TLP458: How to Build a Business that’s Smarter than You with Pippa Begg

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Pippa Begg, is the co-founder and CEO of Board Intelligence and co-author of “Collective Intelligence: How to Build a Business that’s Smarter than You.”

In this episode, Pippa discusses the mindset shifts required for leaders to let go of control and empower others, emphasizing the dangers of hubris and the importance of questioning one's own authority. She also addresses the common struggle with delegation, advising leaders to trust their teams and ask powerful questions that drive innovation and collaboration.

Pippa dives deep into the topic of communication, sharing a powerful example of how poor communication cost a brilliant opportunity. Pippa explains how AI can enhance decision-making in boardrooms by supporting human intelligence and uncovering biases, rather than replacing human input.

When discussing power struggles in the boardroom, Pippa explained that they often arise from misalignment on what’s important, especially regarding value creation. Pippa talks about the importance of balancing focus with flexibility, and shares how organizations can continually assess their strategies, asking the right questions that allow the organization to adapt to dynamic markets.

This episode is especially relevant for senior leaders looking to develop resilient businesses that thrive in an ever-changing world.

https://bit.ly/TLP-458

Key Takeaways

Quotable Quotes

"The pace of AI development can call all of that out. So really the thing that's blocking progress here is not the pace of technology. It's the pace of human adoption."

"Humans don't take perfect decisions. We know about unhelpful decision making heuristics that we use. We know about bias that we have."

"We are better when we're being observed than when we're not being observed."

"We rush to find the answer... and often what we're doing there is we end up rushing to find an answer to not quite the right problem."

"Many amazing business successes. The idea did not come from the CEO or from the board."

"Most of the time when there is border and power struggles, it's because there's misalignment on what's important."

"If we are willing to expose our thinking, if we are willing to expose our writing, if we are willing to expose our conversations, then not only could we be prompted, but we can just hold a mirror and just see what we're doing, really reflect on it."

"Focus is absolutely critical to an organization's success, but blind focus can be its downfall, as we saw with Nokia."

This is the book mentioned in this book

Resources Mentioned

The Leadership Podcast | theleadershippodcast.com
Sponsored by | www.darley.com
Rafti Advisors. LLC | www.raftiadvisors.com
Self-Reliant Leadership. LLC | selfreliantleadership.com
Pippa Begg Website | www.boardintelligence.com
Pippa Begg Recent Sunday Times profile (UK): www.thetimes.com/business-money/entrepreneurs/article/we-used-word-of-mouth-to-help-our-business-take-flight-0n2t6cbh9
Pippa Begg Recent research published into board effectiveness: www.boardintelligence.com/blog/the-state-of-board-effectiveness-in-2025
Pippa Begg Latest BI fundraise: www.boardintelligence.com/blog/board-intelligence-strategic-growth-partnership-with-k1-investment-management
Pippa Begg LinkedIn | https://uk.linkedin.com/in/pippa-begg

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