Fundamentals of Level Three Leadership

134. Managing Mergers and Acquisitions

Concept

Most mergers and acquisitions fail.³⁶ Typically, that means not meeting their stated financial goals within five years. In my consulting, I have worked with many companies who as a part of their strategic plans acquire and sell subsidiaries. The two main strategic growth patterns are by acquisition and by internal sales growth. At the same time, I have been surprised by apparent lack of a disciplined process for merging a new company into the parent.

I found a company once that had made 23 acquisitions in 18 years and in which four of those acquisitions were larger than the parent company itself. I spent two years interviewing people and learning how they had managed to be so successful in their ...