Oliver Cummings: Unlocking Boardroom Excellence - Insights from Nurole's CEO

(0:00) Intro.

(1:20) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.

(2:07) Start of interview. 

(2:58) Oliver's origin story.

(7:00) His experience in private equity with PE-backed boards.

(9:57) About the mission and focus of Nurole, the UK-based board search firm where he serves as CEO. 

(12:27) On Nurole's network of 65,000+ board leaders (two parts: free and paid offerings).

(20:16) Demystifying the board search process, four key stages:

1. Briefing stage
2. Sourcing process
3. Assessment phase
4. Onboarding (ongoing support)

(25:19) From a board candidate perspective.

(28:14) On board evaluations.

(32:44) Common characteristics of directors in board placements (they place ~1,000 directors per year).

(33:50) On board culture and values of directors.

(37:00) On specialized directors.

(43:16) Differences between UK and US boards.

1. Role of the Chair
2. Board search
3. Board compensation
4. Litigation Risk

(48:35)  Other board issues to consider: 1) are boards generating value, and 2) revisiting board education.

(52:48) About his podcast Enter the Boardroom.

(55:15) His favorite episodes: Roger Martin,  Baroness Helena Morrissey and Sir Richard Dearlove.

(59:20) Books that have greatly influenced his life: 

1. The Aeneid, by Virgil (19 BC)
2. Mindset, by Carol Dweck (2006)
3. How Will You Measure Your Life, by Clay Christensen  (2012)

(01:00:30) His mentors. 

(01:02:13) Quotes that he thinks of often or lives his life by.

(01:03:16) An unusual habit or absurd thing that he loves: the Eglu chicken coop.

(01:04:45)  The living person he most admires.

Oliver Cummings is the CEO of Nurole, a UK-based board search firm with 65,000+ members globally and about 1,000 board placements per year. He's also the host of the Enter the Boardroom Podcast.

You can follow Evan on social media at:

Twitter: @evanepstein

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/ 

Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/

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You can join as a Patron of the Boardroom Governance Podcast at:

Patreon: patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod

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Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by