The Art of the Deal - Not Trump

I thought it would be important to mention the art of the deal when talking about mergers and acquisitions. There is an important part that HR plays that really is not talked up in the media or among executives. That is "the final say in a deal".


If you look at the posts I have made over the years on M&A activities you will see a consistent pattern. That is that the lead HR person really looks at balance sheets, agreements, policy contracts, and the like in a totally different light that say the CEO, the finance team, the legal team. Yes, a different light than the legal team!!!. 


Since we are driven to understand the written relationship between people and the business we have to look at these thing differently. My feeling is that the lead HR acquisition person should lead the due diligence team and not the legal team or finance. Why, they MISS things, yes they MISS things. So the next time you are on a DD team stand up and take the lead, show your stuff, and make the M&A process a success. 


So, are you on board with this or do you see it a different way? Let me know. 

Where Are You in the M and A Discussion?

There has been a lot of talk lately that HR is always in on the final stage of acquisitions. Why is that? If you are plugged into the CEO & the M&A team you should been at the lead end rather than the tail end of such activities. So why is that?

Well, for one thing and mainly primary is that HR can read the culture of an organization better than financial types and for that matter senior level managers. Remember, HR is our business. One of the main reasons why things don't go well after an acquisition is that the cultures do not fit and never will creating disparate and unconnected strategy issues. In addition, financial types do not always know the buzz words for hidden costs in the balance sheet or the intricate payer issues for medical plans.

So my issue is make sure your HR lead is in the lead end of acquisition and not the tail or you will be holding the tail in the long run.

To read more on mergers and acquisitions you should read my prior posts in 2008 on this very important subject.