174. Sir John Kingman: Why boards need more misfits - lessons from the financial crisis

Enter the Boardroom

Enter the Boardroom
174. Sir John Kingman: Why boards need more misfits - lessons from the financial crisis
May 20, 2026 Season 1 Episode 175

Sir John Kingman is Chairman of Legal & General and Barclays Bank UK. In 2018, he led the landmark independent review of the Financial Reporting Council (the Kingman Review) which called for the abolition of the FRC and its replacement with a new statutory regulator. Listen to this episode to hear about Sir John's experience: Running towards the fire: what separates boards that cope from boards that collapse (01:51) Why the RBS board was too big to save itself (06:52) The truth about culture in banks that most boards miss (08:01) The collective failure of imagination that brought the banks down (11:00) Why boards needs more weirdos (14:42) The Kingman Review: why the UK has the best rules and some of the worst companies (16:58) What Sir John thinks makes a truly effective NED (23:47) The three question he asks every potential NED (26:35) Why new NEDs should never try to fit in straight away (28:12)⚡The Lightning Round⚡(31:51)

Host: Oliver Cummings

Producer: Will Felton

Editor: Penelope Coumau

Music: Kate Mac

Audio: Nick Kold

Email: podcast@nurole.com

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