Tessa Clarke is co-founder and CEO of Olio, which  has over 8.5 million users, across 65+ countries, who have together shared over 125 million meals and 15 million household items. Tessa is a member of the Small Business Growth Forum, Advisory Board Member at Stop Ecocide International and Venture Partner at Mustard Seed MAZE. Listen to hear her thoughts on: The Olio story  (02:08) The three moments the board added most value (3:19) The hardest moments in the journey (4:23) Where board members can add more value to founders (7:58) How Tessa decided to stick or quit with strategy and tactics (10:19) How boards members can help founders set time and ambition frames (14:18) Where uncertainty is helpful and necessary (16:01) Why Tessa felt she needed non-exec board members (21:01) Key qualities Tessa looks for in board members (23:58) Critical moments where board members have added value (25:48) Tessa’s unique “rules of the road” board document (28:27) Why Tessa does board assessments (34:22)  ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(39:45)

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

Dame Marie Gabriel CBE is Chair of the NHS Race and Health Observatory and NHS North East London Integrated Care Board and former Chair of NHS Improvement’s London Regional Board. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: Creating a positive culture in board meetings open to the public (2:11) Laptops in meetings (4:23) Creating a sense of psychological safety and humanity in board meetings (5:52) Marie’s unique way of compiling board agendas (7:43) Using temporary committees to bridge the gap between sub-committees and the main board (9:42) How to deal with the length of public board papers (13:02) Lessons on time discipline (17:39) How to maintain board member engagement in the face of such a challenging environment (19:04) How to develop junior board members (20:57) Why public boards need entrepreneurs to balance risk appetite (23:34) What public boards can do to increase innovation (26:18) How to create sufficient psychological safety for innovation, risk and mistakes (30:43) The most challenging conversation Marie has had on a board (32:23) An overview of NHS boards (34:48) How Marie dealt with 50% cuts to NHS funding (38:18) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(42:02)  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dr. Margaret Heffernan is author of seven books, including Wilful Blindness, Uncharted and Embracing Uncertainty. A former CEO of InfoMation Corp, ZineZone Corp, and iCast Corp, she was inducted into the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame in 2024. In this episode, we discuss: Balancing rigidity with flexibility in board meetings (1:35) What great board agendas look like (6:47) When ice -breakers help, and when they don’t (8:35) Helpful versus unhelpful challenge (10:58) Wilful blindness - and why smart people suffer from it (13:32) How to mitigate wilful blindness (16:36) Collaboration versus competition - lessons from The Human Genome Project (18:39) The super-chicken problem, and what should boards can learn from it (21:32) And the ⚡Lightning Round⚡(24:06) 

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

Dr. Margaret Heffernan is author of seven books, including Wilful Blindness, Uncharted and Embracing Uncertainty. A former CEO of InfoMation Corp, ZineZone Corp, and iCast Corp, she was inducted into the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame in 2024. In this episode, we discuss: What uncertainty does to board decision-making (2:47) Practical ways boards can mitigate it (6:25) Squaring “take your time” with decisiveness (11:10) What a robust boardroom decision process looks like (14:36) Being agile without flip-flopping (18:13) When and how to use cooling-off periods (21:22) What deep hanging out means in practice (22:37) Absorbing context beyond datapoints (25:38) The value of unstructured time in the boardroom (27:54) An example of reaching the right answer without an agenda (32:10)

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

Peter Clark is a NED at Clarks. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: What makes a great i-NED on a family board? (2:15) What should you look for when recruiting NEDs in a family business? (5:27) What questions do you ask when interviewing a NED candidate? (8:07) What mistakes have you made when hiring NEDs in the past? (11:18) How has Clarks remained a family business for 7 generations? (13:39) What is a family council? (16:01) What discussions do you have on the council? (18:39) How do you navigate a professional relationship with a family member? (21:22) How do you select family members to join the council? (22:28) Where do you think you have added the most value as a NED? (26:42) Why did you bring outside investment into Clarks? (28:10) How did the relationship between the Clarks family and the business evolve post investment? (32:28) What advice would you give to other family businesses looking at external investment as an option? (34:03) And ⚡ The Lightning Round ⚡ (39:19)

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

Carl-Peter Forster is Chair of Vesuvius plc and Keller Group plc. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: What experiences from your executive career have shaped your non-executive career? (2:09) How would you counsel a new CEO coming into a business looking to set up their own team? (7:06) What lessons did you learn from the General Motors crisis? (10:12) What did you learn from your time at Tata Motors? (13:56) How do you advise a headstrong founder? (17:11) How do you navigate different business cultures? (21:16) What's been the most difficult board conversation you’ve had as a CEO? (22:36) What frameworks best help a new NED navigate an industrial company? (26:57) How useful is spending money on R&D? (31:05) What risks should boards be most alert to in the defence industry? (35:47) And the ⚡Lightning Round⚡ (40:48)

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

Laurence Garett is General Partner at Highland Europe, a VC firm, and NED at Wirepas, hyperexponential, Modulr, Featurespace Ltd and Goodlord. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: What strategic contributions did the board make to Featurespace’s growth? (2:01)How should board members think about pricing? (9:44) How can board members help organisations bring new products to market? (12:59) What do CEOs and board members need to keep top of mind when moving to the US market? (17:31) What were the toughest boardroom moments in the Featurespace journey? (24:14) What advice do you have to anyone listening who feels they need to replace their chair? (26:28) Featurespace’s exit to Visa was challenging - what lessons are there for listeners? (28:23) Why should start-ups never disclose their price when selling? (33:45) And the⚡ The Lightning Round ⚡(40:25) 

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

Ian Phillips is Chair of Watling Park Primary, consultant at Clew Education and author of How to be a great GoaT, a guide to being a brilliant governor or trustee. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: What does the role of governor or trustee involve? (1:57) Are there archetypal board member profiles that you think are most needed? (6:20) What questions should candidates be asking to decide whether they take on a role? (10:46) Can board members add value to schools running at a deficit? (17:03) How do you think about the board’s relationship with the headteacher? (18:48) What metrics do you use to assess a headteacher’s performance? (20:31) Why do data and innovation remain such a challenge in the education sector? (24:21) Why should boards encourage headteachers to allocate time to marketing instead of developing a better offering? (29:03) Are school boards doing enough to address the challenge of students for whom English is a second language? (31:26) What did you mean by “the board employs the headteacher, not the other way around”? (32:50) Why do schools get so many exclusion decisions wrong? (35:41) And 

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

Karen Blackett CBE is NED at Diageo plc and Chancellor of the University of Portsmouth. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: Where have boards added most value for you as a CEO or a president? (2:21) What advice would you give to CEOs going through a transformation? (7:07) What does good internal communication look like? (14:11) What questions should board members be asking to help a transformation process? (15:15) How do you strike the balance of being a proactive vs overbearing NED? (17:24) How does an organisation like Diageo think about transformation, especially with something like AI? (18:31) How can board members add value on the topic of AI? (25:36) How can boards help build brands? (27:08) What questions should board members be asking about their company’s marketing strategy? (34:16)  When have you been proudest of the cultural change you've created at an organization? (36:27) And ⚡ The Lightning Round ⚡(43:09) 

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

Yvonne Bajela is Partner at LocalGlobe and Latitude. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: What value can a board bring to startups? (1:28) What is a North Star metric for startup boards, and should  they be looking for one? (5:28) How do you effectively challenge a founder as a NED? (8:58) How do boards  navigate hypergrowth, with the associated challenges? (10:47) What have been the three most challenging situations you've faced as a board member? (12:02) What have you learnt about dealing with founder breakups as a board member?? (12:54) How should boards navigate a rapid change in market dynamics, such as a pandemic or the introduction of AI? (18:26) What approach should organisations take with regard to AI? (25:20) What heuristics can you use to determine whether an AI business has a moat? (28:13) At what stage should founders build a board? (30:32) What are the moments where you've seen independent directors add transformational value? (32:42) How can founder-CEOs ensure their board is giving them a high return on investment? (36:12) What makes a good investor director? (41:05) And the ⚡ The Lightning Round ⚡ (42:54)

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

Rita Clifton CBE is Chair of Simplyhealth and Deputy Chair of the John Lewis Partnership. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: Why should boards care more about brand? (1:52) What framework do you use to assess brand when joining a board? (5:49) How should CEOs think about return on brand investment? (8:03) How should boards manage the lag between internal changes and market perception?(17:59) When has your brand expertise helped unlock board-level value? (20:18) What did you do at ASOS when the share price collapsed? (28:17) How should boards handle intense public scrutiny of  their brands? (31:29) Where do boards most often go wrong on brand? (37:19) And ⚡The Lightning round ⚡(40:44)

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

Fred Destin is founder of Stride VC and was lead investor at Cazoo, Deliveroo, Integral Ad Science and Zoopla. Tune in to hear his thoughts on: Where have you seen start-up board members add most value to their organisations? (1:39) How did the Zoopla board get comfortable with giving away 30% equity in one go? (6:16) How did you manage having customers on your board? (7:26) What KPIs should board members be looking at? (8:27) Have you spotted patterns across particularly valuable board members? (10:34) Why is it wrong to frame board-level discussions around value add? (19:10) You’ve said most boards destroy value - why is that? (34:47) Should board members be more like scientists and less like prosecutors and preachers? (39:48) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(44:20) 

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

Elena Botelho is co-author of the international best-seller, The CEO Next Door, and partner at ghSMART. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: What mistakes do boards most often make in CEO succession? (1:50) How should boards use external advice when evaluating CEO candidates? (6:23) What lessons can board members learn from failed CEO hires? (19:46) How can individual board members overcome deference to powerful CEOs? (22:34) What's your framework for hiring a CEO? (25:49) Should CEOs have board roles? (32:53) How should boards decide whether to invest in developing a potential CEO candidate? (36:27) What can boards learn from the companies that consistently produce great CEOs? (40:15) ⚡The Lightning round ⚡(44:11)

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

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

Music: Kate Mac

Audio: Nick Kold

Email: podcast@nurole.com

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

Music: Kate Mac

Audio: Nick Kold

Email: podcast@nurole.com

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