The Boardroom Path

Dorothy Burwell on Adaptive Capacity and the Human Side of Governance

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0100

Why do some boards freeze the moment pressure arrives, while others adapt and lead? In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson speaks with Dorothy Burwell, Global Head of Board Advisory at FGS Global and a board director at Post Holdings and Pennon plc, about what she calls adaptive capacity, the ability to learn, unlearn and make sound judgement calls when experience alone is no longer enough.

Dorothy cites Deloitte research showing generative AI-enabled fraud could cost businesses 40 billion US dollars by 2027, up from 12.3 billion in 2023, and explains why boards can no longer treat governance as a quarterly ritual. She sets out a triage framework borrowed from emergency medicine for prioritising risk, unpacks why trust, not process, is usually the first thing to break down in a crisis, and explains how boards can navigate activist campaigns and chair-CEO relationships without stepping into management's lane. This is a practical guide to boardroom human behaviour for any NED building real adaptive capacity.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(03:18) - A Non-Linear Career from Banking to Board Advisory
(06:33) - FGS Global's Role in the Boardroom Dynamic
(08:33) - Building Trust between Boards and Management
(12:29) - Productive Disagreement and Psychological Safety
(15:53) - Inside the FGS Rewired World Report
(19:06) - Defining Adaptive Capacity for the Boardroom
(22:52) - Spotting an Adaptive Board in Practice
(25:01) - The Boardroom Triage Model for Crisis Decisions
(31:37) - Chair-CEO Trust and Tight-Loose Coupling
(38:24) - AI as Both Threat and Tool for Governance
(43:00) - Activism, Reputation and the FGS Playbook

Dorothy Burwell: Dorothy Burwell is Global Head of Board Advisory and a Partner at FGS Global, where she has spent nearly two decades advising boards, CEOs and leadership teams through transformation, activism, crisis and reputational pressure. She began her career in investment banking at Goldman Sachs, working across the Investment Banking Division and Firmwide Strategy Group in London and New York. Dorothy is an independent non-executive director at Post Holdings, Inc., where she sits on the audit committee, and at Pennon Group Plc, where she chairs the ESG committee and sits on the remuneration, nominations and HSE committees. She is a past trustee of Which?, the UK consumer group, and co-author of the FGS Global paper A Hard Job Getting Harder: The Board's Role in a Rewired World.

Ralph Grayson: Ralph Grayson is a Partner in the Board Practice at Sainty Hird & Partners, bringing extensive experience in board-level recruitment, assessment, and advisory services. With a deep understanding of the corporate governance landscape, Ralph specialises in guiding senior executives as they transition into impactful boardroom careers. His thoughtful approach, combined with a passion for developing effective leaders, enables him to facilitate insightful conversations that equip aspiring and newly appointed Non-Executive Directors with the tools they need to succeed. Through The Boardroom Path, Ralph leverages his extensive professional network and expertise to empower listeners on their journey into the boardroom.

Episode Insights:

A board is not a team but a "pop-up" group of individuals who meet a handful of times a year, so building human connection quickly matters as much as technical expertise.
Trust, not process or data, is usually the first thing to break down when a board crisis unfolds, and everything else unravels from there.
A simple triage framework, borrowed from emergency medicine, helps boards prioritise whether to monitor, adapt, react or act on emerging risks.
Chair-CEO trust depends on agreeing priorities together and then genuinely letting the CEO execute, rather than the chair becoming heavy-handed under shareholder pressure.
Adaptive capacity, the willingness to learn and unlearn, matters more for boards than trying to predict an increasingly unpredictable future.

Action Points:

Build your board's decision framework in advance: Agree how the board will triage a crisis before one happens, mapping issues by whether they are gradual or sudden and whether they affect everyone or just your organisation. Practise this with real scenarios, such as a cyber incident or supply chain shock, so people know their roles under pressure. This turns a crisis response from improvisation into rehearsal.
Protect trust between board and management: Invest time outside the boardroom building one-to-one relationships with the management contacts closest to your committee work. Use those conversations to understand what they are working on and offer input before papers are finalised, rather than only during meetings. Stronger informal trust leads to more transparent information and better decisions when it matters.
Treat AI fluency as a whole-board responsibility: Do not delegate AI oversight to a single AI director or committee member. Ensure every director understands how AI is used in your business and how it could be used against you, given researchers project AI-enabled fraud could reach 40 billion US dollars by 2027. Build this into ongoing board education rather than one-off briefings.
Prepare for activist and contentious votes before they arrive: Map out how your board would respond to a contentious AGM vote or activist campaign, including how you would engage retail as well as institutional shareholders. Agree who leads external communication and how management and the board coordinate their message. Early preparation reduces the risk of a public, damaging standoff.
Shift board time from reviewing the past to preparing for the future: Challenge your board to spend less time re-litigating historic performance and more time discussing what it is preparing for next. Ask whether your risk register only gets a thorough look once a year, and whether that is frequent enough given the pace of change. A future-facing agenda is a practical expression of adaptive capacity.

The Boardroom Path is the essential podcast for aspiring and newly appointed Non-Executive Directors (NEDs) navigating the journey from executive leadership to the boardroom. Hosted by Ralph Grayson, partner at Sainty Hird & Partners, each episode offers insightful conversations with industry leaders, seasoned board directors, and governance experts. Our guests share practical strategies, valuable perspectives, and actionable advice on how to effectively transition into board roles, maximise your impact, and build a rewarding NED career.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path. Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

Steve Kavanagh on Governance in Elite Sport

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0100

How should a board govern an organisation that its community believes it owns?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson speaks with Steve Kavanagh, Head of gunnercooke Sport and former chief executive of Millwall Football Club, about what good governance in elite sport actually looks like. Steve draws on 25 years across Charlton Athletic, Southend United and Millwall, plus a term as an elected director of the English Football League, to explain why football is a business with the same metrics and duties as any other, and why emotion makes it far harder to run.

The conversation is timely. Championship clubs recorded combined pre-tax losses of around £317m in their most recent published accounts, as reported by BBC Sport, and the Independent Football Regulator published its final licensing rules and guidance on 1 July 2026. Steve sets out how boards can hold owners to account, separate fandom from judgement, protect the club as a community asset, and prepare for a licensing regime that raises the governance floor across the pyramid.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(01:38) - Governance in Elite Sport
(04:05) - From Chartered Accountant to the Football Boardroom
(08:39) - What Good Governance Looks Like in Sport
(12:06) - Financial Sustainability and Holding Owners to Account
(14:14) - Protecting the Club as a Community Asset
(16:54) - Passion, Emotion and Clear-Headed Judgement
(20:42) - Reining In the Executive Chair
(26:36) - Advice for Aspiring Sports Board Members
(30:49) - Lessons from the EFL, the FA and the Regulator
(35:46) - The Regulator and Football's Funding Problem
(41:12) - Media Rights and Global Investment

Steve Kavanagh: Steve Kavanagh is Head of gunnercooke Sport and an Operating Partner at the international commercial law firm gunnercooke, where he launched the firm's specialist sport division in February 2025. A chartered accountant who trained at BDO, he spent 25 years in professional football, joining Charlton Athletic as finance director before serving as chief executive of Southend United and then Millwall, where he led the club for eight years from 2016 and oversaw promotion to the Championship in his first season. Alongside his executive roles he was an elected non-executive director on the English Football League board and a member of the FA Council, the Professional Game Board and vice chairman of the FA Cup Committee, contributing to the reforms that led to the creation of the game's independent regulator. He now advises clubs, athletes and sports businesses on governance, commercial strategy, compliance and disputes across football, rugby, cricket, tennis, boxing and the NFL.

Episode Insights:

Governance in sport is less about compliance language and more about good practice, good metrics, good communication and enough experience around the board table to cover every part of the club.
On-field ambition and off-field sustainability are one problem, not two. The board's real work sits in the bridge between them, where overspending on wages turns competitive hope into financial fragility.
Treating the club as a community asset gives the board a durable platform. Community trust survives relegation, and it is what a club grows back from when results turn.
Emotion belongs in sport, but boards need directors who can separate support from judgement, resist getting too close to the manager and challenge decisions made in the heat of competition.
Keeping a good owner in place for the long term is itself a governance outcome. Boards that can pull a chair back protect the club from the cycle of chasing a new investor every few years.

Action Points:

Separate the fan from the director: Before joining a sports board, write down why you want the role and what you will contribute beyond enthusiasm. Ask whether you would still be effective in a relegation season. Boards need directors who can hold judgement steady when everyone around them is emotionally invested.
Stress test the funding model, not just the budget: Ask management to show how the club would operate if player sales dried up for a season. Championship clubs lost around £317m in their most recent published accounts, as reported by BBC Sport. Treat trading income as volatile rather than recurring.
Make the owner explain the strategy: Require a written statement of the ownership's ambition, the spend it implies and the commitment behind it if performance disappoints. Minute the answer. A confident owner will welcome the discipline, and the club is protected if circumstances change.
Prepare early for licensing: The Independent Football Regulator published its final licensing rules and guidance on 1 July 2026. Review your board papers, minutes and liquidity evidence now. Clubs that formalise oversight before deadlines will spend less time and money proving it later.
Audit the skills you are missing: Map your board against financial acumen, corporate governance, community engagement and commercial rights expertise. Recruit against the gaps rather than the network. Build development pathways so a wider pool becomes genuinely appointable over the next few seasons.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path. Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

Psychological Safety in the Boardroom with Andrew Seerden

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0100

What happens when a board only hears what it is allowed to hear?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson speaks with Andrew Seerden, an independent director and Growth Advisory Board chair based in Auckland, about why boards fail on information rather than intelligence. Drawing on a live case, a $350 million New Zealand B2B business whose long-serving CEO delivered growth while running a culture of fear, Andrew explains why psychological safety is a governance design task for the chair, not a cultural aspiration for HR.

The timing matters. PwC's latest board effectiveness survey found that 41% of executives rate their boards as excellent or good, yet only 17% of those who rarely interact with the board say the same, a perception gap that tends to surface only under real pressure. Andrew sets out the mechanics that close it: board charters that codify noses in, fingers out, independent and dotted-line reporting channels, directors visiting sites without asking permission, and a collaboration contract that defines trust with the CEO in advance. Silence, he argues, is the signal chairs should never ignore.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(04:20) - A Third Career in Governance and Advisory Boards
(07:20) - Psychological Safety as Governance Design
(09:43) - Information Distortion and the Danger of Silence
(13:15) - Structures That Surface the Truth
(14:20) - Bypassing the CEO Without Undermining the Role
(17:36) - Safety Is Not Comfort and the Warm Bath Illusion
(18:35) - When Chair and CEO Become Too Cosy
(21:53) - The Kelp Exercise and Staying Centred
(28:55) - Yellow Cards and Depersonalising Conflict
(31:35) - The Collaboration Contract and Final Takeaways

Andrew Seerden: Andrew Seerden is an independent director and Growth Advisory Board chair based in Auckland, New Zealand, and the founder of Seerden Board Partners, a board and governance advisory practice working with founders, owners, CxOs and chairs in New Zealand and internationally. He brings 30 years of senior commercial leadership in B2B businesses, including senior roles at Hewlett-Packard, Compaq and IBM across New Zealand and the Netherlands, and spent 11 years as Chair of the Board of Trustees at the national charity StarJam, guiding it through scale, financial restructuring and founder-CEO succession. Through Seerden Board Partners and Fresh Perspectives he advises on board effectiveness, advisory board design, commercial growth and CEO counsel, and he writes regularly on governance for a board-level audience. He holds an MBA from Newport University, Utrecht.

Episode Insights:

Boards rarely fail on intelligence; they fail on unfiltered information, which makes information flow a design problem rather than a personality problem.
Silence in the boardroom is a risk indicator. Unanimous sign-off with no debate suggests people do not feel safe to challenge, whether the constraint comes from the CEO or the chair.
Independent and dotted-line reporting channels only work when they are transparent and codified, otherwise they become a backdoor for gossip rather than a governance mechanism.
The kelp exercise, borrowed from chair Maggie Wilderotter, gives boards a shared signal for delivering bad news and requires the chair to stay centred, listen without a knee-jerk reaction and avoid shooting the messenger.
A collaboration contract, agreed with the CEO in advance, defines explicitly what trust, communication and the handling of difficult information will look like before a crisis tests them.

Action Points:

Codify noses in, fingers out: Put the boundary between governance and management in writing in the board charter rather than leaving it to custom. Set out what directors may do without asking permission, including site visits and conversations below the executive line. Review the charter annually so it reflects how the board actually operates.
Design the channels before you need them: Agree independent routes for information now, whether that is dotted-line reporting, a whistleblower programme, the company secretary or an independent evaluator. Document who may use each channel and how it is handled. Transparency is what stops these routes being read as disloyalty to the CEO.
Treat silence as an agenda item: When a significant proposal passes without challenge, ask why. Andrew's test is simple: no debate on trade-offs is a signal, not a success. Build a habit of asking each director for a dissenting view before any material decision is confirmed.
Write a collaboration contract with your CEO: Have the direct conversation about expectations, communication rhythm and the handling of bad news, then document what you agree. Revisit it after any incident where information reached the board late. Treat resistance to the conversation as diagnostic rather than personal.
Rehearse how you receive bad news: Adopt a shared signal, such as the kelp cue or a yellow card, that any member can use to flag difficult news or unproductive behaviour. Practise responding with questions rather than blame. Consistency here is what earns the trust that makes disclosure possible.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path. Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

Sallie Pilot on Aligning Boards, Investors and Long-Term Value

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0100

How well do boards really understand the system that owns and funds them?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson speaks with Sallie Pilot, Managing Director of the Investor and Issuer Forum, about why the investment chain has become a core governance responsibility rather than an investor relations afterthought. They explore how capital can flow through as many as eight layers between an asset owner and a company, why boards often misread the signals they receive, and how chairs can build trust through genuine, two-way dialogue rather than scripted, one-way updates.

With UK equities drawing renewed interest amid record share buybacks and a fresh wave of takeover bids for London-listed companies, according to Morningstar, the conversation could not be more timely. Sallie explains the thinking behind the Investor and Issuer Compass, a practical framework for alignment across the chain, and why materiality, not the volume of disclosure, should shape how boards handle ESG. From pass-through voting to stewardship in 2026, this is a practical roadmap for NEDs who want to understand how they are owned, evaluated and funded.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(03:36) - Inside the Investor and Issuer Forum
(05:29) - Why the Investment Chain Is a Board Issue
(07:30) - Should the Board Own Investor Engagement?
(09:22) - Where Boards and Investors Misalign
(15:28) - Who Really Owns Your Company?
(19:56) - What Investors Want to Hear from Boards
(24:19) - Valuation, Governance and Long-Term Value
(25:54) - Building the Investor and Issuer Compass
(28:14) - Stewardship and the Myth of One Investor Voice
(32:13) - ESG, Materiality and Better Decisions
(41:54) - Technology, AI and the Future of Ownership

Sallie Pilot: Sallie Pilot is Managing Director of the Investor and Issuer Forum, a practitioner-led initiative launched in 2024 to improve how the UK equity market functions by strengthening engagement across the investment chain. Set up by the Investor Forum, supported by the London Stock Exchange and backed by the Financial Reporting Council, the Forum brings together asset owners, asset managers and the chairs of listed companies. A specialist in corporate reporting, governance, stewardship and stakeholder engagement, Sallie was previously an owner and executive director of the stakeholder communications firm Black Sun. She sits on the FRC's Stakeholder Insight Group and Financial Reporting Lab Steering Committee and has served on the board of the Investor Relations Society, giving her a rare cross-market view of how boards, investors and regulators interact.

Episode Insights:

Governance no longer stops at the boardroom door; it extends into the capital system, so boards must understand how they are owned, evaluated and funded.
The UK's biggest capital market frictions stem from misalignment across the investment chain, not a lack of intent, and boards can influence that misalignment.
Capital can pass through around eight layers between an asset owner and a company, distorting the signals boards receive about what investors really want.
ESG matters most when it shapes strategy, capital allocation and decisions, not when it simply adds to the volume of disclosure; materiality should be the filter.
Investors value honesty over polish, so boards that explain their reasoning, including why they do not comply, build trust in a comply or explain market.

Action Points:

Know who your investors really are: Map the layers between your company and its ultimate asset owners, and understand how mandates and incentives shape the signals you receive. Treat this as a standing board agenda item rather than a one-off investor relations exercise. The clearer your picture of ownership, the more confidently the board can act.
Make engagement purposeful, not routine: Decide why a conversation with investors is happening and whether you are being reactive or deliberate. Do not read a lack of investor interest as a snub, as it often signals comfort with your strategy. Reserve chair and committee-chair engagement for moments of genuine decision-making or information exchange.
Lead with materiality on ESG: Focus reporting and oversight on the issues that genuinely affect long-term performance and licence to operate. Resist the pull to chase every framework and metric, which obscures what really drives value. Show investors how material issues are managed and monitored, not merely disclosed.
Explain, do not just comply: Use the comply or explain regime as a strength by setting out the reasoning behind board decisions and any departures from the code. Investors consistently say they want the explanation and the context, not box-ticking. Clear, honest explanations build trust and usually earn support.
Get externally fluent on technology: Build the board's understanding of how AI, pass-through voting and tokenisation are reshaping ownership, voting and engagement. Keep the company's story consistent across every channel and spokesperson. Treat continuous, coherent dialogue with the market as a growing expectation rather than an occasional event.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path. Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

Alexander Denny on Discounts, Activism and the Modern Investment Trust Board

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 01:00:00 +0100

What does it mean to sit on an investment trust board when discounts, activism and shareholder scrutiny are no longer exceptional events?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson speaks with Alexander Denny, an experienced investment company executive and non-executive director, about the changing demands placed on investment trust boards. Alex draws on his work with Fidelity, Pantheon, Apax Global Alpha, Aurora UK Alpha, Margetts Fund Management and the Association of Investment Companies to explain why these roles are increasingly active, time-intensive and strategically important.

The discussion feels especially timely as Saba Capital’s campaign against UK investment trusts continues to test the sector’s governance model, while recent reporting notes that private investor ownership of investment trusts has risen to 27% according to Investment Week. Alex explores how boards should think about discounts, manager accountability, retail engagement, board evaluation, CPD and reputational risk.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(03:30) - From Strategic Challenge to Boardroom Reality
(07:15) - Moving from Fidelity to a Portfolio Career
(12:13) - What the IoD Commission Found About NEDs
(17:33) - CPD, Certification and Director Accountability
(19:54) - The Levers Available to Investment Trust Boards
(25:04) - Influence, Relationships and Shareholder Engagement
(30:02) - What First-Time Investment Trust NEDs Should Check
(32:34) - Saba, Activism and Sector Governance
(41:06) - Discounts, Valuation and Liquidity Risk
(44:21) - How Boards Add Value Beyond Performance
(51:55) - The Future of Investment Trust Board Roles

Alexander Denny: Alex Denny is an experienced non-executive director, trustee and consultant with deep expertise in investment trusts, private equity, private wealth and public markets. He joined the board of the Association of Investment Companies in 2022 and became an independent non-executive director of Aurora UK Alpha plc in January 2026. Alex is also an independent non-executive director of Margetts Fund Management, leads the investment companies board hiring practice at Nurole and serves as a trustee of the Nautical Archaeology Society. He was previously Managing Director, European Private Wealth at Pantheon and Head of Investment Companies at Fidelity International, giving him direct experience of investment company governance from both the executive and non-executive sides.

Episode Insights:

Investment trust boards are no longer passive stewardship bodies; they increasingly need to show judgement, challenge and visible engagement with managers and shareholders.
The shareholder is also the customer in an investment company, which makes communication, retail engagement and discount management core board concerns.
Activism can help address poor governance or persistent discounts, but the Saba campaigns show how the sector’s structure can create unusual vulnerabilities.
A good NED needs curiosity, sector interest and enough time to build relationships beyond formal board meetings.
Board evaluation and ongoing professional development are becoming more important as expectations of NED skill, evidence and accountability rise.

Action Points:

Test your real interest: Before pursuing an investment trust board role, ask whether you are genuinely curious about the company, its asset class and its shareholder base. If the subject does not interest you, it will be hard to bring the energy and judgement the role now demands. Treat motivation as part of your due diligence, not a soft extra.
Assess the discount story: Look beyond the headline discount and ask why it exists, who is selling and whether the board has a credible plan to communicate value. Consider whether underperformance is cyclical, structural or linked to weak shareholder engagement. Use this analysis to judge whether you can add value or are walking into unmanaged risk.
Build relationships before a crisis: Investment trust NEDs should know the portfolio manager, chair, IR lead, marketing team and key service providers before pressure arrives. These relationships help boards spot problems early and influence constructively. Waiting until activism or poor performance escalates makes effective challenge much harder.
Evidence your development: Keep a clear record of relevant CPD, seminars, courses and sector briefings. Alex notes that the UK has limited formal qualification requirements for company directors, which makes self-discipline and evidence of competence more important. Boards should be able to show that directors are keeping pace with market and governance expectations.
Treat activism as plausible, not remote: Do not assume an investment trust board will face activism, but do not assume it will avoid it either. Recent Saba campaigns and reporting on rising private investor ownership from Investment Week show why shareholder communication and voting engagement now deserve board-level attention.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path. Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

From Passion to Governance in Elite Sport with Tony Simpson

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 01:00:00 +0100

How should boards govern sport when it is now both a cultural institution and a global asset class?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson speaks with Tony Simpson, Partner and Sports Industry Lead at Oliver Wyman, about why governance in elite sport has not always kept pace with the money, complexity and scrutiny now flowing through the sector. Tony explains why investors increasingly expect the same professional disciplines they would demand in any other asset class: strong boards, independent challenge, credible financial controls and clear accountability.

The conversation is especially timely. The World Economic Forum and Oliver Wyman report values the global sports economy at $2.3 trillion and projects it could reach $8.8 trillion by 2050, while the UK’s new football regulatory regime is making governance a direct investment variable.

From community representation and women’s sport to succession planning, owner accountability and social cohesion, Tony sets out what modern sports boards need to understand before they take their seats.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(01:12) - Governance in Elite Sport
(03:17) - Sport as a Global Asset Class
(06:04) - Private Capital and Governance Catch-Up
(09:46) - Why Sport Is Different From Other Sectors
(13:32) - Building the Right Sports Board
(17:33) - Transferring Governance Skills Into Sport
(20:46) - Holding Owners Accountable
(24:23) - Designing the Ideal Modern Sports Board
(29:47) - Sport as a Regulated Utility
(33:18) - Skills and Social Empathy for Sports Leaders
(35:20) - Why Join a Sports Board

Tony Simpson: Tony Simpson is a Partner and Sports Industry Lead at Oliver Wyman, where he works in the firm’s Communications, Media and Technology practice and leads its Sports and Entertainment work. He advises sports organisations, federations, leagues and investors on international expansion, commercial sustainability, governance, digital change and the role of private capital in sport. Tony is a former Board Advisor to Special Olympics Great Britain, an Independent Observer to the English Rugby Football Union Governance Review, a trustee and board member at Birmingham Museums Trust and a trustee at Drive Forward. In 2023, he was recognised in the Empower 100 Executives Role Model List.

"If people are putting hundreds of millions of dollars into an asset or a club, you have to have some independence in there that has the ability to say no and the authority to say no." Tony Simpson, Partner and Sports Industry Lead at Oliver Wyman.

Episode Insights:

Sport is now comparable in scale to major global sectors, but many governance structures still reflect its amateur and community origins.
Private capital is forcing sports organisations to demonstrate stronger oversight, clearer financial controls and more professional boards.
Passion can be a governance risk when owners, executives or directors allow emotional attachment to override evidence-based decision-making.
Independent directors matter because sports boards need people with the authority and judgement to challenge both management and ownership.
Diverse, compensated boards can help clubs understand their communities more effectively and unlock both social and commercial value.

Action Points:

Map the board skills you actually need: Start with the organisation’s future risks, opportunities and stakeholder pressures. Identify the financial, regulatory, digital, community and sporting expertise required. Build the board around those needs, not around status, tenure or historic connection to the club.
Separate passion from governance: Test whether board decisions are being driven by evidence or emotion. Passion for the sport can bring commitment, but it should not override financial discipline, succession planning or long-term stewardship. Use independent voices to challenge assumptions before major commitments.
Strengthen owner accountability: Review how the board oversees ownership risk, not just executive performance. Ask what happens if an owner cannot or will not keep funding the club. Treat financial resilience, liquidity and succession as governance issues, not private owner matters.
Use community insight commercially: Put genuine community understanding into the boardroom and compensate people properly for their contribution. Diverse perspectives can reveal unmet demand, stronger fan relationships and new revenue opportunities. Community representation should have a clear role, not token status.
Prepare for regulated sport: Boards should assume that scrutiny will increase as capital flows into sport and regulation matures. The Football Governance Act and the Independent Football Regulator show how governance is becoming an investment variable. Directors need to understand compliance, licensing and financial sustainability before problems arise.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path. Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

Catherine May on Why Culture Beats Capability in the Boardroom

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 01:00:00 +0100

What does it actually take to move from the executive suite into the boardroom, and why do so many capable leaders misjudge the leap?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson speaks with Catherine May, an experienced chair, non-executive director and certified executive coach with more than 25 years at executive committee level in FTSE 30 businesses including RELX, Centrica and SABMiller. They explore why culture, not capability, decides whether a board succeeds, how aspiring NEDs can read their own fit before committing, and why a board seat is closer to a six-year commitment than a two-day-a-month role.

Catherine also sets out a practical answer to the question every board is now asking: do we need an AI specialist in the room, or a sharper way to bring expertise to the table? Against research showing that boards are openly debating where human judgement should end and AI should begin, with only 37% of directors seeing their board as essential to value creation, this is a grounded guide to building a board career that lasts.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(03:13) - From Executive Committee to the Boardroom
(05:19) - Should NEDs Engage Directly With Investors
(08:17) - The Corporate Affairs Route Into the Boardroom
(10:07) - What Executives Misunderstand About Boards
(13:30) - Why Fit Matters More Than Star Power
(16:35) - Coaching, Self-Awareness and Knowing Who You Are
(20:32) - How the Role of the Board Has Changed
(23:15) - The Six-Year Commitment Nobody Expects
(27:12) - Reputation, Crisis and Emotional Alignment
(31:12) - Capabilities Over Domain Expertise
(32:35) - Diversity, Inclusion and a Smarter Boardroom
(36:31) - Advisory Boards and the AI Question
(42:16) - Constructive Challenge and Psychological Safety
(44:08) - Should Every Chair Have a Coach
(48:24) - Refreshing Board Talent and the Search Question

Catherine May: Catherine May is an experienced chair, non-executive director, committee chair and certified executive leadership coach, and currently chair of the board at Shoreham Port. She spent more than 25 years at executive committee level in global FTSE 30 businesses, leading corporate affairs, investor relations, sustainability, crisis management, public affairs and brand strategy at RELX, Centrica and SABMiller. She founded Catherine May Associates in 2015, working with senior leaders and boards to strengthen governance, build high-performing cultures and prepare executives for board-level responsibility. She is recognised for her expertise in reputation, risk, leadership development and guiding organisations through transformation, giving her a distinctive perspective at the intersection of leadership, governance and corporate reputation.

"Culture for me is the beginning and end of whether a company is going to be successful or not." Catherine May, Chair, Non-Executive Director and Executive Coach

Episode Insights:

The line between board and management is softer than executives expect; effective NEDs cross it carefully to understand culture without upsetting the apple cart.
Culture is the single biggest risk any business faces, because a weak culture quietly enables bad practice and silences the people who would otherwise call it out.
Fit matters more than star power; rooms full of grandstanding individuals rarely gel, and succession and nominations should be a continuous conversation, not an annual one.
A NED role is a long, serious commitment, closer to six years and far more than the headline day count, so emotional alignment with the organisation is essential before saying yes.
Capabilities, attitude and values beat narrow domain expertise; advisory panels, not endless new board seats, are the smarter way to bring specialist insight on issues like AI.

Action Points:

Interrogate your fit before you commit: Before accepting a board seat, ask honestly whether you admire the organisation, its people and its products. Picture how you would feel giving far more time than your fee covers if a crisis hit. If the emotional connection is not there, walk away politely before going further.
Treat culture as a standing board priority: Find non-disruptive ways to see daily working life across the business rather than relying on management reports. Look for whether people feel safe to call out behaviour that is not right. Use that evidence to satisfy yourself the culture genuinely supports the right behaviours.
Appoint for difference, not just comfort: When refreshing the board, resist the easy hire who knows the sector inside out and gets on with everyone. Lean into candidates who bring different perspectives and experience. Pair that with an inclusive chair who ensures every voice is genuinely heard in and out of meetings.
Make nominations a continuous conversation: Keep succession and the board pipeline on the agenda at every nominations meeting, not once a year. Encourage directors to scan their networks continually and work with diligent search partners. This de-risks appointments and avoids settling for candidates who do not knock your socks off.
Use advisory panels to handle fast-moving issues: Rather than adding a board seat for every emerging risk such as AI, task a small specialist group, including at least one NED, with rapid horizon scanning. Keep it light-footed and focused so it can report back quickly and inform strategy without making the board too big to function.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path. Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

Is Your Board Actually Fit for Purpose?

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 01:00:00 +0100

What separates a board that merely complies from one that is genuinely fit for purpose? In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson speaks with Sam Allen, founder of Sam Allen Associates and an accredited board performance practitioner, about why external board effectiveness reviews are a strategic advantage rather than a regulatory chore.

Sam explains how a rigorous review measures behaviour as well as governance, surfacing where boards are misaligned on strategy, core competence and key risks. She makes the case for assessing whether a board has the right skills for where the business is going, not just where it has been, and why courage and curiosity matter more than airtime.

The conversation lands firmly in the present. With the Jaguar Land Rover cyberattack estimated to have cost the UK economy around 1.9 billion pounds (Cyber Monitoring Centre, via The Register), Sam argues cyber resilience and recovery are now unavoidable board questions, alongside the FRC's new Provision 29 on internal controls. A practical listen for anyone going plural.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(01:12) - Meet Sam Allen and the Case for Independent Reviews
(04:28) - Governance as an Enabler, Not a Constraint
(05:48) - What a Board Effectiveness Review Really Measures
(06:40) - The Misalignment Reviews Reveal, Strategy, Risk and Core Competence
(08:11) - Building Trust, Anonymity and Psychological Safety
(10:11) - Common Board Blind Spots, Skills Gaps and Chair Dynamics
(12:15) - Why New NEDs Can Misread the Role in a Tech-Driven Era
(14:32) - Comply or Explain, When Flexibility Serves Shareholders
(16:31) - Handling Uncomfortable Feedback and Pragmatic Governance
(23:01) - Due Diligence Before Joining a Board
(32:17) - Cyber, AI and Preparing for Recovery

Sam Allen: Sam Allen is the founder and Managing Partner of Sam Allen Associates, a boutique board services and executive search firm working with FTSE, private and private-equity backed businesses across the UK and internationally. She leads externally facilitated board and committee effectiveness reviews that blend rigorous governance frameworks with behavioural insight. Before founding the firm, Sam held leadership roles at international search firms Whitehead Mann and Boyden, and earlier spent around 15 years across Sainsbury's, Dunhill and Greene King plc, where she served on the board. She is an accredited board performance practitioner with a Diploma in Corporate Governance from the Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland, an MA in Employment Law, and is an accredited commercial mediator. Sam Allen Associates is one of a small number of firms accredited by the Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland to undertake board effectiveness reviews.

Episode Insights:

A board effectiveness review measures behaviour as well as governance, and the behavioural deep dive is where misalignment on strategy, core competence and risk usually surfaces.
Boards are frequently built for where the business has been, so the sharper question is whether the current composition is fit for purpose for where it is going.
Anonymity and a trusted relationship with the chair let difficult feedback (a disruptive NED, a director on email through meetings) finally be acted on.
Cyber is the boardroom elephant in the room: the M&S, Co-op and JLR incidents show recovery, not just shutdown, is the part boards under-plan for.
The best NEDs bring integrity, curiosity and the courage to say "I don't understand", and often add the most value when they speak least but most deliberately.

Action Points:

Treat the review as a strategy tool, not a compliance task: Ask your evaluator to test alignment on strategic priorities, core competence and key risks, not just governance processes. Use the one-to-one interviews to surface behavioural issues honestly. Focus the output on what will make the board more effective going forward.
Reassess board composition against future strategy: Map the skills your strategy will demand over the next three to five years, including new markets and technology literacy. Compare that against the current board and identify gaps. Plan refreshment and succession before the shortfall becomes a problem.
Do proper due diligence before joining a board: If you are offered a non-executive role, read the latest board performance review, speak to the auditors, CEO and CFO, and ask about succession and chair feedback. Check board turnover for red flags. Have the courage to request the information you need.
Make cyber recovery a board question: Do not stop at prevention. Ask management whether the organisation could run a minimal viable business without technology, where the continuity plan is stored, and who the specialist responders are. Keep those contacts to hand before an incident, not during one.
Build continuous risk education into the board calendar: Schedule regular external briefings on cyber, AI and emerging risks so the whole board stays current. The aim is not technical mastery but the confidence to challenge and connect these risks to strategy. Pair education with a tested recovery plan.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path. Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

Randall Peterson on Boardroom Psychology and Why Culture Beats Compliance

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 01:00:00 +0100

Why do boards full of brilliant, experienced people still make catastrophic decisions?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson sits down at London Business School with Professor Randall Peterson, Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Academic Director of the School's Leadership Institute, to argue that board failure is rarely about intelligence and almost always about behaviour. Drawing on his book Disaster in the Boardroom, Randall unpacks the predictable human dynamics, subordination to a dominant CEO, groupthink and the quiet suppression of dissent, that derail otherwise capable boards.

The conversation could not be timelier. With the FRC pushing UK boards away from tick-box reporting toward outcomes under the 2026 Corporate Governance Code, and recent industry data showing that 93% of leaders blame culture rather than technology for stalled AI adoption, Randall makes the case that culture, not compliance, decides whether a board succeeds. He explores why the best directors lead with curiosity, why the chair's most important skill is listening, how to engage diverse voices rather than merely seat them, and where AI helps, and where directors quietly feeding board papers into open tools should worry.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(03:35) - From University Board to Board Scholar
(05:23) - The Story behind Disaster in the Boardroom
(08:10) - Capability, Culture and Collective Psychology
(11:27) - What Makes Good Boards Dysfunctional
(13:29) - Subordination and Groupthink
(16:26) - Comply or Explain and the Limits of Compliance
(21:42) - Board Evaluations and NED Certification
(25:33) - The Chair as Chief Listener
(30:22) - Representation versus Engagement
(33:19) - Conflict and Why Voting Backfires
(38:19) - Where AI Fits in the Boardroom

Randall Peterson: Professor Randall S. Peterson is Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School and the founding Academic Director of its Leadership Institute. He holds a PhD in social and organisational psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, and has spent more than three decades researching board dynamics, CEO personality, team conflict and the behaviour of senior leaders. His award-winning work has appeared in the Harvard Business Review, Forbes and leading academic journals, and he is co-author, with Gerry Brown, of Disaster in the Boardroom: Six Dysfunctions Everyone Should Understand. He also co-founded TalentSage, an evidence-based leadership development firm, and advises chairs, boards and regulators internationally on board effectiveness and governance culture.

Episode Insights:

Board failure is usually behavioural, not technical: capable directors still fail when the culture discourages open discussion and honest challenge.
Culture is measurable and decisive: a curious, learning-focused board that welcomes naive questions consistently outperforms one fixated on compliance.
Subordination and groupthink are the most dangerous dynamics: once a board defers to a dominant CEO or self-censors to fit in, independent oversight quietly disappears.
The chair's most important skill is listening: it both informs better decisions and creates the psychological safety directors need to speak up.
Representation is not engagement: diverse voices only shape decisions when the chair actively gives them a platform, because in any group truth needs support to win.

Action Points:

Put culture on the agenda, not just strategy: Boards happily spend a whole day on strategy yet rarely give an hour to how they work together. Schedule an honest, recurring discussion of board culture and behaviour, treating it as a measurable driver of performance. Ask whether people feel able to raise difficult issues and challenge one another constructively.
Lead with curiosity and the naive question: Prize directors who keep asking why something works the way it does, not just those with the longest CVs. Make it normal to pause on a routine item and probe it, because that is where boards uncover what they did not know they should discuss. Protect the person who asks the awkward question rather than letting the group close ranks.
Reframe compliance as the floor, not the ceiling: Treat the FRC's comply-or-explain code as a baseline and be willing to explain a considered departure rather than tick boxes for an easy life. Under the 2026 UK Corporate Governance Code, the regulator wants outcomes and cogent explanation, not boilerplate. If you cannot explain a choice clearly, question whether you understand it well enough.
Set clear guardrails for AI in the boardroom: Agree where AI genuinely helps, summarising papers, background research and surfacing alternatives, and where it must not go, such as confidential board papers pasted into open tools. Recent industry data shows 93% of leaders blame culture rather than technology for stalled AI adoption, so invest in behaviour and literacy, not just tools. Keep judgement, not the model, in the board seat.
Give different voices a real platform: Adding diverse directors is not the same as engaging them, because a lone voice rarely carries in a group. Help newer or less traditional members build standing, for example by chairing a committee, so their contributions are taken seriously. Resolve disagreement through discussion rather than rushing to a vote, which can be weaponised and silences dissent.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path. Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

Steven Fine on Courage, Capital and the Modern Boardroom

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 01:00:00 +0100

What does the market see about your board that you cannot see from the inside?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson speaks with Steven Fine, Chief Executive of Peel Hunt and co-founder of the Non-Executive Director Awards, about how boards are really judged: not by internal evaluations, but by investors, analysts and markets in real time. They explore why courage now defines great non-executive directors, how the role of the chair has grown, and why shareholder connectivity matters more than ever in a derated UK market.

"You can have the best governance in the world and no one cares. It's not reflected in the share price." Steven Fine, Chief Executive of Peel Hunt.

Fine makes a pointed case on fund flows, noting that UK pension funds hold a historic low of around 4.4% of assets in domestic equities while comparable systems hold far more. With the Pension Schemes Act 2026 now law and the FCA's new prospectus rules live since January 2026, the conversation could not be timelier. From comply or explain to the realities of listing in the US, this is a practical guide for NEDs who want to understand how capital markets keep score.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(02:45) - Inside Peel Hunt and the NED Awards
(04:24) - A Forensic, Multi-Stage Judging Process
(08:00) - Twenty Years On: Why the NED Role Is Harder
(10:04) - Courage and What Good Looks Like Today
(13:13) - Permacrisis and Calm Under Pressure
(15:26) - How Investors Really Judge Boards
(18:56) - Governance, Valuation and De-Rating
(22:33) - Passives and Becoming Beholden to Maths
(24:43) - US Versus UK Listings and Reform
(30:33) - Preparing to IPO as a Public Company
(34:11) - Board Leadership Versus Composition

Steven Fine: Steven Fine is Chief Executive of Peel Hunt, a UK-focused specialist investment bank serving public and private companies across the FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and AIM. He joined the firm in 2006 and led its management and staff buy-out from KBC Bank in 2010, becoming CEO in 2016. Earlier in his career he was a founder member of D. E. Shaw Securities International and ran Japanese and Asian equity, convertible and derivatives operations in Tokyo. He is co-founder of the Non-Executive Director Awards, now in their 20th year, and has judged them for over 15 years. Steven also serves as Deputy Chair of the FCA Markets Practitioner Panel and as a non-executive director of the Quoted Companies Alliance and RetailBook, giving him a rare vantage point across capital markets, governance and board performance.

Episode Insights:

The market is the ultimate external examiner of a board: internal effectiveness reviews can become box-ticking, while investors and analysts judge governance in real time.
Courage now defines great non-executive directors: the willingness to challenge, ask awkward questions and speak up matters more than technical expertise.
Good governance does not automatically lift valuations; without fund flows and advocacy, even well-run UK companies can stay de-rated and overlooked.
The UK's listing problem is one of capital, not rules: regulatory reform has cut friction, but domestic pension allocations to UK equities sit near historic lows.
Comply or explain may be better understood as explain or comply: Fine backs the push to celebrate explanations and challenge needless disclosure.

Action Points:

Build genuine shareholder connectivity: Treat investor relationships as a board-level priority, not a job left solely to the executive or the IR team. Map who actually owns and votes your stock, including the multiple fund managers that can sit behind a single name. Offer non-executives access to major shareholders rather than waiting to be asked.
Stop marking your own homework: Challenge how your board runs its effectiveness review and resist the urge to score everything nine or ten out of ten. Bring genuine external perspective into the process and act on uncomfortable findings. Use the review to surface real gaps in judgement and behaviour, not simply to satisfy the code.
Lead with courage, not consensus: Encourage every director to ask the questions others assume are already answered. Make space for quieter voices and ensure the chair draws out challenge rather than smoothing it over. In a period of constant crisis, calm and well-rehearsed challenge is what separates effective boards from average ones.
Pressure-test your listing strategy: If you are weighing a UK or US listing, look past the headlines about de-rating and orphan stocks. Weigh quarterly reporting, fees and litigation risk against genuine access to capital, and recognise that UK reform has materially reduced friction. Engage an adviser early and prepare the finance function well ahead of any IPO.
Embrace explain over comply: Audit your board papers and annual report for disclosure that exists only out of caution. Ask whether each paper, gap analysis or extra page genuinely aids decisions or simply adds bulk. Treat the regulator's myth-busting as licence to focus reporting on what matters to shareholders.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path. Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

Helle Bank Jorgensen on Board Leadership in the Age of AI

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 01:00:00 +0100

How should boards lead when judgement, not information, has become the scarcest resource in the room?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson speaks with Helle Bank Jorgensen, Global Managing Director for Board Development at Board Intelligence and founder of Competent Boards, about what board leadership looks like now. They move from a world of separate risks to one of interconnected risk, where a capital decision is also a climate, geopolitical and reputational decision, and where the old governance instincts are no longer enough.

Helle argues that boards rarely fail through a lack of effort or data; they fail by waiting too long for a certainty that never comes. With AI moving quickly into governance, and Lloyds becoming the first FTSE 100 company to bring an AI tool into its boardroom, the conversation asks where augmentation ends and abdication begins. From stewardship versus strategy to scenario planning, board culture and keeping judgement human, this is a practical guide for NEDs who want to contribute, not simply attend.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(01:12) - Introducing Helle Bank Jorgensen
(03:05) - From Separate Risk to Interconnected Risk
(04:06) - Governance, Stewardship and the Strategist Board
(07:16) - Activity versus Contribution
(10:51) - Leading in a Matrix World
(12:42) - Thinking the Unthinkable
(15:49) - Culture, Courage and Signal from Noise
(21:22) - AI in the Boardroom: Master or Servant?
(28:52) - A Director's AI Playbook
(31:00) - Why Boards Wait, and How to Decide
(34:48) - Navigating ESG and Stakeholders

Helle Bank Jorgensen: Helle Bank Jorgensen is Global Managing Director for Board Development at Board Intelligence and the founder and former CEO of Competent Boards, the governance education platform acquired by Board Intelligence in 2025. An internationally recognised authority on board effectiveness, governance and sustainability, she has spent three decades turning environmental, social and governance risk into long-term value, and has educated directors in more than 60 countries through the Global Competent Boards Designation. She is the author of The Future Boardroom: How to Transform in Turbulent Times and Stewards of the Future, a number one Amazon bestselling author, and was inducted into the Corporate Governance Hall of Fame by IR Magazine.

Episode Insights:

The scarce resource in the boardroom is no longer information but judgement; AI widens access to insight, yet makes disciplined decision-making harder, not easier.
Stewardship reframes the board's job from "are we doing things right?" to "are we doing the right things for long-term resilience and value?", with the strongest boards acting as strategists.
In a matrix world, every decision is at once financial, geopolitical, environmental and reputational, so directors must sense around corners rather than predict a single outcome.
AI belongs in board preparation, not in the vote; it can make directors the best-informed people in the room, but accountability and judgement cannot be outsourced to a bot.
Boards rarely fail by acting too quickly; they fail by waiting for certainty, so the real skill is deciding which few risks matter and acting before the picture is complete.

Action Points:

Decide to be the master, not the servant: Agree as a board how AI tools will and will not be used before you adopt them. Treat AI as a way to ask sharper questions and test your own thinking, not as a substitute for judgement. Keep accountability for every decision firmly with the directors around the table.
Run real scenario planning: Build the muscle to think the unthinkable rather than assuming the future will resemble the past. Schedule sessions that stress-test severe risks, from cyber to climate, as live rehearsals rather than compliance exercises. Luck favours the prepared, so know what you would do before you have to do it.
Separate signal from noise: Resist the assumption that more data means more insight, because volume on its own simply creates more noise. Insist that management presents structured, prioritised information that surfaces insight rather than raw reporting. Agree the few critical questions that genuinely matter and hold the board's attention there.
Protect AI judgement and security: Set clear principles for which tools directors may use and what information can be shared with them. Avoid feeding confidential strategy into open, consumer AI products where data may leak. Choose secure, board-grade systems and keep a critical eye on whatever the model suggests.
Upskill the whole board: Make continuous learning a shared expectation, not an individual choice, so every director can engage at the same level. A board cannot have a real discussion if some members ask basic questions while others challenge with nuance. Commit to ongoing development so your few questions each meeting are the right ones.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path. Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

What Makes Governance Actually Work? Maureen Beresford on Judgement, Accountability and the UK Code

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 27 May 2026 01:00:00 +0100

What does good governance actually look like when the rules keep changing and the pressure keeps rising?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson speaks with Maureen Beresford, Director of Corporate Governance and Stewardship at the Financial Reporting Council, about why governance is fundamentally about judgement, not tick boxes, and why the best boards are those brave enough to explain rather than simply comply.

They explore the philosophy behind the UK Corporate Governance Code, the power of the "comply or explain" principle, and why so many boards still default to compliance when flexibility is exactly what the Code offers. At a time when 88 companies left the London Stock Exchange last year and the government has scrapped the long-awaited audit reform legislation, the conversation could not be more timely.

From the new Provision 29 declaration on material controls to the evolving role of proxy advisors and the future of investor stewardship, Maureen makes a compelling case that governance is an art, not a science, and that the boards which lead best are those prepared to think for themselves.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(02:06) - A Career in Governance: From Civil Service to the FRC
(03:09) - Where the FRC Fits in the Governance Ecosystem
(05:49) - What Governance Is Actually For
(07:08) - Governance as a Grey Area: Judgement over Certainty
(09:23) - The 2024 Code: What Changed and Why
(11:57) - Comply or Explain: Boards Being Brave
(14:42) - Proxy Advisors, Investors and the Trust Gap
(20:08) - Transparency, Reporting and the Cost of Governance
(23:25) - Provision 29: The New Declaration on Internal Controls
(31:00) - Stewardship, Investment and the Public-Private Debate
(37:10) - The Crystal Ball: Future Skills and Challenges for Boards

Maureen Beresford: Maureen Beresford is the Director of Corporate Governance and Stewardship at the Financial Reporting Council, the UK regulator responsible for corporate governance, reporting and stewardship. A former civil servant for over 20 years within the Department for Business, Enterprise and Industrial Strategy, Maureen moved to the FRC on secondment in 2017 to work on the review of the UK Corporate Governance Code and subsequently helped introduce the Wates Principles for Large Private Companies alongside Sir James Wates. Appointed Head of Corporate Governance in 2020, Maureen led the comprehensive review that produced the Corporate Governance Code 2024 and was instrumental in launching the FRC's annual assessments of governance reporting. In 2024 Maureen became Acting Director and was appointed to the full-time Director role in June 2025, taking on responsibility for the Stewardship Code alongside corporate governance.

Episode Insights:

Governance is fundamentally about conversations, judgement and accountability, not checklists or compliance; a tick-box approach is, in Maureen's view, "potentially worthless."
An explanation under the "comply or explain" framework is just as good as compliance, and often better, because it demonstrates that the board is actively thinking about governance rather than blindly following the Code.
Provision 29 of the 2024 Code requires boards to declare the effectiveness of their material controls, but it deliberately does not prescribe which controls, how many, or how to write the declaration; that judgement rests with the board.
The relationship between boards, proxy advisors and investors is more nuanced than many assume; proxy advisors say they do highlight explanations to investors, and investors say they do not always follow proxy advice automatically.
Boards should be more fluid in their composition, willing to refresh before the nine-year convention if needed, and mindful that overboarding in a world of perpetual crisis can leave individual companies without adequate director attention.

Action Points:

Embrace the power of explanation: Review your board's governance reporting and ask whether you are defaulting to compliance simply to avoid a perceived black mark. Challenge yourselves to identify at least one provision where an honest, well-reasoned explanation would better reflect how your company is actually governed, and commit to making that case transparently in your next annual report.
Prepare for the Provision 29 declaration: If you have not already done so, map your material controls across financial, operational, reporting and compliance activities. Use the FRC's mythbuster guidance as a starting point. The declaration applies to financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2026, so this is the year to embed the process.
Tell your governance story from a blank page: Rather than tweaking last year's governance report, start from scratch and ask what story you want to tell this year. Focus on outcomes, not boilerplate, and build that narrative throughout the year rather than rushing it at year-end.
Strengthen investor engagement outside proxy season: Do not wait for the annual general meeting to engage with your investors. Identify your key shareholders, understand their stewardship priorities, and open channels for dialogue year-round. Where votes go against you, treat that as an opportunity to listen, not a threat to manage.
Audit your board's composition for the challenges ahead: Review whether your board has the right mix of experience for emerging risks such as cyber, AI and geopolitics. Be willing to refresh earlier than convention suggests, and consider whether any directors are overboarded to the extent that a simultaneous crisis across multiple companies would stretch their capacity.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path. Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

Strategic Risk Management for Boards: UK Economy, Capital and Growth with Simon French

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 13 May 2026 01:00:00 +0100

How should boards be thinking about risk, capital and growth when the UK economy is structurally constrained and the geopolitical landscape is shifting beneath their feet?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson speaks with Simon French, Chief Economist and Head of Research at Panmure Liberum, about why macroeconomic awareness is no longer optional for board directors. They explore the structural challenges facing UK PLC, from the rationing of energy, capital and land to a labour market squeezed by rising on-costs and the early disruption of AI, and why boards need to reframe risk as an enabler of growth rather than something to be feared.

With UK 30-year gilt yields recently hitting 5.787%, their highest level since 1998, and political uncertainty mounting ahead of the May elections, Simon explains why patient capital and strategic boldness could unlock a significant revaluation opportunity for UK assets. From the legacy of Brexit and the defence spending pivot to the competing forces of AI-driven disinflation and geopolitical fragmentation, this conversation offers a clear-eyed roadmap for NEDs navigating an increasingly complex operating environment.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(02:31) - A Career Spanning the Public and Private Sector
(04:27) - Why Boards Need Macro Thinking in a Polycrisis World
(06:27) - Capital Markets, Shareholder Engagement and Rationing
(09:00) - Corporate Governance in a Post-Ukraine Economy
(10:47) - The Black Knight Economy: Resilience amid Structural Constraint
(15:51) - Brexit, EU Alignment and the Defence Opportunity
(19:34) - The Rationing of Inputs: Energy, Land and Capital
(22:23) - UK Investibility and the Patient Capital Opportunity
(30:19) - Permacrisis, Inflation and Interest Rate Risk
(33:12) - AI, Labour Costs and the Flexibility Imperative
(41:54) - The Case for Strategic Boldness

Simon French: Simon French is Managing Director, Chief Economist and Head of Research at Panmure Liberum, one of the UK's leading independent investment banks and the largest adviser to UK-quoted companies. He produces market-leading and II/Extel top-ranked economic analysis and is a member of the firm's Senior Leadership Team. Before joining Panmure Gordon in 2014, Simon spent twelve years as an economic adviser in the UK Civil Service, serving at the Department for Work and Pensions, the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury. He holds undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Economics and Finance from Durham University and is a member of the Government Economic Service and the Society of Professional Economists. Simon has a fortnightly column in The Times and is a regular contributor to BBC TV and Radio, CNBC, Bloomberg and Sky News, making him one of the most widely recognised economic commentators in the UK.

Questions This Episode Answers:

Should boards really pay attention to the macro environment, or just focus on their own P&L?

Simon argues that even operationally excellent businesses keep being sideswiped by a series of poly-crises, from the financial crisis and Brexit to the pandemic, war and resurgent inflation. Macroeconomics need not dominate strategy, but boards that relegate the big picture face a steady succession of avoidable shocks.

Why are UK gilt yields and borrowing costs rising?

Simon points to two overlapping forces. Inflation risk from the Ukraine and Middle East conflicts is lifting the term premium, while political risk ahead of the May elections, and speculation about a leadership challenge, is being priced into gilts. For companies funded off the risk-free rate, that volatility matters.

Is the weak labour market caused by AI or by rising employment costs?

Simon sits firmly in the on-cost camp. He attributes the current softening mainly to layered employer national insurance, the national living wage, the employment rights bill and auto-enrolment, which have raised the cost of employing people far faster than productivity. AI's larger impact, he argues, comes later.

Does the UK remain investible for global capital?

Yes, but only for patient capital, Simon says. UK assets are keenly priced at valuation discounts, creating a genuine revaluation opportunity if a supportive political and macro backdrop emerges. Investors may have to tolerate conditions worsening before they improve, but the underlying value case is real.

What should boards actually do differently at their next meeting?

Simon urges two moves: engage seriously with scenario analysis of geopolitical risk and its structural legacies for supply and demand, and challenge whether the balance between caution and boldness is right, then bring the shareholder base along if a more growth-oriented strategy is needed.

Episode Insights:

The UK economy's long-term productivity challenges are not a puzzle but the predictable result of rationing energy, capital and land, and reversing even one of these constraints would materially improve the growth outlook.
Corporate governance has entered a more pragmatic, post-Ukraine phase where formulaic ESG checklists are giving way to nuanced, context-specific approaches to risk and resilience.
UK assets are keenly valued by almost any metric, presenting a significant revaluation opportunity for patient capital willing to weather near-term political and macro uncertainty.
The current softening of the UK labour market is driven more by the overlaying of employer on-costs, national insurance, national living wage, employment rights legislation and auto-enrolment, than by AI displacement, though AI's impact will accelerate.
The structural gap in risk appetite between Europe and the US, visible in everything from pension allocation to capital markets culture, is the single biggest brake on European competitiveness and long-term wealth creation.

Action Points:

Embed scenario analysis of geopolitical risk at board level: Move beyond short-term forecasting and build structured, recurring scenarios around the long-term implications of geopolitical fragmentation, from supply chain resilience to energy security and defence-sector exposure. Focus on structural legacies, not acute predictions.
Stress-test your capital structure for a higher-rate world: With UK 10-year gilt yields above 5% and the Bank of England holding rates at 3.75%, boards should reassess assumptions around cost of capital, debt maturity profiles and the relative merits of public versus private financing. Patient, long-t...

Leading Through Permacrisis: Will Geddes on Boardroom Decision-Making Under Pressure

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 01:00:00 +0100

How should boards lead when the world refuses to stand still?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson speaks with Will Geddes, Managing Director of ICP Group and one of the UK's leading authorities on security, crisis management and geopolitical risk. They explore why boards now operate inside a state of permacrisis, why traditional crisis manuals rarely leave the shelf, and how directors should make decisions with imperfect, contested and fast-moving information.

With markets now openly pricing in permacrisis as the operating environment and EY analysis showing that around 60 percent of FTSE 100 returns now hinge on geopolitical and macro forces, Will's perspective on judgement, instinct and audit trails has rarely been more timely. From a real-world story of advising a director caught in the 2008 Mumbai attacks to practical guidance on rehearsing crisis response across Zoom, Teams and the boardroom, this conversation offers NEDs and aspiring directors a clear-eyed playbook for leading when getting the call wrong is the biggest risk of all.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(04:04) - An Unconventional Path Into Specialist Security
(06:06) - Defining Permacrisis for the Boardroom
(08:03) - The Domino Effect of a Far-Flung Incident
(11:11) - Breaking Silos and Communicating Across the Board
(13:25) - Are Board Meetings Still Fit for Purpose?
(15:48) - Building Horizon-Scanning Into the Agenda
(18:54) - Decision-Making With Imperfect Information
(23:07) - When Instinct Beats Data and Analysis
(27:48) - Reputational Management
(35:23) - The Next Three Things Every Board Should Do

Will Geddes: Will Geddes is the Managing Director and founder of ICP Group (International Corporate Protection), a globally recognised, niche threat-management security firm originally established in 1996 that supports clients ranging from FTSE and Fortune 100 corporations to family offices and high-profile private individuals. With more than 30 years' experience in specialist security, his work spans close protection, crisis management, kidnap and ransom, counter-terrorism, intelligence gathering, multi-jurisdictional investigations, cyber and geopolitical risk. He also founded TacticsON and is a regular international media commentator on security, terrorism and risk for outlets including the BBC, Sky News, ITN, CNN, The Telegraph and BBC Radio 4 Today. His perspective combines decades of frontline operational experience with strategic advisory work for boards making consequential decisions under pressure.

Episode Insights:

Permacrisis means treating crisis as a continuum rather than a contingency, with seemingly minor or far-flung events capable of triggering a domino effect across global operations and reputation.
Crisis manuals rarely come off the shelf when something actually happens, so what matters is whether the board has practised problem-solving and communication together using the tools they truly rely on.
Decisions made with imperfect information are unavoidable, which is why a clean audit trail of what was known, by whom and when, is the single best protection for directors and the company.
A board that defers decisions, fills silence with content for its own sake or refuses to admit failings damages stakeholder trust more than the underlying crisis often does.
Strong crisis leadership combines humility, judgement and emotional intelligence; AI can support scenario planning at the macro level but the human element remains essential at the micro.

Action Points:

Treat crisis as a continuum, not an event: Build standing horizon-scanning into every board agenda alongside performance reporting. Ask each function where they foresee issues and how a single incident in one country could ripple across the business. This forces the board to spot domino effects early and to allocate attention to the right risks rather than the loudest ones.
Rehearse together, across channels: Schedule regular cross-functional simulations using the tools you actually rely on day to day, including Zoom, Teams and phone. Test how the board problem-solves laterally rather than how individuals handle a dramatic hostage scenario. Doing this routinely surfaces communication gaps and trains people to lean on each other before a real crisis hits.
Build a decision audit trail: Insist that all crisis-era decisions are minuted with timestamps, locations, attendees and the information available at the time, and that everyone present agrees the minutes before they are published. Pair this with a short summary of the alternatives considered and why they were rejected. This protects directors and the company if those decisions are later scrutinised by regulators, courts or the press.
Manage the narrative, never lie: Equip your communications function to acknowledge press enquiries quickly, share something of genuine value rather than fill silence, and admit failings with integrity rather than allow the media to take control of the story. Brief any executive or director travelling in volatile situations on what to say, what to avoid and when to go quiet. Trust is built when stakeholders see honest, well-paced communication, not noise.
Match leaders to context: Use realistic training to identify which board members lead well under duress and which contribute most in calmer waters. Create a culture where it is safe for someone to step back and let a stronger crisis leader take the chair, without that being read as a failure. Set the example as chair by openly relying on colleagues for the parts of a crisis where they are sharper than you are.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path. Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

Thinking the Unthinkable: Why Boards Must Govern for a World Without Stability

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 01:00:00 +0100

What happens when the world your board was built to govern no longer exists?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson speaks with Nik Gowing, founder of Think Unthink, former BBC World News presenter and co-author of Thinking the Unthinkable, about why boards are structurally unprepared for the scale and speed of disruption now unfolding. From the fall of the Berlin Wall to the 2026 Iran conflict, Nik draws on decades of frontline reporting and direct engagement with leaders to argue that zombie orthodoxes are blinding boards to existential threats.

With the World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report 2026 ranking geoeconomic confrontation as the number one global risk and UK unemployment reaching a post-pandemic high of 5.2% amid accelerating AI-driven job losses, the conversation could not be more timely. Nik introduces the Pinball Principle — the idea that crises now cascade at speeds no board can control — and calls for heretical thinking, new mind muscle and a fundamental rethink of how often and how deeply boards engage with the realities confronting them.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(04:08) - Nik Gowing: From the Berlin Wall to the Boardroom
(05:59) - Are Boards Fundamentally Misreading the World?
(10:51) - AI, Mass Unemployment and a Coming Societal Implosion
(15:09) - The Pinball Principle: No Predictability, No Control
(18:38) - Are Boards Designed to Avoid Uncomfortable Truths?
(21:24) - Why Boards Are Getting Blindsided on Risk
(25:58) - Cyber Attacks, War Gaming and Saturday Morning Crises
(28:47) - Heretics in the Boardroom and Tearing Up the Rule Book
(33:56) - The Adversity We Are Not Prepared For
(37:00) - What Every Chair Should Ask at Their Next Meeting
(40:26) - Embracing Uncertainty: The Positive Way Forward

Nik Gowing: Nik Gowing is the founder and director of Think Unthinkable and co-author of Thinking the Unthinkable: A New Imperative for Leadership in the Digital Age. A former main news presenter for BBC World News (1996–2014), he spent 18 years at ITN as bureau chief in Rome and Warsaw and as Diplomatic Editor for Channel Four News, collecting a BAFTA for his coverage of martial law in Poland. Nik has reported from the front lines of major global crises including the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the conflicts in former Yugoslavia and the events of 9/11. He is a Distinguished Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a Visiting Professor at King's College London and a former member of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Geo-Economics. He has advised the President of the UN General Assembly on leadership challenges and holds honorary doctorates from Exeter and Bristol universities. Most recently, he moderated high-level plenary sessions at the 2026 Villars Ocean Forum on planetary tipping points.

Episode Insights:

Boards are constrained by zombie orthodoxes — inherited assumptions about stability and predictability that no longer reflect reality — and what qualified leaders for their roles may now disqualify them from understanding the scale of disruption ahead.
The Pinball Principle captures how crises now cascade in unpredictable directions at speeds that outpace traditional governance structures, leaving boards feeling powerless but unable to admit it.
Risk and resilience registers are being artificially constrained, with some chief risk officers told to cap the number of risks they report, leaving existential threats outside the boundary fence.
Boards need heretics — people sanctioned to challenge consensus and think beyond established orthodoxies — valued as visionaries rather than treated as problems to be disposed of.
AI-driven disruption threatens a societal implosion, with mass unemployment, mortgage crises and a fundamental breakdown in the social contract happening not in decades but in months.

Action Points:

Build new mind muscle at board level: Challenge every board member to identify at least three assumptions they hold about the business environment that may no longer be valid. Create structured exercises that force directors to confront scenarios they instinctively resist, building the cognitive flexibility Gowing calls new mind muscle.
Tear up the quarterly meeting model: If your board meets once a quarter for two hours, it is operating on a cadence designed for a stable world. Increase the frequency of board engagement, even if virtually, to match the speed at which geopolitical, technological and societal risks are now materialising.
Uncap your risk register: Audit whether your risk and resilience framework is artificially constrained. If your chief risk officer can only list 20 risks, you are choosing blindness over preparedness. Expand the register to include geopolitical, AI-driven and societal risks that sit beyond the traditional boundary fence.
Appoint and protect your heretics: Identify individuals within the board and the C-suite who are willing to voice uncomfortable truths and sanction them to do so. Create a culture where challenging orthodoxy is rewarded, not career-ending, and where scenario planning includes events the organisation considers impossible.
Stress-test for Saturday morning crises: Model your response to a major disruption that lands outside business hours — a cyber attack, a geopolitical shock, a supply chain collapse. If your organisation cannot convene and act within hours, not days, you are not prepared for the speed of the current threat environment.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path. Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

Stewardship, Governance and Long-Term Value Creation with Kimberley Lewis

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 01:00:00 +0100

What do investors actually look for when they sit down with a board? And has stewardship lost its way in a sea of tick boxes and league tables?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson speaks with Kimberley Lewis, Head of Active Ownership at Schroders, one of the world's largest global asset managers. Kimberley leads Schroders' global stewardship strategy and works directly with chairs, CEOs and NEDs on governance, climate, human capital and geopolitics.

They explore why quality stewardship should feel like a partnership rather than a compliance exercise and why boards need more courage to explain rather than simply comply. The conversation covers the growing wave of shareholder activism in Europe, with a 44% year-on-year surge in UK companies targeted by activists in 2025, the impact of the US ESG backlash on UK engagement, and why Kimberley believes companies that double down on their principles will ultimately be vindicated.

From board composition and NED stock ownership to the balance between curiosity and technical expertise, this is a practical guide to what good governance looks like from the investor's chair.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(03:30) - From Law to Active Ownership: Kimberley's Career Path
(05:01) - What Good Stewardship Really Looks Like
(08:31) - Navigating the US ESG Backlash from London
(13:01) - The Rise of Shareholder Activism in Europe
(15:29) - Influence without Authority: Credibility in the Boardroom
(18:02) - Stewardship in 2026 and the Updated Blueprint
(21:24) - How Boards Handle Risk across Competing Themes
(24:33) - Should NEDs Own Stock?
(28:15) - Diversity, Refreshment and the Red Herring Debate
(32:51) - When Stewardship Becomes Confused with Compliance
(34:40) - The Future Board: Skills, Curiosity and Judgement

Kimberley Lewis: Kimberley Lewis is the Head of Active Ownership at Schroders, one of the world's largest global asset managers. She leads the firm's global stewardship strategy, overseeing how Schroders engages with boards and executive teams across listed and private markets on issues including corporate governance, climate change, human rights, human capital and geopolitics. A former lawyer in the United States, Kimberley pivoted into corporate responsibility roles at AstraZeneca and Pfizer before moving into investment stewardship, initially covering North American companies at a boutique ESG-integrated firm. She holds an MBA from London Business School and is a member of the International Corporate Governance Network.

Resources & Links:

Episode Insights:

Quality stewardship is a collaborative, research-driven partnership between investors and boards, not a tick-box compliance exercise driven by league tables or voting records.
The US ESG backlash is making stewardship harder but more important: companies are responding in very different ways, and those that double down on their principles are likely to be vindicated in the long run.
Shareholder activism is surging in Europe and the UK, and boards should treat large, long-term shareholders as trusted partners and engage with activist concerns early rather than waiting for a crisis.
The UK corporate governance framework needs more courage in the "explain" of "comply or explain": private conversations reveal boards often know what they should do but fear the headlines.
Assessing true board quality remains one of the biggest unsolved challenges in stewardship: composition metrics and skills matrices are imperfect proxies for the judgement, curiosity and culture that really matter.

Action Points:

Treat your largest shareholders as strategic partners: Proactively reach out to your long-term institutional investors for candid conversations about governance, strategy and risk. These investors often have a broader market perspective and a genuine shared interest in long-term value creation. Use them as a sounding board before challenges escalate into activist campaigns.
Embrace the "explain" in comply or explain: Resist the temptation to default to compliance for an easy life. If a departure from the corporate governance code serves the company's long-term interests, invest the time to articulate a clear, evidence-based rationale. The FRC has explicitly stated that thoughtful, well-reasoned explanation is not weak governance.
Rethink how you assess board composition: Move beyond rigid checklists of skills and experience. Consider whether the board collectively has the intellectual curiosity, risk appetite and constructive challenge needed to navigate complex, overlapping issues such as AI, geopolitics and climate transition. Look at the board holistically rather than applying strict rules to individual metrics.
Align NED incentives with long-term value: Consider whether NED remuneration structures encourage genuine alignment with shareholders. The FRC's updated guidance now permits share-based arrangements for NEDs, provided they are not performance-linked. Explore whether personal shareholdings could strengthen commitment and accountability on your board.
Prepare for and engage with activism constructively: Monitor early signals of activist interest, including rising AGM dissent percentages and new register entries. Engage with activist concerns directly and early, treating them as a source of market intelligence rather than a threat. Companies that listen and adapt before campaigns go public are far better positioned than those that react defensively.

James Beasley on What High-Performing Boards Do Differently

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 01:00:00 +0000

How do you tell whether a board is genuinely effective, rather than simply compliant and well-presented?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson speaks with James Beasley, Head of Board Advisory (EMEA) at Nasdaq Governance Solutions, about what differentiates high-performing boards and directors from the rest.

They unpack why governance must be pragmatic and strategy-led, why skills matrices should reflect an organisation’s evolving needs, and why many boards still spend too much time on management presentations and not enough time on real discussion and independent challenge. James also explains what makes board evaluations useful, why tailored questions matter, and why boards must follow through with action rather than stopping at reflection.

The conversation lands in the hot zones now dominating board agendas: AI, cyber and geopolitics. That context matters, but the principles do not change. Recent governance research underlines the pressure boards feel to modernise: for example, Nasdaq’s Global Governance Pulse survey found 35% of respondents emphasise AI and machine learning as board composition priorities, alongside cybersecurity and data privacy.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(01:58) - What Board Advisory Actually Does
(03:03) - James’s Route Into Governance and Board Effectiveness
(05:51) - Why Governance Must Be Pragmatic and Contextual
(08:05) - Regulation Versus Culture in Board Behaviour
(13:11) - Common Misconceptions About What Boards Do
(17:12) - Why Board Work Feels Broader in a More Complex World
(21:03) - Inside the Global Governance Pulse and Board Priorities
(23:54) - Why Many Evaluations Leave Value on the Table
(27:38) - Skills Matrices, Succession and Refreshing the Board
(32:00) - AI, Geopolitics and Modern Risk Oversight
(39:08) - How Prospective Directors Should Assess a Board Role

James Beasley: James leads board advisory across EMEA and India for Nasdaq, specialising in board evaluations and related governance advisory support to some of the world’s most exciting and dynamic companies. He also serves as a member of the Insights Council for Nasdaq’s Centre for Board Excellence; shaping its strategy, contributing insights and working with other council members to identify and address important board governance matters.

He holds an MSc in Global Governance and Ethics from University College London (UCL), having majored in global business regulation and international political economy. He is also an alumnus of the Sustainability Leadership Programme at Imperial College Business School. James is a regular contributor to governance thought leadership publications and to industry events and has been published by the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung amongst other leading publications. He is a member of the Society for Corporate Governance.

Episode Insights:

Good governance is pragmatic. Boards should avoid one-size-fits-all templates and tailor governance and composition to strategy, business model and context.
Skills matrices work best when they start with forward strategy, not benchmarking peers. Board needs should evolve as strategy evolves.
Many boards over-invest in presentation and under-invest in discussion. Decision quality improves when directors probe, challenge and test assumptions.
Board evaluations create value when they adapt year on year and lead to follow-through actions, not just reflection.
AI and geopolitics raise the bar for board oversight. Boards must upskill and set guardrails without delegating judgement to tools or experts.

Action Points:

Rebalance board time towards discussion: Review agendas and board packs to reduce passive presentation time. Set expectations that key topics must include structured debate and independent challenge. Measure this shift by tracking how much meeting time is spent on decisions and forward-looking risks.
Make your skills matrix strategy-led: Start with the organisation’s three-to-five-year strategic plan, then define the board capabilities required to oversee it. Refresh the matrix annually to reflect acquisitions, divestments, market exits or new growth bets. Use it to guide succession planning rather than generic peer comparison.
Upgrade board evaluations beyond a standard questionnaire: Keep a core framework for continuity, but tailor questions to the year’s real priorities. Combine quantitative feedback with qualitative interviews to surface what directors will not write down. Convert findings into an explicit action plan with owners and deadlines.
Close capability gaps without defaulting to new appointments: For topics like AI, cyber and geopolitics, decide whether the right response is recruitment, structured learning, better management reporting, or all three. Bring in external experts to brief the board, but retain board-level accountability for judgement. Ask management for decision-ready insight rather than general updates.
Treat onboarding as a long runway, not a one-week pack: Tailor onboarding to the role and committee responsibilities. Set up meetings with key leaders and relevant assurance partners (for example internal audit and external audit for audit committee members). Build in follow-ups across the first few months to turn onboarding into continuous development.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path. Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

Coaching the Boardroom with Harriet Heneghan

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 01:00:00 +0000

How do you close the gap between the leader you intend to be and the impact you actually have in the boardroom?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson speaks with business psychologist and executive coach Harriet Heneghan about what really drives boardroom behaviour, why feedback often fails to create change, and how coaching can help board members, chairs, and senior teams perform at their best under pressure.

Harriet explains why people judge others by behaviour but judge themselves by intention, and how this mismatch fuels misunderstanding, defensiveness, and dysfunctional dynamics at the top. They explore the psychological patterns that block self-awareness, the role of chair leadership in creating better board culture, and practical techniques for reading the room without reverting to executive authority.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(04:09) - Coaching Boards vs Coaching Executives
(05:45) - Behaviour Change and Communication as a Skill
(07:23) - Feedback, Self-Awareness, and Personality Profiles
(08:29) - Why Boards Become Dysfunctional
(09:44) - Intention Matching Impact in Leadership
(11:00) - Closing the Gap Between Intent and Impact
(13:02) - Video Playback as Immediate Feedback
(15:22) - The Shift From C-Suite Authority to Boardroom Influence
(17:03) - Psychology Patterns That Block Feedback and Change
(19:02) - The Chair as Conductor and Coach

Harriet Heneghan: Harriet Heneghan is a business psychologist and executive coach at Sainty Hird & Partners. She began her career in Investment Banking at UBS before moving into communications and leadership coaching. Harriet holds an MSc in Occupational Psychology from Birkbeck, University of London and is accredited in Hogan Assessments and EQ-i 2.0 / EQ-i 360. She works with board directors, chairs, and senior leadership teams to strengthen self-awareness, influence, and group dynamics, particularly during periods of transition, complexity, and heightened accountability.

Episode Insights:

Boardroom conflict often comes from a gap between intention and impact, and the habit of judging others by behaviour while judging yourself by intention.
Coaching works best when the individual genuinely wants change, not when it is imposed from above.
The chair is a conductor, using questions and structure to bring out better contributions and reduce unhelpful power dynamics.
Psychological safety and assertiveness are linked: effective board members speak up clearly without dominating the room.
Video playback and objective tools like Hogan can accelerate self-awareness by showing leaders how they actually come across.

Action Points:

Separate intention from impact: When feedback stings, pause to ask what behaviour others experienced rather than defending intent. Summarise back what you heard and test it with a second example before deciding what to change. Treat this as data, not a verdict on character.
Build a feedback habit that creates themes: Do not overreact to one-off comments or one awkward meeting. Look for repeating patterns across multiple people and situations. If you can, validate it with structured tools or peer feedback before setting a development goal.
Use coaching questions in the boardroom: Replace quick judgements with questions such as What is driving this, and what outcome do we want? This lowers defensiveness and pulls the conversation back towards decision quality. Chairs can model this to stabilise board dynamics.
Practise assertive contribution: Prepare one or two clear interventions before meetings and deliver them briefly. Watch the room for signals, then stop talking and invite others in. If you feel ignored, follow up one-to-one rather than escalating in-session.
Create space to think before reacting: When the room tips into fight-or-flight, call a short break or pause the decision. Use the time to clarify what is actually being decided and what information is missing. Better pace often produces faster progress.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path. Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

Evgeny Shadchnev on Transitioning From Founder to CEO

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 01:00:00 +0000

Why has founder CEO succession become one of the most stressful and consequential decisions a board can make?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson speaks with Evgeny Shadchnev, founder of Makers, author of Startup CEO Succession and coach to founder CEOs, about how to navigate leadership transitions when the stakes feel deeply personal and financially critical. Drawing on his own journey from founder CEO to coach, Evgeny explains the crucial shift from building a product to building the company that builds the product, and why behaviours that work in a five‑person team become harmful in a seventy‑person organisation.

Against a backdrop of rising CEO turnover even at high‑performing companies, as boards lean into more proactive succession planning rather than waiting for crisis, Evgeny and Ralph explore how boards can spot early warning signs, support founders through burnout and identity shifts, and create a safe, trusted space for honest conversations. From job specs that look ahead to where the “puck” is going, to the pitfalls of rushed transitions and lateral moves into chair roles, this conversation offers a practical roadmap for founders, investors and aspiring NEDs.

Evgeny Shadchnev: Evgeny Shadchnev is the founder and former CEO of Makers, one of the UK’s leading coding bootcamps, where he helped tackle the tech talent shortage by training complete beginners to become software developers. After leading Makers through its growth and his own CEO succession, he became a certified professional coach specialising in founder CEO transitions, working with entrepreneurs and boards on the personal and organisational challenges of leadership change. He is the author of Startup CEO Succession: A Founder’s Guide to Leadership Transition and hosts the Startup CEO Succession podcast, where he interviews founders, successor CEOs and investors about real‑world succession stories.

Episode Insights:

The founder’s job is to keep the company alive and find product–market fit, while the CEO’s job is to build and lead the organisation that builds the product.
Behaviours that are life‑saving in a five‑person startup, such as having an opinion on everything, often become micromanagement and a blocker once the team scales.
Early, ongoing conversations about the CEO job spec, the company’s future needs and the founder’s preferences reduce the risk of crisis‑driven, rushed transitions.
Trust and informal dialogue between founder, chair and investors are as important as formal board meetings in handling succession with maturity and respect.
Lateral moves (for example, founder to chair or functional role) only work when the founder is genuinely qualified for the role and willing to get out of the new CEO’s way.

Action Points:

Clarify the founder vs CEO job over time: Schedule regular discussions between the founder, chair and board about how the CEO role is evolving over the next two to three years. Map what the company will need from its leader, compare that with the founder’s strengths and preferences, and document a living CEO job spec that is revisited annually rather than only in moments of crisis.
Normalise early succession conversations: Build CEO succession into the board’s “good hygiene” agenda, alongside cash flow and risk. Treat it as an ongoing strategic topic, not a signal of imminent removal, so that founders can talk openly about burnout, changing life priorities and future roles without fear that one conversation will trigger an immediate process.
Invest in trusted relationships on the board: Ensure there is at least one board member – ideally the chair – with whom the founder has a deep, trusted relationship. Encourage informal check‑ins between meetings so concerns about fit, performance or wellbeing surface early and privately, rather than erupting in formal sessions where they are harder to handle constructively.
Design the succession process as a shared project: When a CEO transition becomes likely, treat it as a collaboration between outgoing CEO and board. Co‑create the forward‑looking job description, agree who leads the search, and define how the current CEO will contribute without over‑controlling the process. This shared ownership reduces defensiveness and keeps the company’s long‑term interests at the centre.
Plan the founder’s next chapter deliberately: Support the founder in clarifying what comes after the CEO role before any transition is finalised. Encourage them to take time to rest, reflect and explore options such as coaching, new ventures, advisory roles or different executive positions, rather than grabbing the first opportunity. A clear, attractive “next step” makes it easier for the founder to let go and for the board to communicate a confident story to investors.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path.
Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

Are Boards Adding Enough Value? Megan Pantelides on the Evidence

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 01:00:00 +0000

What does a high‑value board really look like in a world of scandals, regulation fatigue, and infinite agendas?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson speaks with Board Intelligence’s Megan Pantelides to unpack the mindset, skills, and information boards need to move from box‑ticking to real strategic impact. They explore why critical thinking, curiosity and humility separate effective directors from “back‑seat drivers”, and why great governance is really the discipline of a well‑run company – and economy.

Megan shares insights from Board Intelligence’s Board Value Index, where nearly half of directors felt their boards were not adding enough value, and explains how better board packs, sharper questions and continuous development can turn that around. She also reflects on live debates about the UK Corporate Governance Code’s comply‑or‑explain regime, including the FRC’s recent push for more meaningful explanations in its latest Annual Review of Corporate Governance Reporting and the updated guidance on NED remuneration, which gives boards new flexibility while preserving independence.

From due diligence tips for aspiring NEDs to practical ways to embed critical thinking across an organisation, this conversation offers a grounded roadmap for anyone serious about a long‑term board career.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(03:00) - From Search to Board Intelligence
(04:18) - How Board Intelligence Evolved Its Board Effectiveness Offer
(06:30) - What Good Board Packs Look Like Across Sectors
(10:30) - Using Board Papers for Due Diligence on a New Board Role
(12:45) - Higgs Review, Scandals and the Changing Role of NEDs
(15:32) - Comply or Explain, Proxies and the Reality of Governance Codes
(18:13) - Is It Worth Being on a Board? Risk, Reward and Scrutiny
(21:03) - Certification, Competence and the Mindset of Effective Directors
(23:31) - Critical Thinking as a Daily Discipline for Boards and Management
(33:36) - The Board Value Index and How Boards Can Add More Value

Megan Pantelides: Megan Pantelides is a Senior Director at Board Intelligence, Europe’s largest board technology and advisory firm, where she leads on research, content, communications and brand development. She writes extensively on board effectiveness, corporate governance, AI, leadership and organisational culture, with work featured in outlets such as the Financial Times, Sunday Times and Governance and Compliance. Drawing on senior roles in executive search and board advisory, Megan helps boards and leadership teams improve the quality of their information, decision‑making and oversight, and has contributed to major initiatives including the Institute of Directors’ 2025 Commission on the evolving role of non‑executive directors.

Episode Insights:

Board effectiveness is less about heroic individuals and more about disciplined processes, high‑quality information and a culture that welcomes challenge.
Critical thinking in the boardroom starts with better questions, not bigger packs: directors need decision‑ready insight, not kitchen‑sink reporting.
The best boards blend a common framework – such as Board Intelligence’s question‑driven insight approach – with tailored, sector‑specific nuance.
Certification and formal training can signal commitment and humility, but they only add real value when paired with deep experience and ongoing curiosity.
Comply‑or‑explain still works when companies use it honestly: recent FRC reviews show that clearer, context‑rich explanations are becoming a marker of good governance rather than a sign of weakness, as highlighted in the FRC’s Annual Review of Corporate Governance Reporting and related analysis in The Accountant.

Action Points:

Clarify your board value proposition: Define in plain language what you uniquely bring to a board beyond your executive CV. Distil your sector expertise, functional strengths and mindset (for example, growth versus risk focus) into a coherent narrative you can evidence with real situations and outcomes.
Use board packs as a due diligence tool: When considering a role, ask for several years of board papers and read them for signals about focus, candour and alignment with strategy. Look for whether the board spends its time on forward‑looking value creation versus backward‑looking performance monitoring, and use this to shape your questions in interview.
Build daily critical‑thinking rituals: Treat recurring reports, updates and meetings as chances to think, not just to transmit information. Before writing or reading a paper, list the core questions that really matter – what is going well, what is not, what keeps management awake at night, and what support is needed from the board – and structure your input around them.
Invest in professional development with humility: If you are serious about a NED career, pursue targeted training, certification or board‑readiness programmes that deepen your understanding of the role. Use these not as badges, but as a way to challenge assumptions, practise difficult conversations and refine how you navigate the line between support and oversight.
Engage with the governance debate, not just the rules: Stay current on developments such as the updated UK Corporate Governance Code and guidance and the FRC’s guidance on NED remuneration, which emphasise flexibility, meaningful explanations and long‑term alignment. Use this context to frame questions about how any board you join interprets comply‑or‑explain, risk, incentives and culture.

The Boardroom Path is the essential podcast for aspiring and newly appointed Non-Executive Directors (NEDs) navigating the journey from executive leadership to the boardroom. Hosted b...

The AI Arms Race: What NEDs Must Know About Cyber, Data and AI

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 01:00:00 +0000

How should boards really think about cyber and AI when every organisation feels under siege?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson speaks with Danny Lopez, CEO of Glasswall and experienced NED, about why cybersecurity is now the defining risk of our time – and why boards must stop treating it as a narrow IT issue. They explore how to reframe cyber as core to trust, reputation and licence to operate, and why good NEDs do not need to code but do need sharp, strategic questions and real intellectual curiosity.

Drawing on recent data showing that over 8 in 10 UK businesses plan to increase cyber budgets next year and that AI‑driven threats are a top concern for European security professionals, Danny explains how boards can move beyond tick‑box compliance into meaningful scenario planning, resilience and culture change. From identifying the “crown jewels” in your data estate to avoiding naive uses of open AI tools for board papers, this conversation offers a practical roadmap for NEDs who want to stay ahead of AI‑enabled threats without losing sight of long‑term growth.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(04:50) - A Non‑Linear Career of Risk and Growth
(06:04) - Why Cybersecurity Is the Defining Risk of Our Time
(07:06) - Inside Glasswall and File‑Based Threat Protection
(08:15) - Breaking into the US Intelligence and Defence Market
(10:17) - Cyber on the Board Agenda: Curiosity over Fear
(13:25) - AI, Cyber and Risk: Enabler Not Just Threat
(15:05) - Crown Jewels, Risk Registers and Better Board Questions
(17:03) - Resilience, War‑Gaming and Culture Under Stress
(20:28) - A New Geopolitical Paradigm and Swan‑Stacking Boards
(24:01) - AI as Burglar and Alarm System in Cybersecurity
(31:37) - AI, Governance and Avoiding Groupthink in the Boardroom

Danny Lopez: Danny Lopez is the CEO of Glasswall, an award‑winning cybersecurity company that protects organisations against sophisticated file‑based threats using zero‑trust Content Disarm and Reconstruction technology. A former British Consul General in New York and Director‑General for trade and investment across North America, he previously served as the inaugural CEO of London & Partners and held senior international banking roles at Barclays in London, New York, Miami and Mumbai. Danny is a non‑executive director at Innovate Finance and Aquis Stock Exchange and a pro bono adviser to the City of London Corporation, giving him a unique vantage point at the intersection of geopolitics, finance, technology and board‑level risk.

Episode Insights:

Cybersecurity is not a narrow IT issue but a core risk‑management and trust issue that underpins an organisation’s licence to operate.
Boards do not need deep technical skills but must be intellectually curious, ask incisive questions and insist that cyber information is presented in plain, decision‑ready language.
Identifying and protecting the “crown jewels” in your digital landscape allows boards to focus spend and oversight where it matters most instead of spreading security budgets thinly across everything.
Practical scenario planning and war‑gaming around doomsday‑style incidents build real organisational resilience, clarify roles in a crisis and strengthen culture.
AI has become both burglar and alarm system: it dramatically scales attackers’ capabilities, but, when governed well, also enables faster anomaly detection, pattern recognition and defence.

Action Points:

Define your crown jewels: Map the 5–7% of your data and digital estate without which the organisation would be on its knees. Ask management to quantify the impact of losing those assets and to show how cyber spend is weighted towards protecting them, not just evenly distributed across every system.
Make scenario planning non‑negotiable: Schedule regular, realistic cyber incident simulations at board level. Treat them as live rehearsals, not compliance exercises, so everyone understands their role, communications pathways and decision thresholds when a major breach or AI‑enabled attack hits.
Reframe cyber as culture, not just controls: Challenge management on how cyber, AI and data risk feature in training, incentives and everyday behaviours. Look for evidence that employees feel safe to report mistakes quickly and that near‑misses are treated as learning opportunities rather than reasons for blame.
Set guardrails for AI use in governance: Ask security teams to define clear principles for how AI tools can and cannot be used with board and management information. Ensure there is guidance on sensitive data, model choice and auditability so that efficiency never trumps confidentiality and accountability.
Invest in your own AI and cyber literacy: Commit to ongoing learning about AI‑enabled threats and defences, using curated case studies, external briefings and trusted resources. The goal is not to become an engineer but to be confident enough to challenge, probe and connect cyber discussions back to strategy, reputation and capital allocation.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path.

Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

How Great NEDs Think: Lessons in Leadership, Brand and Governance with Robert Senior

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 01:00:00 +0000

What does it really take to thrive in the boardroom rather than simply occupy a seat at the table?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson speaks with Rob Senior, former worldwide CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi and now a plural non-executive, investor and advisor. Drawing on a career that spans founding and selling Fallon, leading global creative campaigns, and serving on PLC, private, scale-up and academic boards, Rob offers a candid look at how executives should rethink their move into NED roles.

He unpacks the nuanced relationship between boards and CEOs, why the Chair–CEO axis is critical, and how to think clearly about stakeholder trade-offs and personal risk. Rob also explores board composition, fit and personal brand, arguing that “hope is not a strategy” when choosing roles or filling seats. As boards grapple with disruption and new responsibilities, directors are under pressure to raise their game: recent research shows that nearly all boards are experimenting with AI, yet only around one in five has formal AI ethics or risk policies in place. This timely conversation challenges aspiring NEDs to be intellectually honest about their value, motivations and impact.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(01:27) - Robert Senior's Career Journey
(04:32) - Insights on Board Dynamics
(10:33) - CEO and Board Relationships
(14:04) - The Role of a NED
(23:48) - Branding and Board Decisions
(36:58) - Challenges and Opportunities in Modern Boards

Rob Senior: Rob Senior is a non-executive director, investor and advisor known for his leadership in advertising, branding and venture capital. Formerly worldwide CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, he began his career at TBWA before co-founding Fallon London, helping to create some of the world’s most awarded campaigns for brands including Cadbury, Sony, T-Mobile, Toyota and Visa. Rob later led Saatchi & Saatchi’s London, European and global businesses, championing a “nothing is impossible” culture that combined creative excellence with commercial impact. Since stepping away from full-time executive roles, he has built a plural portfolio spanning PLC, private, scale-up and academic boards.

As a partner at Red Rice Ventures, he now backs founder-led consumer and digital businesses, supporting entrepreneurs on brand, growth strategy and leadership. His experience of setting up, buying, selling and closing companies, coupled with his focus on authentic personal branding and board dynamics, underpins a distinctive perspective on where NEDs can genuinely add value.

Episode Insights:

Why aspiring NEDs must start with intellectual honesty about their “superpower”, ideal board environments and where they are least effective.
How the best board members balance accountability without operational responsibility, using “gentle persuasion” and relationships rather than blunt direction.
Why fit between individual, board culture and mission often matters more than prestige, sector or headline remuneration.
How branding and clarity of purpose help boards distinguish between strategic and purely tactical revenue, shaping better long-term decisions.
The behaviours that differentiate high-impact directors – persistent, well-informed questioning and thoughtful preparation – from those who simply “go through the motions”.

Action Points:

Clarify your boardroom value proposition: Define your core strengths, the contexts where you perform at your best, and situations where you tend to add little value. Turn this into a simple personal “board brief” you can test against any new opportunity, so you only pursue roles where you can be genuinely additive rather than merely decorative.
Do rigorous due diligence on every board role: Before accepting a seat, look beyond the brand name and ask hard questions about the organisation’s purpose, strategy, culture and current challenges. Speak to multiple stakeholders, review recent board decisions and consider how you would feel being publicly associated with those choices in five years’ time.
Invest in the Chair–NED–CEO relationship: Treat the Chair–CEO axis and broader board dynamics as core to your effectiveness, not background context. Schedule time outside formal meetings to build trust, understand perspectives and align on the organisation’s “North Star”, so difficult conversations can happen quickly and without unnecessary collateral damage.
Be deliberate about risk, not reactive: Map out where you personally sit on the risk spectrum and how that aligns with the board’s appetite and the company’s stage of growth. In discussions on strategy, capital allocation or brand decisions, explicitly separate short-term pain from long-term gain, and be clear when you are taking tactical revenue versus building strategic value.
Commit to continuous learning as a director: Use each board as a learning environment rather than a static credential. After meetings, reflect on where your questions changed the discussion, where they fell flat, and what information you lacked. Build habits of independent research between meetings so you can return with data and perspectives that materially shift decisions.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path.

Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

The Secret Diary of the Boardroom: What Every NED Needs to Know About Governance

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 01:00:00 +0000

Is your board truly equipped for effective governance, or are you just checking a box?

In this insightful episode, host Ralph Grayson speaks with Erika Eliasson-Norris, Founder & CEO of Beyond Governance and author of The Secret Diary of a Company Secretary, to lift the lid on the guarded realities of boardroom life.

Erika, who also serves as the Governance Assessor to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, argues that corporate failure rarely stems from a single event; instead, it's rooted in a culture that undermines governance structures. The conversation explores the pivotal role of the Company Secretary as the quiet conscience of the company, moving beyond a simple legal function to become an editor of focus for the board.

They also discuss emerging challenges, like AI in the boardroom, and the need for boards to bridge the 'Agility Gap'—the tendency to be structured for caution over adaptability.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(01:53) - The Secret Diary of a Company Secretary
(05:50) - Beyond Governance and CoSec on Demand
(10:38) - Evolution of Corporate Governance
(12:19) - Challenges in Governance
(20:04) - Board Meetings: Best Practices
(27:18) - Leadership Lessons and Resilience
(33:00) - AI in the Boardroom
(38:35) - Career Advice and Final Thoughts

Erika Eliasson-Norris: Founder and CEO of Beyond Governance, a consultancy that helps organisations use governance as a strategic advantage. She is the youngest-ever governance executive appointed to a FTSE 250 company, a recognised 'Governance Professional of the Year', and serves as the sole Governance Assessor for the Post Office Horizon IT Public Inquiry. She is also the author of The Secret Diary of a Company Secretary.

Episode Insights:

Governance has evolved from a box-ticking exercise to encompass culture, behaviours, ESG integration, and a focus on cognitive diversity.
The root cause of any corporate scandal or collapse can typically be traced back to the organisation's corporate governance.
A Company Secretary's value is in being an "editor of focus," ensuring papers link data to strategy and risk, rather than simply being a scribe of the meeting.
The danger of the 'Agility Gap': many boards are structured for caution, but what they truly need is the adaptability to make timely, informed decisions.
AI presents an opportunity for faster data analysis, but boards must mitigate the risks of embedded bias and over-reliance that could undermine independent human judgment.

Action Points:

Reframe the Company Secretary Role: Stop viewing the Company Secretary solely as a legal or compliance function. Recognise them as an essential strategic advisor with a broad, objective view across the entire organisation, positioned to ask the hard questions and hold the 'red lines'. Engage with them proactively for advice on board dynamics and reporting focus, not just process.
Audit Your Board Pack for Focus: Assess your board meeting papers to ensure they focus on impact and link data directly to strategy and risk, not just operational detail. Work with your governance professional to cut noise and consolidate information so directors focus on key decisions, risk, and opportunities lost.
Challenge Groupthink and Complacency: Actively foster a board culture where individuals feel comfortable speaking "truth to power" and raising problems without fear. Understand that corporate failure is often the result of small, unchecked oversights and poor decisions left unchallenged, which demands vigilance and cognitive diversity.
Address the 'Agility Gap': Review your governance frameworks to ensure they support timely, informed decision-making, rather than creating unnecessary bureaucracy structured only for caution. Erika suggests scenario planning to work out what to do before things go wrong, allowing for faster, more confident action when they do.
Understand the AI Risk Balance: Recognise AI's potential for efficiency and faster insights, but define a clear set of principles around its use to ensure transparency and accountability. Guard against over-reliance, which can lead to a decline in independent judgment and introduce embedded bias into key decisions.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path.

Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

Charles Hall on the Public vs. Private Market: An Analyst's Guide for Boards and Founders

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 01:00:00 +0000

Is the UK public market truly a dinosaur, or is it on the cusp of a major renewal?

In this essential episode for aspiring and newly appointed Non-Executive Directors, host Ralph Grayson is joined by Charles Hall, Head of Research at Peel Hunt. Charles, a leading voice in the market reform debate, delivers a candid and incisive analysis of the forces shaping UK capital markets, critiquing the "erosion of public listings" and the over-reliance on private capital.

He argues passionately that public markets are a "public good" that pay more tax and offer "permanent capital". They dissect structural challenges like the growth of passive investment and explore the crucial policy changes needed in pension fund allocation to keep successful, high-growth UK companies listing at home. Despite a recent "shift in sentiment" and strengthening IPO pipeline for 2026, Charles warns the UK cannot be complacent in the fight to retain its leading businesses, noting the "fundamental flaw" that sees the UK export over £1 billion every year in pension capital overseas.

This is a must-listen for board members seeking strategic insights on investor engagement, valuations, and the UK’s global competitive position.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(02:55) - Charles Hall's Career Journey
(05:06) - Engaging with Investors
(08:42) - Peel Hunt's IPO and Corporate Services
(11:19) - Global Macro Outlook and UK Strategy
(14:03) - Challenges in UK Public Markets
(18:14) - The Importance of UK Equity Markets
(24:28) - Innovations and Future of UK Capital Markets
(35:52) - The Role of Pension Funds and Scale-Up Capital
(48:30) - Positivity in the UK Public Market

Charles Hall: Head of Research and an experienced Consumer sector analyst at Peel Hunt, one of the UK's leading investment banks. He leads an operation covering over 400 UK small and mid-cap stocks and is a widely recognised advocate for the revitalisation of UK capital markets and pension reform. He was the top-ranked analyst in the UK Mid & Small cap market overall in the 2021 Institutional Investor (Extel) Survey for the fifth consecutive year.

Episode Insights:

Analysts possess a deep, privileged pool of knowledge on strategy, competitors, and disruptive technology that boards should tap into, going beyond mere share price maximisation.
Public markets are fundamentally beneficial for the UK economy because listed companies pay more tax (corporation tax, dividends, stamp duty) and are held to a high degree of honesty and accountability.
A major structural problem is the extensive export of domestic capital via DC pension schemes, which invest predominantly in global, often US-listed, equities, starving growing UK companies of scale-up capital.
Listing in the US is "definitively not nirvana"; for most UK companies, they would be "minnows" and would not automatically gain a higher valuation or access to passive fund flows.
Public listing provides "permanent capital" that never has to be refinanced or repaid, enabling companies to take a long-term view unmatched by the cyclical nature of private markets.

Action Points:

Re-evaluate Investor Engagement Strategy: Boards should view their analysts and investors as critical partners who provide robust challenge and market-wide strategic insights, not just capital sources. Schedule formal sessions to tap into analyst knowledge on sector trends and competitor strategy beyond quarterly results.
Advocate for Domestic Capital: Engage with policymakers on the urgent need for pension reform that incentivises UK pension funds to allocate more capital domestically, as currently DC schemes allocate less than 5% to UK equities. Highlight why investing in UK growth companies is a "win-win-win" for pensioners, funds, and the UK economy.
Scrutinise Private Takeover Offers: When faced with an offer, look beyond the immediate valuation to the underlying cause: poor capital flows and market sentiment. Understand that reversing capital outflows would quickly improve domestic valuations and reduce the perceived "bargain" available to overseas acquirers.
Embrace Transparency for Trust: Recognise that the constant scrutiny and glare of publicity from analysts and journalists is a key strength of public markets, creating a "high degree of honesty". View this transparency as a vital governance strength that prevents systemic issues seen in less-scrutinised private entities, such as Thames Water.
Foster Entrepreneurial Culture: Work to create a culture where entrepreneurs feel it is a "privilege to be listed in the UK". Actively encourage successful founders to reinvest their wealth domestically in the next generation of UK growth companies, fostering a 'go again' mindset.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path.

Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

The Scale-Up Capital Crisis: Alasdair Haynes on Why the IPO Process Must Change

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 01:00:00 +0000

Is the UK truly "rubbish" at scaling up its most promising companies?

Host Ralph Grayson welcomes financial markets trailblazer Alasdair Haynes, founder and now President of Aquis Exchange, for an honest discussion on building and scaling a disruptive business. Alasdair shares his 48-year journey, from City trading floors to successfully exiting Aquis to SIX Group, and provides a firsthand account of the founder-to-President transition.

The conversation dissects the critical importance of board evolution and founder succession planning, emphasising that it must be for the "common good" of the company, not a mere "tick box exercise". They dive deep into the urgency of reforming the equity markets to make the IPO process more straightforward, cheaper, and faster for small, growth companies.

This push for public market revival is especially relevant as global IPO proceeds surged 89% year-over-year in Q3 2025, demonstrating renewed investor confidence worldwide. Alasdair introduces his "three stages of company growth" model and passionately argues for a governance structure that is proportionate, allowing entrepreneurs to focus 90% of their time on building the business.

(00:00) - Introduction to The Boardroom Path
(02:51) - Alasdair's Early Career and Lessons Learned
(06:15) - The Importance of Board Evolution
(08:38) - Mentorship and Board Dynamics
(11:12) - Founder Succession Planning
(17:17) - The IPO Market and Growth Capital
(26:08) - Public vs. Private Boards
(38:26) - Final Thoughts

Alasdair Haynes: Founder and President of Aquis Exchange (SIX Group). A visionary financial markets executive with nearly five decades of experience, Alasdair is celebrated for disrupting traditional exchange models, notably by pioneering a subscription-based pricing structure at Aquis. He previously served as CEO of Chi-X Europe and is an inaugural Chair of TheCityUK's Business Council, and sits on the UK FCA's Practitioners' Panel. His expertise lies in championing open, fair, and innovative capital markets and reforming the accessibility of scale-up capital for growth companies.

Episode Insights:

The essential differences between the board needed for a startup, an IPO, a scale-up, and an acquisition.
Why founder-CEO succession is never a tick-box exercise and the two critical reasons a plan is always necessary.
How to use psychometric analysis (EQ/IQ) and communication methods to build a stronger board-to-executive relationship.
Alasdair Haynes’ 'three school' model for companies and how it applies to the proportionality of governance for different growth stages.
The core challenges of the UK’s scale-up capital market and the need for radical change to make IPOs easier and cheaper.

Action Points:

Evaluate Your Board's Stage-Fit: Review your current board's composition against your company's immediate strategic phase (e.g., startup, scale-up, exit). If your board hasn't evolved with the business, plan a change to ensure you have directors with the necessary expertise, such as acquisition experience for an exit.
Implement Proportionate Governance: Challenge the idea that one size fits all for governance. If you are a small company, ensure your governance structure is proportionate to your size and allows management to focus most of their time on the core business rather than excessive compliance reporting.
Prioritise the CEO-Chair Relationship: As a founder or CEO, dedicate time to fostering a relationship of deep respect and support with your Chair. This relationship is critical to the company's success; if it breaks down, the company will face significant issues.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path.

Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

The Helicopter View: Mastering the Executive-to-NED Transition

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 01:00:00 +0100

Do you struggle to articulate your value in the boardroom, or feel trapped in the 'executive doer' mindset? Host Ralph Grayson is joined by Fiona Hathorn, CEO of WB Directors (now part of Nurole) and an expert in Governance and Talent Management, to dissect the challenges and strategies for building a thriving Non-Executive Director (NED) career. Fiona shares her personal journey and the mission behind WB Directors, emphasising that you are "never too young, never too old, and never too male" to be on a board.

The discussion provides tactical advice, from using the 'seven reasons' to be on a board to understanding the core NED functions of conformance and performance. Critically, Fiona highlights the current board landscape undergoing significant transformation, driven by technology and geopolitical risk. For instance, a recent NACD survey reports that 67% of boards are now actively seeking individuals with specific domain expertise, such as AI or data ethics, rather than just a generalist background.

Learn how to elevate your pitch beyond your executive CV, master the art of constructive challenge, and build the right network to secure your seat at the table.

(00:00) - Introduction to The Boardroom Path
(03:10) - Fiona's Career Journey and Early Influences
(05:25) - The Mission and Evolution of Women on Boards
(08:03) - Services and Offerings of Women on Boards
(13:03) - Joining Forces with Nurole
(14:50) - The Importance of Board Experience
(18:01) - The Role and Skills of an Effective NED
(20:56) - Debunking Boardroom Myths
(26:55) - The Current Board Landscape
(29:47) - Stakeholder Influence and Transparency
(32:34) - Adapting to Technological Changes
(38:28) - The Role of AI in Board Decision-Making
(43:55) - Building a Successful Board Career

Fiona Hathorn: Fiona is the CEO of WB Directors (formerly Women on Boards UK), now part of Nurole, a purpose-led business dedicated to increasing diversity in executive and non-executive leadership. An expert in Governance, Regulation, and Talent Management, she brings over a decade of experience from senior roles in asset management, having run global equities and emerging markets desks. She is also an advisor to Peel Hunt, Chair of the Nominations Committee at Hanx, and serves on the Advisory Board for the Global Institute for Women's Leadership at King's College London.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

The seven essential reasons a non-executive directorship is crucial for career development, viewing it as a mini-MBA.
The critical mindset shift from being an executive ‘doer’ to an effective board ‘overseer’ who can scrutinise, challenge, support, and advise.
How to build a board value proposition that goes beyond your executive CV by focusing on 'the so what'—the business benefit and outcome of your experience.
Current boardroom priorities, including navigating the complexities of AI, geopolitical risk, and the leadership skill required to manage a diverse team in a VUCA environment.
Tactical networking strategies, including the importance of developing a clear, third-person pitch, to access the 95% of board roles that are not transparently advertised.

Action Points:

Define Your Board Value Add: Stop describing your past job titles. Instead, unpack your executive career to identify specific stories where you added value to strategy, risk, or M&A situations. This process helps you create an intentional, compelling narrative that demonstrates your board value beyond operational execution.
Master the Helicopter View: The role of a non-executive director is to oversee and not to 'do'—the helicopter should not land. Practice viewing challenges from a strategic, high-level perspective. Focus your contributions on the four core non-executive functions: scrutinise, challenge, support, and advise.
Develop a Networking Strategy: Understand that 95% of board roles are not advertised and do not use headhunters. Create a spreadsheet of all former colleagues and connections and develop a proactive strategy to reconnect with them. This consistent, deliberate process is key to building visibility.
Focus on Deep Technical Skill and Breadth: While deep technical skill (your 'T') is the reason a board may hire you, your 'breadth and depth' allows you to contribute to problem-solving and ensures you know when to speak—and when not to. Know the difference and articulate both clearly in your pitch.
Conduct Thorough Due Diligence: Never be grateful for or accept the first board role that comes along. Conduct extremely thorough due diligence, as joining the wrong board that later fails can seriously damage your reputation. Ensure the board’s culture and strategy align with your values and expertise.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path.

Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

The QCA Mission: Driving Investment for Small and Mid-Cap UK Boards

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 01:00:00 +0100

Is the UK market finally ready for an IPO resurgence, and what must growth company boards do to prepare?

Host Ralph Grayson welcomes James Ashton, Chief Executive of the Quoted Companies Alliance (QCA), a leading advocacy group for small and mid-sized quoted companies in the UK. James draws on his background in financial journalism and as a FTSE 250 Non-Executive Director to discuss the critical role of public equity in driving economic growth across the UK.

They dive into the QCA’s mission to amplify members’ voices to regulators and government, their comprehensive governance guidance, and the new QCA Director Growth Programme, designed to equip directors with the skills needed to thrive in a fast-changing environment.

With recent reports showing that businesses embedding AI into their operations are twice as likely to see value, James and Ralph also touch on emerging boardroom risks like AI, as well as the push for greater investment in UK equities through policy reform. This episode is essential listening for any current or aspiring board member operating in the UK growth company ecosystem.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(02:21) - James Ashton's Background and Role at QCA
(03:36) - QCA's Mission and Impact
(04:33) - Benefits of Joining QCA
(06:11) - QCA's Network and Events
(11:13) - James Ashton's Boardroom Experience
(13:23) - QCA Corporate Governance Code
(16:38) - QCA Director Growth Programme
(20:35) - Current Trends and Challenges in the City
(30:47) - QCA Future Events

James Ashton: Chief Executive of the Quoted Companies Alliance (QCA), the organisation that champions the interests of the UK’s small and mid-sized publicly traded businesses and their advisors. James is a seasoned professional who was formerly the City Editor of the Sunday Times and Evening Standard and currently serves as a Non-Executive Director for the FTSE 250 investment trust, Finsbury Growth & Income. His expertise lies in advocating for market reform, boosting liquidity, and promoting the value of a public quote for growth.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Why the Quoted Companies Alliance (QCA) is crucial for amplifying the voice of small and mid-cap public companies to regulators and government.
The key components of the new QCA Director Growth Programme, including governance, legal responsibilities, and boardroom dynamics for high-growth firms.
Current IPO sentiment in the City and what it would take to "light the IPO touch paper" this autumn.
The fundamental difference between a FTSE 100 Non-Executive Director role and one at a small-cap growth company, where "sleeves are rolled up".
QCA's legislative asks for the upcoming Budget, including the impact of stamp duty and ISA reform on UK equity markets.

Action Points:

Evaluate Your Code of Governance: Don't assume your company is a QCA member just because you follow the QCA Code. Review the latest version of the QCA Corporate Governance Code (refreshed in 2023) and consider incorporating its guidance for audit, remuneration, and nominations committees. This structured approach helps manage the "growing pains" associated with scaling a founder-led public company.
Reassess Your Role as a Growth NED: Understand that a small-company board role requires "adaptability" and a willingness to be pulled into operational matters. If the company lacks a dedicated marketing director, for example, your marketing experience may be co-opted for projects. Reflect on your willingness to operate closer to "ground level" rather than purely at "35,000 feet".
Amplify Your Company's Story: Recognise that a company's story, told through the perspective of its directors, is more credible with politicians and regulators. Translate abstract issues like low liquidity or poor valuations into real-world impacts, such as a factory not built or people not hired. Use your voice to directly support the QCA’s policy and lobbying efforts.
Factor in Geopolitical Risk: Acknowledge that small and mid-cap companies are not immune to global issues, even if their main quotes are in London. Ensure that geoeconomics and tariff impacts are explicitly high on your board’s risk register, as international trading is common, even for smaller firms. Use QCA contacts to benchmark and discuss these pressures with peers.
Invest in Boardroom Education: Consider joining a focused training course like the QCA Director Growth Programme to gain a comprehensive "toolkit for success". This course is designed specifically for the unique challenges of small and mid-cap boards on AIM, Aquis, and the Main Market. Investing in continuous professional development (CPD) is essential for effective constructive challenge and support.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path.

Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

The Future of Governance: How AI Will Transform the Boardroom

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 01:00:00 +0100

How can board directors move beyond being overwhelmed by thousands of pages of materials and start genuinely driving performance?

This episode features Raffaela Rein, a seasoned tech entrepreneur and multi-board director, who argues that the current state of governance is unsustainable. She draws on her journey from BlackRock and launching companies for Rocket Internet to her roles on boards, including Porsche and IU, to highlight the critical gap in director support.

Raffaela details the board effectiveness crisis, noting that, according to a recent PwC survey, over half of directors believe a colleague should be replaced, signalling board underperformance is at a breaking point. To solve this, she unveils BoardLens, her new AI-driven tool designed to act as a "personal Goldman Sachs analyst" for directors and investors.

She explains how AI can synthesise complex board packs, flag narrative changes and discrepancies, and provide strategic memory across an entire investment portfolio, shifting the focus from mere compliance to performance-driven value creation. Discover why leading with an entrepreneurial mindset is the key to navigating the accelerating AI and sustainability transformations in the boardroom.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(01:12) - Meet Raffaela Rein: Tech Entrepreneur Turned Board Director
(02:50) - Raffaela's Early Career: From BlackRock to Rocket Internet
(04:20) - Building Career Foundry and Transitioning to Board Roles
(06:15) - Raffaela's Experience with Porsche and Advisory Boards
(13:16) - The German vs. Anglo-Saxon Governance Models
(18:00) - Challenges and Opportunities in Board Work
(20:49) - The Role of AI in Board Efficiency
(23:40) - Introducing BoardLens: A Digital Board Office
(34:05) - The Future of AI and Board Governance

Raffaela Rein: A renowned tech entrepreneur and board director who has built a career at the intersection of innovation and emerging technologies. She is the Founder of BoardLens, an AI tool created to enhance board effectiveness and drive performance. She also founded CareerFoundry and WildWildVentures and currently serves on multiple boards, including the Porsche Sustainability Board, Private Equity Mutares, and the tech unicorn IU. She has also been recognised by Forbes as a Top Woman in Tech.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Why the sheer volume of board preparation material (up to 2,000 pages) makes effective director oversight almost impossible.
The fundamental difference between the Anglo-Saxon and German dual governance system, and how this affects CEO control and board oversight.
How Raffaela’s new AI-powered solution, BoardLens, functions as a strategic analyst to flag risks and inconsistencies across board data.
Why investors (PE/VC) serving on multiple boards are the primary clients for AI governance tools due to the complexity of portfolio oversight.
The critical debate around AI replacing NEDs: the issues of liability, the need for human judgment, and the potential for greater diversity of thought.

Action Points:

Audit Your Board’s Effectiveness: Take an honest look at your current board’s composition, performance, and contribution to strategy. Start an internal discussion about the high percentage of directors who feel colleagues should be replaced and identify where your board lacks expertise to meet current business needs. Focus on encouraging candid feedback loops to improve individual and collective performance.
Lead the AI Transformation from the Top: Recognise that AI adoption must be driven by example, starting with the executive team and board. Actively use enterprise-secure AI tools in your workflow and identify internal “champions” who are excited about testing and implementing AI to drive effectiveness and innovation. Use this leadership to set the cultural tone for responsible AI use.
Prioritise Performance Over Compliance: Re-evaluate your board's agenda to ensure the majority of time is spent on solving high-value, hard strategic questions rather than just regulatory compliance. Use AI tools to automate the time-consuming preparation and compliance work, freeing up human directors to apply their judgment and experience to complex problems.
Establish a Strategic Memory System: For investment funds and companies with high board turnover, implement a systematic method (like an AI platform) to store and track knowledge from past board discussions. This allows the firm to leverage collective experience on recurring challenges like incentivisation or growth phases, avoiding the recurring cost and delay of external consultants.
Address the Knowledge Gap: Given that two-thirds of executives and directors report limited AI knowledge, proactively seek external upskilling opportunities or consider adding board members with deeper AI expertise. An improved “AI IQ” is necessary for directors to ask the informed, strategic questions needed to effectively oversee AI’s impact on strategy, risk, and talent.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path.

Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

Coachable Founders and Coachable NEDs: The Secret to Startup Success

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 01:00:00 +0100

Are you struggling to bridge the gap between an executive role and securing your first Non-Executive Director position?

In this episode, host Ralph Grayson welcomes Susanne Chishti, Founder and Chair of FINTECH Circle and a seasoned board member on both private and FTSE 250 boards, to explore how high-calibre professionals can leverage their expertise for the benefit of early-stage companies. Susanne details the contrasting, yet complementary, demands of board service, from the hands-on, problem-solving required by a start-up founder to the governance-focused oversight of a public company.

The discussion provides vital counsel for aspiring NEDs, highlighting the crucial skills founders need, such as B2B sales, enterprise technology, and investment network access. They also delve into the strategic and ethical challenges posed by Artificial Intelligence, particularly its ESG impact. For example, a recent report from Deloitte shows that the power demand from AI data centres in the US could grow more than thirtyfold by 2035, underscoring the board's immediate responsibility to understand and manage technology's footprint.

Susanne also stresses the non-technical skills required in the boardroom: emotional intelligence, a lack of ego, and a commitment to being a supportive team player. This episode is essential for anyone looking to make an effective, value-driven transition into a board career.

(00:00) - Introduction to The Boardroom Path
(01:38) - Introducing Suzanne Chishti
(04:49) - Founding and Vision of FinTech Circle
(06:17) - Investment Process at FinTech Circle
(08:18) - Traits of Successful Founders
(10:13) - Role and Impact of Board Advisors
(21:25) - AI's Influence on FinTech and Boardrooms
(40:31) - Final Tips for Aspiring Board Members

Susanne Chishti: Founder and Chair of FINTECH Circle, Europe's number one investor network for FinTech investment and innovation. She is an award-winning entrepreneur, investor, and FTSE board member, serving as a Non-Executive Director at Crown Agents Bank and CMC Markets PLC. Recognised among the Top 100 Women in FinTech Globally for 2024, Susanne chairs the ESG Sub-Committee at Crown Agents Bank and is the co-editor of the bestselling FINTECH Book Series. She brings deep expertise in technology, scaling businesses, and investment to the boardroom.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

The fundamental difference in responsibility and required skills between private scale-up boards and public company boards.
How aspiring NEDs can gain essential ‘scar tissue’ experience by working with incubators or accelerators.
The three non-negotiable areas of expertise (sales, technology, and fundraising) that FinTech founders urgently need from board advisors.
The importance of 'emotional intelligence' and a 'growth mindset' for successful collaboration between founders and board members.
Why a board's AI strategy must include an assessment of its ethical and environmental (ESG) consequences.

Action Points:

Evaluate Your Value-Add: Start by identifying your deep domain expertise—B2B sales, CTO-level tech skills, or investor network access—as these are the most valuable to early-stage founders. Frame your board path around how you will open doors for customers, investors, or help scale their technology platform.
Cultivate Pattern Recognition: Seek out opportunities to work with early-stage companies, perhaps through an accelerator, to witness common startup challenges (e.g., cashflow crises, co-founder disputes) and how experienced advisors navigate them. This exposure builds the crucial 'pattern recognition' that helps you offer proactive, timely advice in the future.
Master Boardroom Behaviour: Recognise that the boardroom requires a shift from overt executive leadership to influence, collective decision-making, and emotional intelligence. Focus on asking the right, sometimes basic, questions and communicating complex topics (like quantum computing or AI) in a simple, non-threatening way.
Develop an AI/ESG Mindset: Make it mandatory to learn, play around with, and understand AI, as investors are now demanding a clear AI strategy from companies. Critically, ensure you understand the environmental cost of AI (e.g., data centre power demand) to challenge leadership teams on their ethical and ESG accountability.
Prepare for the Chief Everything Officer (CEO) Role: If you are a founder, be honest about your ceiling of capability and enjoyment across the growth stages (0-1M ARR vs. 1-10M ARR). Be self-aware enough to bring in an external CEO to scale the business when required, transitioning yourself to a board member role to maximise shareholder wealth.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path.

Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

The Trump Effect: What UK Boards Need to Know About US Politics

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 01:00:00 +0100

Are boards truly prepared for today's hyper-volatile geopolitical landscape?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson speaks with Charles Myers, Chairman and Founder of Signum Global Advisors, a distinguished geopolitical strategist. They delve into the complexities of a Trump 2.0 presidency, the fragmentation of global alliances, and the need for boards to treat geopolitical risk with the same seriousness as financial or cyber risk.

This comes as the US and UK have recently announced a historic £150 billion investment package, signalling a renewed "special relationship" between the two nations, even as the Trump administration is reported to be waging a "culture war" on Europe.

Charles offers actionable advice for UK and European boards on how to engage with the US administration and Democratic leadership, while also dissecting the political dynamics in the UK, from the rise of Reform UK to the challenges facing the current government. This conversation challenges conventional thinking and provides a strategic roadmap for boards and executives to lead effectively in an era of unprecedented global uncertainty.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(01:12) - Meet Charles Myers: Geopolitical Strategist
(02:55) - Global Geopolitical Landscape
(03:49) - US-EU Trade Relations
(05:20) - US National Security and Defense
(07:37) - UK's Unique Position Post-Brexit
(11:15) - Navigating US-China Relations
(13:30) - Engaging with US Administration
(17:31) - UK Politics and Reform UK
(23:02) - Boardroom Strategies and ESG

Charles Myers: The Chairman and Founder of Signum Global Advisors, a distinguished geopolitical strategist who bridges the worlds of global finance and high-stakes politics. Formerly the Vice Chairman of Evercore ISI and Global Head of Equities at Fox-Pitt Kelton, he provides strategic foresight to boards of major global companies.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Why the US-EU relationship is at a 20-year low and how this affects trade and defence policies.
How UK boards can leverage their unique post-Brexit position to engage with both the US and the EU for strategic advantage.
The essential steps for corporate C-suites and boards to effectively market their value and navigate a US administration that values personal loyalty and investment.
The Trump administration is reportedly waging a "culture war" on Europe, promoting its political allies and humiliating the EU on the world stage.
The surprising reason why Charles Myers is praying for President Trump to live, and what a JD Vance presidency could mean for global affairs.

Action Points:

Plan for a Multipolar World: Boards should proactively recognise and plan for the new global order, characterised by two main trading blocks. Accept that structural changes are here to stay, as evidenced by US industrial policy and protectionist tariffs, which will likely persist even with a new administration. Focus on securing supply chains and diversifying operations to build resilience against geopolitical fragmentation.
Prioritise Geopolitical Expertise on the Board: Treat geopolitical risk as a standing board agenda item, similar to cyber risk. Consider strengthening your board's expertise by appointing members with backgrounds in national security, energy, or logistics. This will help your organisation with scenario planning and avoiding groupthink based on old models of globalisation.
Engage with Political Stakeholders: UK boards should be more politically engaged than ever, even if it's not a strong tradition. This means engaging with the leaders of all major political parties, including Labour, the Conservatives, and Reform UK. Engaging now is a critical step for preparing for potential future shifts in government and policy. This is especially true as Reform UK continues to gain momentum with a platform that has worked well in the US.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path.

Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

How AI and Technology Are Reshaping the Boardroom

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 01:00:00 +0100

Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a truly effective board director in today’s rapidly changing world? In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson sits down with Dr. Scarlett Brown, Director of the Think Tank at Board Intelligence. They dive into the critical shifts happening in corporate governance, from the rise of AI to the need for boards to drive more value.

Scarlett shares her unique journey from feminist sociologist to "corporate governance nerd" and explains why she believes board effectiveness is a science, not an art. The conversation uncovers sobering statistics from the Board Value Index, revealing why many directors feel they aren't adding enough value.

You’ll hear actionable insights on how to unblock barriers to effectiveness, including making board information more consistent and using technology to drive better conversations. They also explore the importance of building trust, embracing innovation, and encouraging a new generation of diverse, T-shaped directors.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(01:12) - Meet Dr. Scarlett Brown
(02:48) - Scarlett's Journey into Corporate Governance
(04:51) - The Founding and Mission of Board Intelligence
(12:04) - The Role of AI in Corporate Governance
(19:06) - Challenges and Opportunities in Board Effectiveness
(25:27) - The Importance of Trust in the Boardroom
(30:00) - Improving Board Information and Communication
(33:08) - Encouraging Younger Generations to Join Boards
(35:22) - Finding Your Fit as a Non-Executive Director
(39:30) - Practical Steps for Aspiring NEDs

Dr. Scarlett Brown: Director of the Think Tank at Board Intelligence, Europe's largest board technology and advisory firm. She specialises in corporate governance, board effectiveness, and the impact of technology on boards. Dr. Brown is a recognised expert and author of Gender and Corporate Boards: The Route to a Seat at the Table.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Why board effectiveness is increasingly seen as a science and not an art.
The surprising statistics from the Board Value Index on why board members feel they are not adding enough value.
How to improve board information and processes to move beyond backward-looking conversations.
The two key areas where AI is impacting corporate governance and how to use it to your advantage.
Practical ways boards can foster psychological safety and encourage innovation.

Action Points:

Improve Board Information: Make sure all board information is provided a full week before the meeting. Standardise reports with executive summaries and cover sheets to ensure consistency and clarity. This practice helps board members focus on strategic discussions rather than wading through lengthy, unstructured documents.
Foster a Culture of Dialogue: Encourage a question-and-answer format for all board information and save board meeting time for dialogue and debate. This approach shifts the dynamic from a one-way approval process to an engaging, collaborative conversation. It is essential for building trust and a healthier relationship between executives and non-executives.
Engage Directly with the Organisation: Board members should regularly visit the organisation they serve, listening to front-line employees and engaging with stakeholders. Dr. Brown describes this as avoiding a “Charles and Diana visit” to build trust and break down the barrier between the board and the rest of the business. This hands-on approach helps directors stay connected and make better decisions.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path.

Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

The Future of UK Boards: Why Diversity and Dynamism Are Critical

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 01:00:00 +0100

Have you ever wondered how to land your first non-executive director role?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson is joined by Sarah Pierman, the CEO of Dynamic Boards. A NED herself since the age of 29, Sarah shares her fascinating journey from a career in finance to disrupting the board recruitment industry. She explains how the traditional NED market is "broken" by nepotism and expensive, exclusive platforms, and reveals her vision for making UK boards the most dynamic in the world.

Sarah breaks down the different types of board roles—from public companies to startups and charities—and offers practical advice on how aspiring NEDs can find their ideal fit. She provides key insights on demonstrating "board readiness" and how to craft a value proposition that goes beyond a standard executive CV.

Listen in to discover how to navigate the NED landscape and become a thoughtful, effective, and empowered board member.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(01:12) - Meet Sarah Pierman: CEO of Dynamic Boards
(04:28) - Challenges in the NED Marketplace
(05:30) - Vision and Mission of Dynamic Boards
(10:50) - Future NEDs and Training Initiatives
(12:52) - The Importance of Board Diversity
(21:33) - Advice for Aspiring NEDs
(23:21) - Structuring Early Stage Boards
(33:59) - Skills and Trends in Board Membership
(43:29) - Final Thoughts

Sarah Pierman: Sarah is the CEO of Dynamic Boards, a data-led advertising platform she launched in 2020 to make it easy and free for people to find and apply for NED roles. She became a non-executive director at 29 and has served on the boards of a specialist bank, a home care franchise, and a banking software provider.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Why the traditional non-executive director (NED) market is "broken" and how Dynamic Boards is fixing it by offering free, open access to board vacancies.
The difference between working with a search firm and an advertising platform like Dynamic Boards and how they help organisations find new talent pools.
How to determine if you are "board ready" by understanding the key traits of an effective non-executive director, like being able to stand back and see the bigger picture.
The crucial importance of getting a mix of diverse skills, ages, and backgrounds on a board to drive business growth and innovation.
Practical tips for aspiring NEDs on how to think about their board value proposition and what to look for when choosing a board to join.

Action Points:

Assess Your Board Readiness: Before you start applying for NED roles, take time to evaluate your skills and experience. Ask yourself if you can stand back and see the bigger picture and if you are comfortable with high-level strategic decisions. Your value proposition isn't just about your executive career; it's about demonstrating integrity, wisdom, and the ability to work hard for the board.
Don't Be Afraid to Challenge: When you're in a board meeting, don't be afraid to ask questions, even if you think they might seem "dumb". Sarah Pierman notes that if you are thinking it, it's likely others are too. This shows that you are an engaged and thoughtful non-executive director.
Build Your Board-Ready CV: Your executive CV is not a non-executive CV. Make sure you curate your experience to highlight your exposure to top-level decision-making and strategic thinking. Include any advisory or steering group experience to demonstrate your comfort in a boardroom setting.
Look Beyond the Job Spec: When you're searching for roles, don't take the job advert as "gospel". Do your own research on the board's existing members and look for where you can add value or fill a skill gap. This proactive approach shows you have the critical-thinking skills needed for a board role.
Network and Learn: Connect with other non-executive directors in your network and learn from their experiences. Sarah Pierman also recommends using resources like podcasts and videos from communities like Dynamic Boards to understand the role and decide if it's the right fit for you.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path.

Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

From Combat to Coaching: Rupert Jones on Building Resilient Leaders

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 09:09:50 +0100

What does it take to lead through uncertainty—and how can founders and board members scale themselves as effectively as their businesses?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson speaks with Rupert Jones, former Major General turned leadership coach and boardroom advisor. Drawing from frontline military experience and years of mentoring founders and executives, Rupert explores how leadership is misunderstood, underdeveloped, and often the root cause of failure in scaling companies.

The conversation covers everything from the importance of self-awareness and communication to how boards can build trust and foster influence-led leadership. You’ll also hear how Rupert helps founders move from code-focused technicians to capable CEOs, and how boards can offer real value beyond compliance. Whether you're a first-time founder, an aspiring NED, or a seasoned leader, this episode offers invaluable insights into the mindset and skill set needed to navigate complexity with confidence.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(01:42) - Leadership in Today's Geopolitical Landscape
(03:42) - Transitioning from Military to Commercial Leadership
(05:16) - The Importance of Leadership Training
(10:02) - Diversity and Dynamics in the Boardroom
(20:26) - The Role of Advisors and Board Members
(28:24) - Self-Awareness and Leadership Challenges
(34:24) - Leadership Styles and Board Dynamics
(40:50) - Teamwork and Cohesion in Growing Companies
(44:52) - The Importance of Effective Communication
(48:24) - Resilience in Uncertain Times
(50:52) - Geopolitical Awareness and Board Preparedness
(53:10) - Final Thoughts

Rupert Jones: Former Standing Joint Force Commander in the British Army, Rupert now works as a leadership coach and boardroom advisor. He specialises in helping founders, executives, and NEDs apply practical leadership strategies drawn from high-stakes environments.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Why self-awareness is essential for leaders at every stage
How boards can use trust and influence to drive impact
The biggest mistakes founders make when transitioning to CEO
How to assess leadership readiness in your executive team
Why coaching and leadership training are critical in scale-up culture

Action Points:

Invest in Leadership Development: Just like technical skills, leadership must be taught, practised, and refined. Businesses should prioritise ongoing development, from training to coaching, across all senior roles.
Build Diverse Boards That Challenge Thinking: Avoid groupthink by bringing together board members with varied backgrounds and perspectives. The goal is to ask the right questions and identify blind spots early.
Use Influence, Not Authority, in the Boardroom: Effective board members lead through subtle influence rather than directive control. This approach is particularly important in scaling businesses where influence drives trust.
Help Founders Scale Themselves: Founders often need support to move from product creators to strategic CEOs. Advisors and boards can help by asking the right questions and offering mentorship, not just oversight.
Prioritise Organisational Resilience: Boards and leadership teams should anticipate shocks and build readiness into company culture. This includes scenario planning, open communication, and maintaining personal resilience to lead through volatility.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path.

Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

Opening the Boardroom: How Elise Perraud is Reshaping NED Pathways

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 01:00:00 +0100

What does it really take to succeed as a non-executive director in today's complex board environment?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson is joined by Elise Perraud, COO of NEDonBoard, to discuss how she is championing greater inclusivity, professionalism, and strategic awareness in boardrooms across the UK.

Drawing on her extensive experience in risk management and governance, Elise explains the critical importance of certification, the changing profile of aspiring NEDs, and the role of advisory and trustee roles as stepping stones.

Elise also shares valuable perspectives on the power of peer networks, the underestimated complexity of NED roles, and why younger professionals should start their board journey early.

Whether you're an aspiring director or a seasoned executive considering the shift, this conversation offers timely insights and grounded advice to help you thrive in the boardroom.

(00:00) - Welcome to The Boardroom Path
(01:12) - Meet Elise Perraud: Background and Experience
(02:36) - The Mission and Purpose of NEDonBoard
(04:39) - Certification and Training for NEDs
(08:10) - The Importance of Networking for NEDs
(10:16) - Understanding Different Types of NED Roles
(13:50) - Navigating Boardroom Dynamics and Dysfunctionality
(23:51) - Generational Diversity and Skills in the Boardroom
(27:07) - Advisory Boards and Trustee Roles
(33:03) - Advice for Aspiring NEDs

Elise Perraud: Chief Operations Officer at NEDonBoard, Elise specialises in board governance, risk management, and non-executive leadership. She is a passionate advocate for diversity, sustainability, and raising professional standards in the boardroom.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Why board certification matters and how it supports a successful NED career
How advisory boards and trustee roles can be strategic entry points
What younger professionals bring to the boardroom and why early entry helps
How to assess if a NED role is right for you and your career stage
What makes a board effective and how to recognise dysfunction

Action Points:

Start with Self-Assessment: Define your value proposition by aligning your strengths with the types of boards and roles that best suit your experience and aspirations. Understanding what you bring to the table is essential before applying.
Invest in Board Training: Pursue certification through programmes like the NED Accelerator or NED Diploma. Structured learning helps you understand the responsibilities, dynamics, and risks of NED roles.
Explore Advisory and Trustee Roles: These roles offer practical experience and can act as stepping stones into formal board positions. They also help you build a NED-relevant CV before fully transitioning from executive life.
Build Your Board Network: Actively participate in professional events and communities to connect with peers and learn from experienced NEDs. These relationships can provide insights and opportunities.
Evaluate Board Dynamics Carefully: Not all board roles are created equal. Assess the culture, governance practices, and expectations before accepting a role to ensure it aligns with your values and availability.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path.

Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

Patrick Dunne on Next Gen Boards: Unlocking the Power of Five Generations

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 28 May 2025 01:00:00 +0100

What does it take to truly thrive as a non-executive director in today’s complex boardroom landscape?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson is joined by board expert Patrick Dunne OBE to unpack the practicalities of becoming a high-impact NED. Drawing from decades of leadership, governance advisory, and his acclaimed book Boards, Patrick shares how the "three Ps" — Purpose, People, and Process — provide the foundation for effective governance.

The discussion covers everything from mindset shifts and influencing skills to generational diversity and the role of Next Gen boards. Whether you’re an aspiring director, new to boardroom life, or looking to deepen your strategic impact, this conversation offers valuable, actionable insights grounded in real-world experience.

(00:00) - Patrick Dunne on Next Gen Boards: Unlocking the Power of Five Generations
(01:12) - Introducing Patrick Dunne OBE
(03:00) - The Three Ps: Purpose, People, Process
(03:51) - Role of the Board and Executives
(05:28) - Transitioning from Executive to NED
(07:53) - Leadership in the Boardroom
(10:21) - Self-Awareness and Effective Participation
(16:03) - Generational Perspectives in the Boardroom
(25:35) - Next Generation Boards and Their Impact
(31:44) - Final Thoughts and Practical Advice

Patrick Dunne OBE: Chair of multiple charities and founder of Board Delta, Patrick is a leading authority on governance and board performance. He is the author of Boards, and has decades of experience advising boards across sectors and geographies.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

What the "three Ps" framework means for modern boards
How to make the mindset shift from executive to NED
Why influence matters more than authority in boardrooms
How generational diversity strengthens board decisions
What Next Gen boards are and how they create value

Action Points:

Clarify Your Board Purpose: Understand the strategic role of the board and how Purpose, People, and Process create a foundation for effectiveness. Ask yourself if your board time aligns with long-term value creation.
Adopt the NED Mindset: Transitioning from executive to non-executive requires letting go of "doing" and mastering "overseeing." Focus on influence, not control, and build credibility through thoughtful contributions.
Initiate Chair Conversations Early: Reach out to your Chair between receiving the board pack and the meeting. Share your observations and seek feedback—this builds rapport and positions you as a proactive contributor.
Use Generational Differences as an Asset: Recognise generational diversity as a boardroom strength. Take time to understand how differing life experiences shape perspectives, and use that understanding to create inclusive, productive discussions.
Practice Self-Awareness and Listening: Being attuned to how others feel and contribute in meetings can amplify your influence. Observe, invite quieter voices in, and seek feedback regularly to improve your effectiveness.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path.

Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

The Boardroom Debate: Barry Gamble on NED Challenges and Governance Reform

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 01:00:00 +0100

Are UK public markets still fit for purpose—or are boards losing touch with their shareholders? In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson welcomes Barry Gamble, a leading boardroom thinker and Senior Advisor to the Non-Executive Directors Association. Together, they explore the evolving role of non-executive directors, the decline of AIM, and how public markets are losing companies to private equity.

Barry draws from his deep experience in board governance, activism, and shareholder engagement to question whether current governance structures serve stakeholders effectively. He shares insights into the concept of “board washing,” the growing complexity of regulation, and why formal debate might just be the key to better board decision-making. Barry also previews his upcoming Quoted Companies Alliance debate and reflects on his involvement in revisiting the Higgs Review.

This episode is a must-listen for aspiring and current NEDs who want to better understand the risks, responsibilities, and rewards of board service in today’s evolving governance landscape.

(00:00) - Introduction to The Boardroom Path
(01:14) - Meet Barry Gamble
(02:53) - Barry's Journey into Boardroom Debates
(04:10) - The Value of Boardroom Debates
(05:42) - Upcoming Debate Details
(08:05) - Challenges in Public Markets
(11:54) - The Role of Non-Executive Directors
(14:34) - Public vs. Private Company Boards
(19:32) - Board Composition and Diversity
(26:20) - Revisiting the Higgs Review
(28:33) - Transparency and Governance
(31:11) - Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Barry Gamble: Barry is Senior Advisor to the Non-Executive Directors Association, Advisory Board member at Board Agenda magazine, and Chair of Boardroom City Debates. He is a seasoned public and private company director, boardroom commentator, and former editor-at-large of Boardroom Magazine, with expertise in governance, shareholder engagement, and boardroom dynamics.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Why public markets are losing companies and what it means for board governance
The importance of high-quality, respectful boardroom debate
How shareholder trust is affected when companies delist from AIM
What "board washing" is and why it threatens transparency
How technology and generational change are reshaping board composition

Action Points:

Rethink the Role of the NED: Barry argues for a redefinition of the non-executive director title, stressing how the current term undersells the weight of responsibility. Revisiting the Higgs Review may be a crucial opportunity to align title with accountability.
Foster Genuine Boardroom Debate: Structured, formal debate can improve decision-making and reveal nuance in complex governance issues. Create environments where challenging views are welcomed and actively explored.
Prioritise Governance Over Compliance: Don’t let lengthy annual reports and regulatory overload dilute board focus. NEDs should focus their bandwidth on strategy, risk, and meaningful oversight rather than ticking boxes.
Watch for "Board Washing": Beware of glossy governance statements that obscure deeper issues. Transparency, not performance theatre, is the hallmark of genuine board effectiveness.
Balance Technology with Human Insight: While AI and digital tools can streamline board processes, directors must still engage deeply with information. Use tech to aid—not replace—critical thinking and strategic dialogue.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path.

Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

Mastering the NED Role: What Every Aspiring Director Needs to Know

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 01:00:00 +0100

What separates a good board from a great one—and how can aspiring non-executive directors (NEDs) stand out in today’s evolving boardroom landscape?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson is joined by Kieran Moynihan, Managing Partner at Board Excellence, to explore the skills, mindset, and dynamics that define high-performing boards.

Drawing on his experience evaluating hundreds of boards across 35+ countries, Kieran shares what aspiring NEDs need to know—from mastering boardroom behaviour to navigating complex governance challenges. The conversation delves into the evolving role of the board, the importance of strategic thinking and emotional intelligence, and why the partnership between executive teams and NEDs is critical for organisational success.

Whether you're preparing for your first NED appointment or seeking to enhance your board effectiveness, this episode offers practical advice and eye-opening insights to help you thrive at the board level.

(00:00) - Mastering the NED Role: What Every Aspiring Director Needs to Know
(01:14) - Meet Kieran Moynihan
(02:48) - Kieran's Journey from CEO to Board Consultant
(05:50) - The Mission of Board Excellence
(07:23) - Key Areas of Focus for Board Excellence
(09:57) - Challenges and Dynamics in the Boardroom
(12:22) - The Role and Evolution of Non-Executive Directors
(14:15) - Signs of a Dysfunctional Board
(25:40) - The Importance of Emotional Intelligence in the Boardroom
(43:24) - Private vs. Public Boards: Weighing the Options
(46:47) - Advice for Aspiring NEDs
(57:54) - Conclusion and Resources

Kieran Moynihan: Kieran is the Managing Partner of Board Excellence, a global board advisory firm supporting boards and individual directors in effectiveness, governance, and performance. With over 25 years of board experience, including roles as CEO, NED, and Chair, he is a recognised thought leader in board dynamics, evaluation, and leadership development.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

What boards look for in first-time and aspiring non-executive directors
The key skills and behaviours that distinguish high-performing boards
How to assess whether a board opportunity aligns with your values and goals
Why emotional intelligence is essential in the boardroom
How governance, strategy, and culture are reshaping board responsibilities today

Action Points:

Prepare for the NED Role: Understand that becoming a non-executive director requires a mindset shift from operational leadership to strategic oversight. Study the principles of governance and reflect on whether you're ready to influence without managing.
Do Your Due Diligence: Before accepting a board position, research the organisation thoroughly. Meet with the chair, CEO, and at least one current NED to understand the culture, expectations, and risks.
Build Boardroom Confidence: Take time to observe and listen during your early meetings, but aim to contribute meaningfully within your first few sessions. Knowing when and how to speak up is critical for influence.
Develop Your Strategic Thinking: Boards need directors who can think beyond oversight and bring innovative, forward-looking perspectives. Cultivate your ability to analyse business models, industry shifts, and growth strategies.
Embrace Continuous Learning: Stay current on emerging board trends, from ESG to AI and digital risk. Attending NED training or shadowing experienced board members can significantly enhance your effectiveness.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path.

Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

From Executive Suite to Boardroom Seat: Insights with Murray Steele

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 01:00:00 +0100

Are you ready to make a successful transition from executive leadership to an impactful non-executive director role?

In this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson is joined by Murray Steele, an acclaimed expert who has guided over 12,000 board members worldwide. Together, they explore essential behaviours for boardroom effectiveness, the nuanced transition from executive to NED, and the critical balance between challenging and supporting executive teams.

This insightful discussion uncovers practical advice, compelling experiences, and essential insights for anyone aspiring to or embarking upon a journey into the boardroom.

(00:00) - The Boardroom Path by Sainty Hird & Partners E1
(00:03) - Introduction to The Boardroom Path
(01:14) - Meet Murray Steele: A Veteran in NED Development
(02:40) - Murray's Journey into NED Training
(10:29) - The Importance of Self-Awareness for NEDs
(13:24) - Challenges and Dynamics in the Boardroom
(17:08) - The Role of the Chair in Board Effectiveness
(20:00) - Navigating the Zone of Uncomfortable Debate
(24:26) - Transitioning from Executive to Non-Executive Roles
(31:18) - Building a Successful NED Career
(50:33) - Final Thoughts and Next Steps

Murray Steele: Murray Steele is a distinguished figure in board governance, with over three decades of experience as both Chair and Non-Executive Director across numerous sectors. He currently chairs Octopus Apollo VCT PLC, the UK's second-largest Venture Capital Trust, and Surface Generation, a pioneering advanced manufacturing technology firm. Renowned for establishing and running leading NED development programmes at Cranfield School of Management and the Financial Times, Murray uniquely combines rigorous academic insight with practical boardroom experience, making him a trusted advisor on corporate governance, effective board dynamics, and strategic leadership.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Understanding and mastering the behavioural dynamics of an effective board.
The transition from executive management to a non-executive director role.
Balancing constructive challenge and support as a non-executive director.
Recognising and addressing dysfunctional boardroom dynamics.
Practical steps to secure your first board position and build a successful portfolio career.

Action Points:

Reflect on Your Behavioural Impact: Assess your self-awareness and emotional intelligence before transitioning into a non-executive role. Identify your biases, consider your communication style, and consciously adapt your executive habits to non-executive board dynamics. Prioritise behaviours that foster trust, challenge constructively, and support executives effectively.
Enhance Your Listening Skills: Actively cultivate your listening abilities to excel in your boardroom role, given that non-executive directorship requires significantly more listening than speaking. Practise attentive listening in your current professional environment to build habits that translate naturally to the boardroom. Remember, effective listening demonstrates respect, builds trust, and strengthens relationships with executives and board peers.
Prepare Thoughtfully for Board Interviews: Move beyond your executive CV by clearly articulating how your experience uniquely solves specific boardroom needs and enhances the board’s current skills matrix. Research extensively on the organisation, its market, board members, and governance challenges prior to your interview. Tailor your interview approach specifically around how you add strategic value and fit with the board’s existing dynamic and objectives.
Gain Early Board Experience: Seek out initial non-executive roles such as becoming a school governor, charity trustee, or pension trustee to build a foundational understanding of non-executive responsibilities and behaviours. Embrace roles outside your usual executive domain to challenge yourself and force adaptation of new ways of thinking and communicating. Leverage this experience as credible proof of your commitment and readiness for more significant boardroom positions.
Proactively Network for Opportunities: Make sure your professional network knows you are actively pursuing non-executive director roles, clearly articulating your value and the types of boards you wish to join. Attend relevant industry events, professional seminars, and networking opportunities targeted towards governance professionals and senior leaders. Remember, clarity and intentionality in networking significantly improve your visibility and access to boardroom opportunities.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path.

Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.

The Certified NED: Why Your Board Career Should Start with Certification

Sainty Hird & Partners — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 01:00:00 +0000

Ever wondered what it takes to land your first Non-Executive Director role and truly succeed in the boardroom?

In this insightful episode of The Boardroom Path, Graham Durgan, founder of the Non-Executive Directors Association (NEDA), joins host Ralph Grayson to demystify the journey into board-level roles. From exploring essential skills and qualifications to discussing why diversity and inclusion are critical for board effectiveness, Graham shares his extensive experience to guide aspiring NEDs.

This conversation sheds light on practical strategies, common pitfalls, and actionable insights for anyone aiming to transition effectively from executive positions to impactful NED roles.

(00:00) - The Certified NED: Why Your Board Career Should Start with Certification
(01:14) - Meet Graham Durgan: Entrepreneur and NED Expert
(02:18) - Graham's Career Journey and Early Ventures
(04:35) - The Birth of the Non-Executive Directors Association
(09:00) - The Importance of Diversity and Inclusion in Boards
(10:39) - Navigating DEI and ESG in the Boardroom
(13:04) - Preparing for Your First NED Role
(15:58) - Key Skills for Board Members: Strategy, Risk, People, Performance
(22:19) - The Role of Non-Executive Directors: Oversight and Challenge
(25:53) - Public vs. Private Boards: Adding Value
(38:44) - The Evolving Search Industry and Board Recruitment
(44:50) - Conclusion and Practical Steps to the Boardroom

Graham Durgan: Graham is the founder of the Non-Executive Directors Association (NEDA), a professional body dedicated to preparing and supporting non-executive directors through structured learning, certification, and thought leadership. With a unique career that began in accountancy at PwC and ventured into entrepreneurship—ranging from a ski-holiday business to educational publishing—Graham combines entrepreneurial spirit with decades of experience in governance, training, and mentorship. His work with NEDA focuses on promoting rigorous standards and broadening boardroom diversity, making him a respected authority on the skills and mindsets required to excel as a non-executive director.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

The essential skills and mindsets needed to excel as a non-executive director.
Why boardroom diversity and inclusion drive better decision-making and business outcomes.
Practical steps aspiring NEDs can take to secure their first board position.
The key differences between executive and non-executive roles, and how to manage the transition effectively.
Why formal training and certification significantly improve your readiness for board roles.

Action Points:

Clarify Your Value Proposition: Clearly define what unique value you can bring to a board. Reflect on your skills, experiences, and insights, and prepare specific examples that demonstrate how you can address existing skill gaps on a particular board. Positioning yourself as a problem-solver rather than merely a candidate improves your chances of success.
Invest in Certification: Consider formal certification, such as the Non-Executive Directors Association programme, to validate your boardroom knowledge. Certification not only builds self-confidence but also signals your preparedness to future chairs and nomination committees. This demonstrates your commitment to continuous professional development and governance best practices.
Cultivate Boardroom Mindset: Transition your mindset from operational leadership to strategic oversight. Practise active listening, offering advice rather than directives, and embrace your role as a challenger rather than a manager. Developing a more reflective and advisory approach positions you effectively for board-level influence.
Understand Board Culture: Research thoroughly the culture, style, and dynamics of boards you wish to join. Evaluate if the board aligns with your personal values, communication style, and working habits, as cultural fit significantly impacts your ability to contribute effectively. Engaging with current or past board members can provide critical insights into whether you will thrive in that environment.
Prepare Thoroughly for Your First Role: Approach securing your first board seat methodically, ensuring your CV and application emphasise strategic accomplishments and advisory experiences rather than executive operational duties. Network proactively through industry contacts, recruitment firms, and professional associations like NEDA. Be patient yet persistent, as securing the first board role often requires substantial groundwork and strategic networking.

Subscribe now, and take your first confident step along The Boardroom Path.

Learn more about Sainty Hird & Partners at saintyhird.com.

The Boardroom Path is produced by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford, UK.