Jennifer Fondrevay is helping leaders navigate the emotional side of mergers and acquisitions with deep expertise drawn from years in executive roles and consulting.

As the founder of Day One Ready and author of Now What? A Survivor’s Guide for Thriving Through Mergers and Acquisitions, she supports organizations in building people-first strategies that drive successful integrations.

In this episode, we discussed why the emotional toll of M&A is often underestimated—and how grief, identity loss, and ambiguity impact performance. Jennifer shares why middle managers are the make-or-break force in post-deal success and why they need to be trained, not just informed. We also dive into the power of rituals, empathy, and even music in helping teams process change and move forward with clarity and trust.

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Connect with Jennifer:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-fondrevay/
https://jenniferjfondrevay.com
https://maconsulting.jenniferjfondrevay.com
https://www.amazon.com/NOW-WHAT-Survivors-Thriving-Acquisitions/dp/1734111305

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:38 The Emotional Impact CEOs Overlook
2:17 Human Emotions and Cultural Integration
6:48 Grief in the Workplace
10:09 Emotional Intelligence as a Core Leadership Skill
11:13 Normalizing Emotion at Work
12:06 The Power of Vulnerability
14:00 Using Music to Process Grief
16:50 Identifying Hidden “Us vs. Them” Dynamics
18:21 Respect as the Foundation for Cultural Integration
23:42 Middle Managers as the Backbone of M&A Success
26:27 A Call for Examples of Effective Leadership Communication
27:34 Honoring the Past
31:06 The Messy Middle and Hope for the Future of M&A
40:30 Music as a Universal Emotional Language in M&A
43:00 Outro

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