

Enter the Boardroom with Nurole
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.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Oct 22, 2025 • 48min
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)Host: Oliver Cummings Producer: Will Felton Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kold Email: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Oct 15, 2025 • 47min
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)Host: Oliver Cummings Producer: Will Felton Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kold Email: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Oct 8, 2025 • 38min
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) ⚡Host: Oliver Cummings Producer: Will Felton Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kold Email: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Sep 30, 2025 • 41min
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)Host: Oliver Cummings Producer: Will Felton Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kold Email: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Sep 24, 2025 • 39min
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) Host: Oliver Cummings Producer: Will Felton Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kold Email: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Sep 18, 2025 • 44min
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)Host: Oliver Cummings Producer: Will Felton Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kold Email: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Sep 10, 2025 • 42min
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)Host: Oliver Cummings Producer: Will Felton Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kold Email: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Sep 3, 2025 • 42min
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) Host: Oliver Cummings Producer: Will Felton Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kold Email: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Aug 27, 2025 • 37min
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) • ⚡ Lightning Round ⚡ (33:18)Host: Oliver Cummings Producer: Will Felton Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kold Email: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Aug 20, 2025 • 48min
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).Host: Oliver Cummings Producer: Will Felton Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kold Email: podcast@nurole.com Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom


