A CEO is like a general.
If you acquire a company, you also take responsibility for a legion of new employees.
And if you don’t gain the loyalty of your followers, like a bad general, your M&A will fail.… READ MORE
With expected farm income taking a nosedive, and the highest borrowing costs in over a decade, agriculture seems to be on the ropes.
By this logic, we could expect less mergers and acquisitions in the industry, but reality seems far different.… READ MORE
Most M&A books sell you the importance of communication, but that’s where they usually stop.
You need to go the extra mile. I’m talking stuff like personal face time with your team and being available to answer questions right away.… READ MORE
The average M&A transaction has TEN THOUSAND individual, unique, and crucial decisions to make. Some of these include:
How long is this going to take?
How do we avoid making stupid decisions?
How do we avoid wasting our time and/or money?… READ MORE
Being a “fire-fighter” works — until it doesn’t.
If you’re just tackling reds right in front of you, you’re thinking in the short-term, and you’re not improving as you go.
But there’s a better way.… READ MORE
M&A is not a box-ticking exercise.
Merely “completing” the tasks in your integration is not the same as closing your integration.
And if you don’t close your integration 100%?
The feelings of dread, anxiety, and eternal despair never leave.… READ MORE
Integrations that take longer than a year bankrupt your company.
Why?
Well, there’s a few reasons, but nothing is as detrimental as this:
Instead of focusing on strategy, senior leaders have now spent an entire year on integration.… READ MORE
Storing processes in the minds of your senior leaders is a huge risk for your business. What would happen to your firm if those leaders leave the company?
You don’t have to imagine, I’ll tell you: Essential knowledge is lost, leaving the rest of the organization without clear direction or guidance.… READ MORE
When it comes to integrations, your mindset produces results.
This is a simple, observable fact. Yet leaders of the 70-90% of acquisitions that fail kneel at the altar of “budget management”, have a scarcity mindset, and fall prey to worthless data.… READ MORE
AOL & Time Warner (2001) — $65 billion loss.
Daimler-Benz & Chrysler (1998) — $36 billion loss.
Google & Motorola (2012) — $12.5 billion loss.
These behemoths all failed when trying to integrate.
Why?… READ MORE
