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)

Host: Oliver Cummings

Producer: Will Felton

Editor: Alex Fish

Music: Kate Mac

Audio: Nick Kolt

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

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)

Host: Oliver Cummings

Producer: Will Felton

Editor: Alex Fish

Music: Kate Mac

Audio: Nick Kolt

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

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)

Host: Oliver Cummings

Producer: Will Felton

Editor: Alex Fish

Music: Kate Mac

Audio: Nick Kolt

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

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)

Host: Oliver Cummings

Producer: Will Felton

Editor: Alex Fish

Music: Kate Mac

Audio: Nick Kolt

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

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? (22:22) How should CEOs adapt as their companies scale? (23:52) Do investor directors add value? (30:45) What metrics should boards be assessing their management teams on? (37:50) What macro-trends should NEDs be watching out for? (38:58) and ⚡The Lightning round ⚡(41:46)

Host: Oliver Cummings

Producer: Will Felton

Editor: Alex Fish

Music: Kate Mac

Audio: Nick Kolt

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

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)

Host: Oliver Cummings

Producer: Will Felton

Editor: Alex Fish

Music: Kate Mac

Audio: Nick Kolt

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Gerry Murphy is Chair of Tesco and Burberry, Trustee at The Burberry Foundation and Senior Advisor at Perella Weinberg. 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) 

Host: Oliver Cummings

Producer: Will Felton

Editor: Alex Fish

Music: Kate Mac

Audio: Nick Kolt

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

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)

Host: Oliver Cummings

Producer: Will Felton

Editor: Alex Fish

Music: Kate Mac

Audio: Nick Kolt

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

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)

Host: Oliver Cummings

Producer: Will Felton

Editor: Alex Fish

Music: Kate Mac

Audio: Nick Kolt

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

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? (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)

Host: Oliver Cummings

Producer: Will Felton

Editor: Alex Fish

Music: Kate Mac

Audio: Nick Kolt

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom