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)Host: Oliver CummingsProducer: Will Felton Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kold Email: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

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) Host: Oliver CummingsProducer: Will Felton Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kold Email: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

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) Host: Oliver CummingsProducer: Will Felton Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kold Email: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

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) Host: Oliver CummingsProducer: Will Felton Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kold Email: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

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) Host: Oliver CummingsProducer: Will Felton Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kold Email: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Amy C. Edmondson, a celebrated Professor at Harvard Business School and top management thinker, dives into the concept of psychological safety in boardrooms. She shares why it's crucial for fostering open conversations and effective decision-making. The discussion highlights strategies for assessing and improving psychological safety, addressing challenges posed by remote work, and navigating organizational failures. Amy also offers insights on challenging leadership dynamics and the importance of candid dialogue to drive innovation and growth.

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) Host: Oliver CummingsProducer: Will Felton Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kold Email: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

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) Host: Oliver CummingsProducer: Will Felton Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kold Email: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

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)  Host: Oliver CummingsProducer: Will Felton Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kold Email: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

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)  Host: Oliver CummingsProducer: Will Felton Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kold Email: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom