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 Design 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 ...
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 i...
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 inclusio...
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) H...
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 perfo...
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 ...
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...
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?...
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 com...
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 arc...
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 o...
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? ...
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) Ha...
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 th...
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 ...
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 ...
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 u...
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 suffi...
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 str...
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...