What I Know Now
Notes from 35 years in the Boardroom
Most board directors arrive in the role without a manual. Some pick it up quickly. Many spend years doing the job by feel and never quite sure whether they’re getting it right.
What I Know Now is the book Paul Rothwell wished someone had handed him 35 years ago.
Written from four decades at board level – as director, MD, CEO, chair, NED, and investor across manufacturing, food, retail, and engineering – it covers the eleven things that actually determine whether a board makes a business better or lets it drift: purpose, leadership, culture, performance, people, strategy, growth, exit, family-business dynamics, reputation, and what the role eventually teaches you about yourself.
Direct, experience-based, and deliberately short on theory, each chapter ends with a single question the reader has to answer for themselves.
This is not a governance textbook. It is a working guide for owners, MDs, directors, and aspiring directors who are already doing the job and want to do it better.
All proceeds from the book are donated to NI Children’s Hospice.
Order the book
Paperback · 112 pages · £14.99
All proceeds donated to Cancer Fund for Children
About the author
An engineer by training. Thirty-five years at board level across manufacturing, food, retail, and engineering.
Paul Rothwell has worked at board level for over 35 years — as director, MD, CEO, chair, NED, and investor across fifteen businesses. He currently chairs four Northern Ireland businesses and has mentored more than thirty owners and CEOs. This book is the distillation of what he has learned.
I'd rather you did three things than talk about thirty.
Notes from 35 years in the boardroom, P30
“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’
“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 you 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 you have 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!”
– Programme Manager for Owner/CEO Leadership program