
Enter the Boardroom with Nurole
Enter the Boardroom lifts the veil on the secretive world of boards, giving you the information you need to get more board roles and become better board members. Join Nurole CEO Oliver Cummings as he sits down with the extraordinary people shaping today's and tomorrow's boardrooms.
Latest episodes

May 14, 2025 • 46min
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)Host: Oliver Cummings Producer: Will Felton Editor: Alex Fish Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kolt Email: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

May 7, 2025 • 44min
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)Host: Oliver Cummings Producer: Will Felton Editor: Alex Fish Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kolt Email: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Apr 30, 2025 • 45min
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? (22:22) 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: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Apr 23, 2025 • 44min
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)Host: Oliver Cummings Producer: Will Felton Editor: Alex Fish Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kolt Email: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Apr 16, 2025 • 43min
118. Gerry Murphy, Tesco & Burberry Chair - How boards add strategic value
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: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Apr 9, 2025 • 45min
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)Host: Oliver Cummings Producer: Will Felton Editor: Alex Fish Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kolt Email: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Apr 2, 2025 • 44min
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)Host: Oliver Cummings Producer: Will Felton Editor: Alex Fish Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kolt Email: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Mar 26, 2025 • 46min
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? (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: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Mar 19, 2025 • 50min
114. Richard Meddings CBE: 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)Host: Oliver Cummings Producer: Will Felton Editor: Alex Fish Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kolt Email: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Mar 12, 2025 • 48min
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)Host: Oliver Cummings Producer: Will Felton Editor: Alex Fish Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kolt Email: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom