covers: the top 3 reasons for C-suite transition failure; people, politics and culture - how boards need to help; why boards should focus on the last 90 days of incumbents; CEO onboarding best practice, and how boards can master their own transitions.

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30. Malcolm Groat, AIM Chair - Chairing high-risk, high-growth boards

What's needed to Chair a board in FTSE's high-growth market? With 15+ years' non-executive experience, latterly as Chair of AIM quoted TomCo Energy and Harland & Wolff, Malcolm offers a hard-earned perspective on what it takes to succeed at the helm of high-growth firms. Amongst other things, he considers: the particular qualities AIM boards look for in NEDs; evaluating risk, return and success; building strong relationships with CEOs; getting the most out of non-execs (and weeding out the egotists); managing investors, and how to become Chair of a high-growth company. Essential listening for current or aspiring NEDs operating in the AIM market.

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29. Nina Spencer - How to measure, practice and capitalise on ESG

Most organisations face extreme pressure to create and pursue meaningful ESG strategies. But in a sea of acronyms, greenwashing and generalities, it can be hard to know where to begin. In this episode, Nina Spencer, CEO of Addidat, an ESG data and analytics company focused on the AIM market, offers an ESG booster shot for boards. Amongst other things, she considers: the meaning of ESG; where firms go wrong with strategy; how to assess the potential ROI of different schemes; quick wins; the redundancy of diversity without inclusion, and mental health and cybersecurity best practice. Essential listening for anyone interested in understanding, contextualising and benchmarking their organisation's ESG performance.

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28. Jeremy Asher, AIM Chair - Good Governance on a Shoestring

Experienced AIM Chair, Jeremy Asher, discusses how small cap firms can practise good governance on a tight budget. Drawing on his wealth of experience of the AIM market, including his current experience as both CEO and Chair of Tower Resources, he considers: the art of transparency; the pros and cons of narcissistic CEOs; how to manage underperforming chairs; the role of equity in compensation, the challenges and opportunities of the combined role of CEO and Chair, and much more. Essential listening for current or aspiring non-execs at AIM or small cap firms, and anyone that enjoys a choice turn of phrase.

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27. Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne, Genius Foods Founder - How board composition impacts value at the different stages of high-growth businesses

Through the compelling entrepreneurial success story of Genius Foods, Lucinda brings to life: (i) the relationship between investment, authority and decision-making; (ii) how boards help Founders and CEOs say “No”; (iii) the importance of board rotation; (iv) the different value boards can add at different business stages, and (v) the communal, unsexy and mission-critical nature of chairing. Lucinda is a Founder, Chair, Advisor and NED with deep scale-up experience and expertise. She founded Genius Foods, and she is currently Chair at Scotland Food & Drink, Mentor at Creative Destruction Lab Oxford, Advisor at the Royal Society, NED at the ScaleUp Institute, and Advisor at the University of Edinburgh.

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26. Gillian Wilmot - The qualities needed to chair listed, investor-backed and public boards

Gillian is a Chair and NED in technology, digital transformation, SaaS, retail and consumer brands, based in London, Switzerland, Europe and California. She chairs Zoo Digital plc, Xpediator plc, Synalogik and JISP. Gillian joins Nurole CEO, Oliver Cummings, to discuss: Creating a culture for success as a Chair, Time Management as a Chair, the challenges of listed boards and managing board perception amongst executives.

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25. Nicolina Andall - How I began my boardroom journey

Nicolina is a highly accomplished commercial solicitor who has spent much of her executive career offering her legal expertise to boards and business leaders. Her past positions saw her working at leading firms like Beale & Company as well as major corporations like Atlas Copco, where she continues to work as a Senior Corporate Counsel. These experiences left her well-prepared for an equally impressive NED career in which she serves on boards in the corporate, public and not-for-profit sectors, including as a member of the Advisory Board for LexisNexis’s Halsbury’s Laws of England publication. Nicolina was recognised in the Cranfield 100 Women to Watch 2020 list.

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24. Julius Weinberg, former Ofsted Chair - Lessons from a career building education boards

Julius Weinberg has spent the most recent decade on the boards of Ofqual, Ofsted, Kingston University, City University, Latymer Upper School, Ormiston Academies Trust, and Buckinghamshire Culture and the Secular Society to name a few. As a former vice-chancellor, Julius has a wealth of knowledge and experience in leadership. He has led significant change management programmes which have often addressed issues such as academic promotion and progression. Julius has also been instrumental in managing the attainment gap of individuals from diverse backgrounds, establishing major building programmes and delivering financial stability.

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23. Jane Ide - Learning to run effective trustee boards

As CEO of ACEVO, the growing network of civil society leaders that works to develop skills and connections within the charity sector, Trustee at the social investment trust ACCESS and the Chair of Trustees at Reach Volunteering, Jane's contributions to the charity sector have distinguished her as a devotee to social change. Join Nurole CEO, Oliver Cummings, as Jane shares how her opinion of the way to lead Trustee Boards and the CEO-Chair dynamic has changed.

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22. Janhavi Dadarkar - Governance is the backbone of performance

When building a board, governance often takes a backseat to areas that may seem more pressing. The further your company progresses, however, the more obvious it’ll become that governance strategy is the backbone of performance. As a former lawyer, Chair of Adaptive Financial Consulting, CEO for the Academy of Board Excellence and Programme Lead for the Governance and the Role of the Non-Executive Director Course at the Institute of Directors, Janhavi Dadarkar knows that good governance is a staple in the boardroom. With over two decades of experience advising corporate leaders and entrepreneurs, Janhavi joins Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to share her insights into how Chairs, CEOs and board members benefit from more structured governance.

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21. Bushra Ahmed - Why charity board compositions will need to evolve

Bushra Ahmed's journey to the boardroom was an unexpected and unconventional one. Having lost her family business in the 2011 England riots, Bushra mobilised to raise awareness and funding for those affected by the event. Rising to become a charity sector trustee for organisations like the Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales, the Sheila McKechnie Foundation and Home-Start UK, Bushra is a shining example of how charity boards can benefit from differing perspectives and lived experiences.

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20. Hema Patel - How boards accelerate early-stage startups

As a strategic and commercial expert in digital solutions, Hema Patel has spent her career developing an in-depth understanding of how to accelerate growth and lending her functional expertise to various startups to help guide them through their Seed and Series A stages. Informed both by her current board roles at tech startups like ReMake and her executive career at industry-leading institutions like Microsoft, Facebook and Adobe, Hema joins Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings for a retrospective of her journey into the boardroom that explores the opportunities unlocked by investing in board talent at an early stage.

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19. Owen Eastwood - Belonging, togetherness and performance beyond the boardroom

Though he started his professional career as a city lawyer in the heart of London, Owen Eastwood is better known for his performance coaching work for sports teams like Team GB and his roles supporting corporate leaders. His internationally bestselling book, Belonging: The Ancient Code of Togetherness, draws on his Maori roots to deliver team-building and leadership insights grounded in anthropology and cultural traditions. Join Owen and Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings as they discuss the role of belonging cues in enabling performance and how frameworks can be used to guide teams towards harmony and success.

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18. Susannah Nicklin - Investing time and assessing risk on financial services boards

In addition to her board roles within the venture capital, private equity and social impact sectors, Schroder BSC Social Impact Chair Susannah Nicklin's professional background in financial services has made her well-versed in risk management and maximising return on investment. In a close conversation with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings, Susannah discusses the core strategic and cultural differences between sitting on public and private boards, the evolution of investment trusts at the board level and the role of risk management in keeping boards goal-oriented and fiscally secure.

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17. Anne-Marie Headley - How boards benefit from non-traditional experts

Before sitting on the advisory boards of Salary Finance and Natter, Anne-Marie Headley was an award-winning HR professional with over two decades of experience building high-performance cultures for major organisations like Uber, Google and Cisco. Now she sits down with Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to explain how her non-traditional expertise makes her and others like her invaluable to board-level discussion. providing a fresh perspective on leadership that will give contemporary boards the tools they need to put people and culture at the centre of strategy.

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16. Mary Curnock Cook CBE - Chairing outcome-focused education boards

There are few board leaders more well-versed in the education industry than Mary Curnock Cook CBE. In addition to her roles as the Chair of the Dyson Institute, Pearson Education Ltd. and Emerge Education, Mary has developed a portfolio of board-level positions at the London Interdisciplinary School, The Student Loan Company and more. Join Mary and Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings as they discuss the challenges of balancing private and public sector appointments, the importance of training and development for boards and adopting an outcome-focused approach in the boardroom.

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15. Sir Donald Brydon CBE - How seasoned chairs build situational boards

As a titan of the British financial services industry and a veteran Chair, Sir Donald Brydon has lent his insight to the boards of leading corporations like the Royal Mail and the London Stock Exchange as well as fast-growing FinTech disruptors like PrimaryBid and Tide Holdings. Now, he joins Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to discuss how seasoned Chairs tailor strategy, composition and assessment frameworks to tackle the unique, situational challenges of each board they lead. With topics including overboarding, key performance indicators and the differences between boards at different growth stages, this episode will resonate with experienced and aspirant board leaders alike.

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14. Richard Nourse - The future of renewable energy in the boardroom

As one of Europe's largest renewables investment managers with over £7 billion in assets, Greencoat Capital has provided significant opportunities to accelerate the global transition to a low-carbon economy. Founder and Managing Director of Greencoat, Richard Nourse, has used his experiences leading energy teams at Merrill Lynch and Morgan Grenfell to drive the company's commitment to revolutionise the industry. Now, he joins Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to discuss the future of renewable energy and how boards can best invest their time, talent and resources to navigate it.

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13. David Sole - Forging bonds between boards and CEOs

Former record-breaking professional rugby captain, current Chair for Worldwide Cancer Research and founder of the School for CEOs, David Sole OBE, discusses the importance of relationship building in mitigating the challenges of working with and as the Executive Team. His experiences cover subjects ranging from how to tactfully rotate key leadership roles and the most effective styles of questioning when recruiting new board members to proven frameworks for achieving strategic alignment between the CEO and the board.

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12. Patrick Dunne - Building self-aware, purpose-driven boards to reflect stakeholder perspectives

Patrick Dunne has been a committed advocate for social change as the Chair of major charitable organisations like the EY Foundation and ESSA (Education Sub-Saharan Africa). Now he joins Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings to explain how Youth Advisory Boards, a practical approach to meaningful board diversity, and how universally agreed-upon board vision and purpose can help boards to resonate with stakeholders and achieve better results.

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11. Lynne Weedall - Using employee-oriented board Strategy to drive sustainable growth

Experienced Non-Executive Director and Remuneration Committee Chair Lynne Weedall uses her knowledge of employee engagement to discuss how boards can drive sustainable growth by developing employee-focused strategies. With roles at major companies like Treatt, Greggs and Stagecoach, Lynne's HR background has given her an in-depth understanding of balancing data with employee feedback, commission schemes as a motivator and the differences between short-cycle and long-cycle loops.

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10. Sameer Rahman - How boardroom data specialists bring transformational change

Executive Director on the boards of companies like Benenden Health and the Alliance Homes Group. In this episode, he details how data-driven insights from psychological profiling to customer experience can be broken down to benefit board performance.

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9. Terri Duhon - Breaking through imposter syndrome and into the boardroom

Before she was a Non-Executive Director and Risk Committee Chair at Morgan Stanley and Rathbone Brothers, Terri Duhon struggled to secure a board-level role as an accomplished Risk Manager at J.P. Morgan. Join Terri and Nurole CEO Oli Cummings as they discuss the steps executives can take to understand and prove their expertise to board hirers and how risk committees add value to their organisations.

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8. Joanne Hindle - How chairs influence board dynamics

17/05/022 - Though she currently Chairs the boards of the Stafford Railway Building Society and the Shepherd's Friendly Society, Joanne Hindle is an experienced non-executive director who has worked with companies such as Campbell Page and Unum. Now, she shares some of her experiences leading boards to give insight into what Chairs can do to promote healthy and productive board dynamics.

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7. Vikas Shah - How frameworks create high impact boards with

From starting his first business at 14 to receiving an MBE for his services to business and the economy in 2018, Vikas Shah’s corporate journey has given him a detailed knowledge of executive teams and boardrooms. Now, Vikas shares his methods for creating high-impact boards using frameworks such as KPIs and feedback channels with CEOs and founders.

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6. Neil Thompson - Evolving board dynamics in growing companies

As a former Microsoft VP, Neil Thompson’s journey to the boardroom began with the company’s meteoric rise. Now, as a non-executive director at Keyword Studios, Neil explains how cultural and strategic consistency in the boardroom drives commercial growth.

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5. Graham Hobson - How entrepreneurs become board leaders

PhotoBox co-founder and startup advisor Graham Hobson discusses his journey from founding and successfully exiting his own tech startup to applying the lessons he learned to board-level leadership roles. From unlocking healthy communication with investor directors to establishing an executive team that drives commercial growth, Graham details the ins and outs of being a boardroom entrepreneur.

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4. Eric Collins - Board leadership as an investor director

Hot off the heels of his new Channel 4 series The Money Maker, Tech Nation board member, founder of Impact X and former president Obama appointee Eric Collins provides insight into how he builds relationships with executive teams and allocates his time to get the best results.

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3. Meinhard Schmidt - How hands-on chairs scale start-ups

Experienced medtech Chair and scale-up savant Meinhard Schmidt breaks down his hands-on approach to start-up strategy and how best to drive transformational change beyond the boardroom by supporting CEOs

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2. Margaret O’Connor - Fine-tuning boards for better impact

As an Independent Director at Chrysalis Investments, Margaret O’Connor has played a part in some of the most daring international ventures in finance. Tune in to hear her insights into scaling start-ups, evaluating board-level performance, and managing corporate risk.

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1. Lucy Armstrong - Redefining your board career

Chair Lucy Armstrong provides insights into driving your boardroom career as she recounts her unconventional journey from sitting on a prison board fresh out of university to leading a number of successful non-executive teams.

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