About
Paul Rothwell has spent 35 years in boardrooms. This is what he learned.
An engineer by training, Paul has worked at board level for over 35 years — as director, MD, CEO, chair, NED, and investor across fifteen businesses in manufacturing, food, retail, and engineering. The largest he ran had nearly 800 employees. The smallest he has chaired had four.
After his first retirement from full-time operating roles in 2014, he acquired a manufacturing and retail business and ran it as Group CEO through seven years of restructuring and modernisation before completing a transition to a new MD and exiting in 2023.
He currently chairs four Northern Ireland businesses and has mentored more than thirty owners and CEOs through extended engagements. He has presented for Invest NI’s Leaders Programme and spoken at multiple IoD Directors Masterclass events.
Feedback from Experienced Readers
“Having worked with Paul, I can honestly say this book is exactly him. Honest, direct, hard-hitting, thought provoking and hugely practical. He has a way of cutting through the bs and getting to the conversations boards actually need to have. As I was reading it, I could genuinely hear him saying the words. There’s no fluff, no theory for the sake of it, just real insight, challenge and experience from years spent helping businesses and boards become better.”
– Cathy Booth, Consultant – Strategy, Change and Board Development
“I love the book! It is an exceptional reflection of Paul’s 35 years, that combines practical wisdom and real-world insights presented in his typically engaging and entertaining manner. This will no doubt be a highly valuable read for all of those directors and CEO’s out there.”
– Programme Manager, Leadership and Capability Development
“Many of us find ourselves in boardrooms with no real idea of what is expected or what good looks like. This book doesn’t pretend that mistakes won’t happen, some punches are worth taking because that’s how you learn. But it gives you 35 years of someone else taking the punches so that you can hopefully avoid some of them. I wish I had read this five years ago. You only know what you know and this book gives you the head start you did not know you needed.”
– Karen Maguire, Chair, Mentor and former MD – EOT exit
“I really enjoyed reading this! You can tell that this book comes from experience and as I have seen Paul deliver a lot of the content in person it certainly didn’t lose impact when written down. There are so many gems of wisdom, and I love that he has added the questions at the end of the chapters and the templates that will make it very practical for people to use. I will certainly be directing people to it in the future!”
– Leadership Development Programme Manager