044: Culture and M&As is a an Success Factor; Thomas Kessler

About This Week's Guest Thomas Kessler on culture and M&As Thomas Kessler is Partner and Managing Director of Global PMI Partners and draws on 20 years of experience in Mergers & Acquisitions and particularly in Post Merger Integration. The importance of culture in transactions is one of the essential success factors. Thomas looks at culture beyond being a success factor. In his experience culture should be a key decision factor when acquiring. He will present his view on how companies can incorporate culture during strategic selection and due diligence to ensure they are considering the impact of culture integration in the purchase decision. His three tips for becoming more culturally competent are: Be open and listen actively. Take note of the others' organizational culture; What do you see? What do people talk about? What do they celebrate? etc. Realize that culture is a major success factor when it comes to M&As. There are plenty of success stories (mentioned in the interview), but unfortunately also many failures. Have people on board in your organization that act as "champions"; so other people can see what they do, how they act, and in this way identify themselves with the desired (new) culture. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: Email:thomas@gpmip.com Telephone: +49 172 255 9788 Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!