News & views

A few days ago, I returned to my old high school to speak at the retirement celebration of one of my teachers. I had not walked those halls in thirty years. As soon as I stepped through the front doors, I felt something I was not expecting. It was as though time had folded in on itself. For a moment I was no longer a consultant, a doctoral candidate, a wife, or a mother. I was as early teen again, trying to figure out where I fit in the world. The school looked almost exactly as I remembered it. The […]

Read More…

One of the strangest things about acquisitions is how much time we spend evaluating the company we are buying and how little time we spend evaluating ourselves. I have sat through diligence processes where teams reviewed financial statements, technology platforms, customer concentration, contracts, operating processes, management capability, and enough spreadsheets to make even the most committed Excel person consider a career in pottery. Every risk is catalogued, discussed, scored, challenged, and placed neatly into some colour-coded document that gives everyone a brief sense of control. Then the deal closes, and suddenly the organization that spent months examining someone else’s weaknesses […]

Read More…

Do you know what’s interesting? In M&A the deal team and the integration team are often running toward completely different definitions of success. None of these groups are smarter than the other, and not because they are intentionally creating problems, but because they are sitting inside completely different realities. The deal team is trying to get the transaction across the finish line. The integration team is trying to figure out whether the organization can actually absorb what is being purchased without creating operational chaos six months later. Both sides are intelligent. both sides are protecting value in their own way. […]

Read More…

One of the things that has always fascinated me about integrations is how quickly very sophisticated organizations can suddenly start behaving like a stressed family trying to assemble IKEA furniture without instructions. Everybody is present and has opinions, but nobody wants to admit they are confused, and at least one person is quietly questioning every life decision that brought them into the meeting. At the beginning, integrations usually feel incredibly organized. The organization moves with the confidence of something that still believes planning and execution are basically the same activity. Leadership feels aligned, and the deal rationale still sounds compelling. […]

Read More…

[…]

Read More…