We spend so much time talking about startup leadership—vision, grit, execution, adaptability, resilience. But what about leadership at the board level? What about the Chair?

Too often, the role of Chair is seen as a formality. A steadying hand, a name to impress investors, someone who runs the meeting. At best, a mentor; at worst, a figurehead.

But I would argue that a great Chair can be one of the most under-leveraged assets in a growing company—and one of the most visible signs of maturity to the outside world. A key driver for growth, for fundraising, for pattern recognition insights, and so much more.

The Chair as a Strategic Force

I’ve written before about the questions founders should ask themselves about their board. Questions like: Would I rehire this person today? Is this meeting a strategic dialogue or just a status update? If our Chair stepped down tomorrow, who would I call?

But underneath all that is a deeper reflection: do we have the right kind of leadership at board level?

Not someone to make decisions for you. Not someone to chase operations. But someone who sees the whole picture, helps you zoom out when you’re buried in the weeds, and has the EQ to challenge without undermining.

This is what high-impact Chairs do. They provide a form of “above the line” leadership that brings clarity, steadiness, and momentum—not just to the CEO, but to the entire boardroom.

What Great Chairs Bring

Drawing from my own founder experience, my work with cleantech leadership teams, and from running board-level searches across Europe, I see three standout traits in great Chairs:

1. They manage energy, not just agendas

A Chair sets the tone. They influence how decisions get made, how conflict is handled, and how voices are heard. They don’t just ask questions; they help shape the conditions for honest, focused debate.

2. They balance challenge with care

The best Chairs know when to apply pressure, and when to offer perspective. They push the CEO to grow, but never step into their shoes. They make it safe to say “I’m not sure,” while keeping standards high.

3. They think long-term while anchoring the now

Founders are often deep in the week-to-week. A great Chair holds the horizon. They make sure the board stays strategic. They help prep for funding rounds, exits, internationalisation, and succession—often before anyone else is thinking about it.

The Signal It Sends

I’ve had the privilege of supporting several VC and founder-backed companies through board refreshes and Chair succession. And one consistent theme stands out: investors pay attention. So do acquirers. And so do teams.

Your Chair says something about your seriousness. About your ambition. About your willingness to build beyond yourself.

A poor Chair slows you down. A passive Chair keeps you stuck. But a great Chair? They unlock the next level of growth.

Is It Time to Rethink?

If you are a founder or a VC partner, this is the conversation worth having.

Not in a crisis. Not when the Chair announces they are stepping down. But now, while you have space to think clearly and plan well.

Ask:

• Does our current Chair match the stage we’re entering?
• Are they still the best partner for the CEO?
• Are we building a board that is ready for what comes next?

This Is Where We Come In

At Hyperion Board Search, we’re seeing a marked shift. Cleantech and climate-tech companies are starting to treat Chair and NED appointments with the same rigour and intentionality they give to C-suite hires. About time, in my view.

Because these are not soft roles. These are the people who shape governance, hold founders accountable, and support teams through the inevitable bumps of growth and scale.

It is not just about experience. It is about chemistry. Character. Curiosity. Challenge, delivered with care.

And when it works—it shows.

Let’s raise the bar on boardrooms.

Building a company is hard. Building a good board is harder. Founders often (rightly) spend time and effort hiring the right leadership team - but far less assembling their board. And yet, your board can be the difference between scaling smart or stalling out.

If you are a Founder or Co-Founder..... When was the last time you asked yourself any of these questions?

💭 Does every person on our board still add value, or are we carrying passengers?

Boards are like founding teams, some early members are right for the start, but not for the scale. Be honest: if you were assembling your board today, would you rehire everyone?

💡 Are our board meetings strategic, or just status updates?

If your board meetings feel more like reporting sessions than real-time thinking, something’s broken. A great board should expand your horizon, not just check your numbers.

🔍 What skills are we missing around the table?

Scaling internationally? Breaking into new markets? Preparing for an exit? Your board needs to reflect those ambitions, not just where you've been, but where you’re going.

🔄 If your Chair stepped down tomorrow, who would you call?

Succession planning isn’t just for executives. If you don’t have a strong pipeline for future Chairs or NEDs, you’re exposing your business to real business risk.

Why does this matter?

Because VCs are watching. So are potential acquirers. Your board signals your maturity, your ambition, and your ability to build beyond yourself.
And more importantly, it affects how you think, how you lead, and how you grow.

If any of these questions make you pause, that’s a good thing. It might be time for a board refresh. Or just a deeper conversation about governance, succession, and future readiness.

That’s where I come in.

Let’s raise the bar together.

What founders can learn from tem Energy’s bold mission—and why timing, people, and culture matter more than ever.

What happens when a founder exits a high-growth startup, learns from inside a global energy giant like Shell, and then decides to build something even more disruptive?

You get tem Energy—a business built to challenge the very infrastructure of energy transactions.

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Joe McDonald, Co-founder and CEO of tem, on the Leaders in Cleantech podcast. And while the tech behind tem is impressive, what really stood out was Joe’s clarity of thought on culture, leadership, and what it really takes to scale.

“Don’t be greedy”

That’s the piece of advice Joe credits with shaping both his fundraising strategy and his approach to building teams. Tem raised iteratively—starting with customers and angels—before bringing in VCs like Albion, Rivendell, and Atomico. The focus? Values-aligned investors, not just valuation.

But it’s in people and culture where this mindset really shines.

Tem’s first hire? A head of people. Not finance, not sales—people. As you would expect, I applaud this wholeheartedly, the right people, mission aligned and driven, are essential to success.

They’ve built an open structure: transparent salaries, dual-track progression for managers and experts, and KPIs linked directly to the company’s North Star. “If you’re not intentional about culture,” Joe said, “you’ll just end up with something accidental.”

As someone who's seen too many startups treat culture as an afterthought, this resonated.

From “green” to red

Tem isn’t just another PPA platform. They’ve built a new transaction layer—Rosso—that effectively bypasses the opaque wholesale energy market. Joe likens it to how Stripe reimagined payments: “We looked at energy and thought, this layer is fundamentally broken. Let’s rebuild it.”

Their model is refreshingly straightforward: businesses save 15–20% on their energy bills, generators earn more, and the black box of energy transactions gets replaced with traceability and AI-driven efficiency.

Their product is called “Red”—not greenwashing, not gimmicks. Just payment transparency.

“Power from the people to the people”

Joe is honest about timing. Yes, the post-COVID energy crisis helped. Yes, the AI wave made this model technically possible. But he also believes the energy transition needs more than tech.

“We’ve had the same energy dynamics since Standard Oil in 1890—centralised, controlled, opaque,” he said. “Just because it’s renewable doesn’t mean it’s fair.”

Tem’s mission is to decentralise not just electrons, but power—economic, social, and infrastructural. It’s a big bet, but one that aligns with a broader wave of energy system reimagination.

So what can we learn from tem?

Here’s what I took away:

• Execution beats ego. Joe and team don’t pretend to be the smartest in the room—they just focus on doing the hard things well.
• Timing matters, but readiness matters more. They recognised the moment—and moved fast with purpose.
• Culture is strategy. It’s not a deck slide; it’s how you scale, retain, and perform.
• Don’t optimise the edges. Fix the engine. Most clean energy startups play at the edges. Tem’s gone straight for the broken core.

Joe summed it up perfectly:

“We could have innovated at the edge and sold out. But we decided to fix the root layer. That’s where real change happens.”

I’m genuinely curious; when it comes to scaling teams, how much of what Joe shared around culture and structure resonates with your own experience or thinking?

Always interested to hear how others are navigating these shifts.

Throughout my career, I've learned that genuinely negative, disruptive, or difficult employees—the ones often labelled "jerks"—are actually quite rare. Yes, they exist, and anyone who's managed people for any length of time will have encountered them, but they are by no means the norm (if you have one get them out quickly). Far more common is seeing good employees struggle because they're in the wrong environment, the wrong role, or simply working for the wrong manager or company.

Early in my career, I had a manager who profoundly shaped my understanding of talent management. He believed that, in most cases, employees weren't inherently "bad"; rather, their talents and potential were simply being mismanaged or misunderstood. It struck me then, and still resonates deeply today. Over the years, I’ve seen many examples of people whose performance transformed dramatically once their circumstances changed—whether through a new manager, a clearer role, or simply a company or environment that better aligned with their strengths and values.

Leadership matters immensely in this context. While hiring the right people is undoubtedly critical, it’s just the starting point. Effective leaders do far more than select candidates based on technical skills or past experiences. They focus equally—if not more—on attitude, mindset, cultural fit, and the personal connection they form with the individual during the hiring process. Successful recruitment is a holistic approach that prioritises both the human and professional aspects of a potential hire. That's what we believe in at Hyperion Search.

Yet, even with the right person hired, leadership's role doesn't stop there. Clear communication, well-defined expectations, genuine empowerment, and providing appropriate resources to succeed are all part of the puzzle. And yes, while this may not sound like rocket science, consistently achieving this is incredibly challenging. We’ve all stumbled in our journeys as leaders; we’ve all had moments where we fell short.

But here's the crucial question for any organisation: How serious are you really about success if hiring, culture, and leadership aren't among your top priorities for time, money, and resources? Companies that genuinely commit to nurturing people excellence inevitably build stronger, healthier, and higher-performing teams.

So, yes, there might occasionally be a genuinely disruptive employee. But let’s not allow those rare cases to mask a far more common challenge: poor hiring, poor leadership, unclear communication, micromanagement, and misalignment between talent and roles.

Leadership is complex and often tough. But when done well, when the right people are placed in the right environment with the clarity, support, and autonomy to excel, the results speak for themselves.

If your organisation is genuinely committed to achieving people excellence—recognising that talent, culture, and leadership underpin success—we’re here and ready to support you on that journey.

Have you experienced dramatic transformations simply by placing an employee in a different context or under different leadership? I'd love to hear your experiences or perspectives in the comments.

We hear it everywhere: the world of work is changing. Fast. And it's true.

Whether you're leading an established team or scaling a startup, the question isn't if your workforce will need to evolve—but how fast you can help them do it.

A recent article by Raconteur reminded me of just how important this topic has become. We need to speak candidly about the imperative to upskill and reskill across the organisation,s we lead, particularly in response to AI, automation, and rapidly shifting customer expectations.

But here’s the thing: while these conversations often focus on employees, future-proofing isn’t just about them. It’s about you, the leader. It’s about how you evolve yourself—and how you take your team with you.

Leadership Is No Longer About Just Knowing More

In the past, being a good leader often meant being the most experienced person in the room. The expert. The one with all the answers.

Today, it's more about asking the right questions. And staying curious enough to keep learning, even (especially) when you don’t have all the answers, and being open that you don't.

Leaders aren’t just guiding teams anymore—they're navigating uncharted terrain themselves. That means staying ahead of technology, yes, but also developing the judgement to know when to rely on it, and when to lean on human nuance, ethics, or empathy instead.

I see this a lot in cleantech and the wider energy transition space. AI and digitalisation are playing a rapidly growing role in everything from grid optimisation, solar design and battery monitoring to mobility-as-a-service. But you still need human leadership to make the critical calls—especially when lives, communities, and the planet are on the line.

Skills-First Thinking: Not Just a Buzzword

Embrace a “skills-first” model. That means assessing talent based on what people can do now, and their potential to grow, rather than just what’s on their CV.

It’s a powerful mindset shift, and one that has real implications for how we lead.

In practical terms? It means we need to be better at evaluating skills across our existing teams—and spotting both potential and gaps. AI tools are helping to map and predict future needs, but leadership still requires good old-fashioned human judgement. Knowing who’s likely to thrive in a new role. Who needs development. And yes—who might not be a fit for the next phase.

It also changes how we hire. More and more companies are moving away from rigid job descriptions and towards hiring for adaptability, learning agility, and problem-solving. It’s not always easy—especially in technical roles—but I believe this is where forward-thinking leaders will differentiate themselves.

The (Often Overlooked) Human Side of Upskilling

I like the “70-20-10” learning model—70% experiential, 20% social, and 10% formal training. It reflects what many of us instinctively know: people don’t grow just by sitting in a classroom or watching an online course.

They grow through real-world challenges. Cross-functional projects. Coaching and mentoring. Stretch opportunities.

As leaders, part of our job is to create these environments. To be intentional about growth—not just assuming it will happen because someone is “good” or “smart”.

It also means giving people permission to fail safely. Not recklessly—but with room to experiment and stretch. That kind of culture doesn’t happen by accident. It needs to be modelled from the top and constantly nurtured.

Hiring, Firing, and the Harder Calls

Let’s talk about the tough bit. As roles evolve, some skills and mindsets become obsolete.

Sometimes, no amount of upskilling can bridge that gap. And as leaders, we have to make difficult calls—on restructuring, offboarding, or pivoting entire teams. It’s never easy. But it’s necessary if we’re truly committed to building future-fit organisations.

What matters is how we do it. With transparency. With empathy. And ideally, with support mechanisms to help people transition—whether that’s into another part of the business, or to opportunities elsewhere.

The best leaders I know don't shy away from these decisions—but they also don’t just outsource them to HR. They work with HR but engage directly, they communicate clearly, and they honour the contributions of those affected.

Final Thoughts

The cleantech sector (and business in general) isn’t getting any simpler. We’re juggling funding challenges, evolving tech, regulatory shifts, and AI's speedy evolution, talent shortages—all at once.

So if you’re feeling stretched, you’re not alone.

But the leaders who will thrive in this next chapter are those who take a long view. Those who invest in their own growth, stay curious, and proactively future-proof their teams—not just through hiring, but through a culture of learning, open communication, adaptability, and clear-eyed leadership.

What are you doing to evolve your own leadership skillset? How are you planning for the skills your team will need 1, 3, or 5 years from now? How are you planning your talent strategy? Do you have one? If not, we're here to help.

Two of my favourite topics, smart working (remote/hybrid) and Smart Buildings. Despite high profile RTO mandates from the likes of Tesla, JP Morgan and Amazon, it's clear that flexible working, in terms or hours and locations, is here to stay. 

This article shares 'The coworking space market will grow from $19.05 billion last year (2023) to $22.44 billion in 2024 – an annual growth rate of 17.8%. Further, it’s estimated that the flexible office space sector will rise significantly from its current size of c 53.4 million square feet (Sept 2023) to 81 million square feet by 2025 – a phenomenal increase of 52 percent.

By the end of 2024, it’s anticipated there will be 41,975 global coworking spaces. That’s an annual growth rate of just over 21%.'

This is also a huge opportunity to create far more sustainable buildings and working practices. In both buildings and work flexibility is the key.  

How can we make our existing buildings more flexible and efficient, and how can we do the same for our working practices?  Happy to hear your thoughts.