Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast

Episode 78

SUMMARY

Matthew Blain – Putting people first in a performance-driven world

Matthew Blain is a senior HR leader whose career spans some of the UK’s most recognisable institutions – and one of the most demanding ownership environments in business.

In Episode 78 of the Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast, he reflects on more than two decades of leadership with AstraZeneca, Boots, JD Wetherspoon and University College London.

As the current HR Director at private equity-backed Exemplar Health Care, he tells Visiting Honorary Professor Mike Sassi about leadership in the age of AI, the realities of private equity ownership and why HR should sit at the centre of any creative organisation.

Matthew also reflects candidly on the mistakes that shaped him – including a pivotal early-career moment that changed how he thought about leadership.

He says: “Leadership is a service. You’re in the service of your team.”

INTRODUCTION

• In 1996 Matthew Blain completed his first degree at Nottingham Trent, a BSc in Business and Quality Management.

• In the 2000s, he was National Training Manager at JD Wetherspoon, developing his first large-scale leadership experience.

• He then worked in HR roles at global pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca then moved into senior HR leadership at Boots.

• In 2012, Matthew was awarded a Doctor of Business Administration by the Nottingham Business School.

• He was appointed Director of HR at Boots in 2015, then Chief People Officer at University College London in 2019.

• In 2022, he was appointed HR Director at Exemplar Health Care, a private equity-backed specialist healthcare provider based in south Yorkshire.

TEN LEADERSHIP TAKEAWAYS from Matthew Blain

1. AI is reshaping work – but not in the simplistic “job loss” narrative…

“The reality is that AI is also generating a lot of jobs. There are new jobs coming into the workplace.”

Leaders must challenge reductive narratives about AI and instead prepare organisations for job transformation, not just automation.

2. AI increases the volume and complexity of human issues…

“Whereas at one time in HR you may have received a grievance that was a paragraph or two. It now comes in as 32 pages, fully referenced with case law!”

Technology amplifies your staff’s voice, placing greater pressure on leadership judgment, not less.

3. Human leadership matters more, as tasks become automated…

“What it has also done… is move even more emphasis onto human contact.”

As operational work is automated, motivation, inspiration, and trust become the true leadership differentiators.

4. Modern leaders don’t add value by having the answers…

“Leaders no longer have all the answers… the answers are just too easy to put into ChatGPT.”

Modern leadership value lies in asking better questions and enabling others, not information control.

5. Calmness is a leadership asset, not a personality trait…

“The word that often comes back for me [from my assessments] is calm… calm means reassuring.”

Emotional consistency builds psychological safety. Unpredictability erodes trust faster than poor strategy.

6. Leadership is fundamentally about helping others…

“Leadership is a service. You’re in the service of your team.”

Leaders exist to remove obstacles, unblock progress, and champion people.

7. Authentic leadership can be learned, not innate…

“Very little of it [leadership] is authentic. Most of it is a mixture of things we’ve taken from other people.”

Leadership identity is constructed through observation, reflection, and adaptation – not fixed personality.

8. Mentorship is powerful – even when informal…

“It’s amazing the difference it can make when you’ve got someone that’s just got a guiding hand on you.”

Career progression is often shaped by unplanned sponsorship. Leaders should actively encourage mentoring relationships.

9. Private equity is about pace, not the absence of values…

“There’s a caricature that private equity companies are not values led… in my experience, that’s just not true.”

Commercial intensity and purpose-led leadership are not mutually exclusive in PE-backed firms.

10. Crisis reveals the true strategic value of HR…

“Everything we did [during COVID, at University College] … was tested against our mantra of people first.”

People-first decision-making creates institutional resilience – and in the case of University College London, enabled our recovery after the COVID pandemic.

RELATED LINKS

Find out more about Matthew Blain…

• Through his LinkedIn pages

• Via the website of Exemplar Health Care

• From when he was appointed Executive Director of HR at University College London

If you enjoyed this episode of the NBS Business Leaders’ Podcast with Matthew Blain, listen to previous episodes with…

• The Global Head of Emerging Talent at engineering giant Rolls-Royce Ellie Long

• The former Chief Exec of the Financial Ombudsman Service Caroline Wayman

• The BBC’s Deputy Chief People Officer Sarah Gregory

• The former head of the RAF Air Chief Marshal Sir Andrew Pulford KCB CBE