Enter the Boardroom with Nurole

Ali Parsa founded Babylon Health, which he grew to a $4.1bn equity valuation in 2021 before it entered Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in 2023. Tune in to hear this amazing story, including Ali’s thoughts on: How has your backstory, escaping Iran in the 80s, informed your approach to entrepreneurship? (2:20) How have you managed to fundraise so successfully? (3:21) What advice do you have for others who are fundraising? (8:01) How did you scale revenues so quickly?(11:24) How did you break into the right distribution channels? (15:12) How do you identify the right person at partner organisations? (16:18) Was launching in the UK rather than US a mistake? (20:40) How did you decide which markets to go after? (25:06) What can board members do to encourage better cross-functional collaboration? (28:24) What value did you get from investor-directors? (31:13) What lessons did you learn through bankruptcy? (35:44) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(38:39) Host: Oliver CummingsProducer: Will Felton Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kold Email: [email protected] Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Amy C. Edmondson is a Professor of Leadership & Management at Harvard Business School. Ranked #1 management thinker in the world by Thinkers50, Amy has written seven books, including Right Kind of Wrong and the fearless organization. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: What is psychological safety and why does it matter for board members? (1:44) Can we overcome our fear of what others think of us, even if we’re aware of it? (4:02) Isn’t psychological safety just a grandiose term for inclusion? (5:12) As board members, what should we be looking at to assess our organisation’s psychological safety? (7:24) Are there predictable events that trigger drops in psychological safety? (10:16) How can organisations mitigate the impact of remote work on psychological safety? (13:10) How can boards increase the quality of their conversations through psychological safety? (14:14) Can you talk about “setting the stage” and specific tactics boards can use to have more candid conversations? (17:02) How do you sanction violations whilst maintaining psychological safety? (19:27) How would you advise board members to challenge execs in meetings? (24:46) How can boards decide if their CEO is a difficult genius to stick with or someone they should let go? (26:11) Where do we go wrong when thinking about failure? (28:51) When is it right to proceed via first principles versus A|B testing? (34:50) Could the boards at VW, Wells Fargo and Nokia have prevented their respective failures? (36:08) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(40:01)Host: Oliver CummingsProducer: Will Felton Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kold Email: [email protected] Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Sara Weller CBE is Chair of the Money and Pension Service and former/NED at BT, Virgin Money and Lloyds Banking Group and UK Department for Work and Pensions amongst many others. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: How have you built a plural career across the private and public sectors? (2:04) What are the similarities and differences between the public and private sector board roles? (4:08) When should people take on their first board position? (6:25) Can you take on a role too early? (9:35) How can board candidates make themselves stand out? (11:49) Are you always the voice of the customer in the boardroom, irrespective of product? (19:24) How do you balance your personal customer experiences with big data? (22:19) How do you express challenge as a NED? (24:44) Can you talk about your own experience of disability in the boardroom? (27:07) How much time should boards allocate to think about disability? (32:13) What three things can boards do now to help disabled board members and customers? (34:03) ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(36:51) Host: Oliver CummingsProducer: Will Felton Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kold Email: [email protected] Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom

Jenny Knott is NED at the British Business Bank, the UK Development Bank & SimplyHealth and Founder of FinTech Strategic Advisors Ltd. Tune in to hear her thoughts on: What was your journey into the boardroom? (1:44) How did you transition from internal to independent boards? (3:50) When you were CEO, was your board your highest return on your time invested? (6:06) Do board members add more value in or outside meetings? (10:10) Who is board performance for? (12:38) Can boards really perform their monitoring function? (13:19) What do NEDs need to understand first when they come onto FS boards? (15:45) Where do they go wrong? (17:52) How can NEDs from different sectors get their heads around unfamiliar regulations? (20:06) Do start-up boards have a different relationship with regulation (versus larger firms)? (24:12) Where do they go wrong, engaging with the regulator? (26:44) What are your key value levers as a Remco member? (28:15) What would your dream incentive structure look like? (32:45) Should we include debt in compensation packages? (35:05) And ⚡The Lightning Round ⚡(41:18) Host: Oliver CummingsProducer: Will Felton Music: Kate Mac Audio: Nick Kold Email: [email protected] Web: https://www.nurole.com/nurole-podcast-enter-the-boardroom