Most mergers and acquisitions start with spreadsheets and end with PowerPoint decks. But the real cost—what goes wrong and why—is almost always about people.
Despite years of consulting practices and playbooks, organizations continue to undervalue the human side of post-acquisition integration, often referred to simply by its acronym: PAI.
Jennifer Fondrevay has lived the damage firsthand. Founder of Day1 Ready PAI process and author of Now What? A Survivor’s Guide for Thriving Through Mergers & Acquisitions, Fondrevay has been on all sides of multi-billion-dollar M&A deals, from acquirer to acquiree. She knows what gets overlooked.
Her mission is clear: “Every company going through a merger or an acquisition is trying to transform itself,” she told me. “That transformation won’t happen without people bought in, understanding their role, and ready to contribute.”
If leaders continue to approach M&A as a numbers game alone, failure is not just possible, it’s probable.
The Arrogance of the Deal
M&A activity is accelerating, yet many leaders still walk into deals like emperors. Fondrevay doesn’t mince words. “You tend to come to the deal with arrogance. It’s ego-driven,” she said. “But when you approach the other side with humility and respect, it sets the tone for a stronger partnership.”
In one of her interviews for the book, a CEO shared how early deals failed because he approached them with a “You’re lucky we’re buying you” attitude. When he later led with humility, acknowledging the value of the other company’s people, culture, and potential, it changed everything for the better.
Respect at the top cascades through the organization. It opens the door to honest integration, talent retention, and cultural alignment. Unfortunately, far too many M&A teams confuse conquest with collaboration.
Why Pre-Mortems Matter More Than Post-Mortems
If you wait until the deal closes to ask tough questions, it’s already too late. Fondrevay advocates for the pre-mortem, a leadership alignment exercise that asks a critical question before ink hits paper: “What could go wrong?”
“The pre-mortem brings certainty to what is otherwise filled with uncertainty,” she explained. “We look at assumptions, threats, and blind spots using a reverse SWOT analysis. It’s scenario planning with real consequences.”
She likens it to a military drill. You hope never to use it, but if the unexpected arises, you’re ready.
Leaders leave these exercises with a clearer understanding of their team’s dynamics, unspoken concerns, and decision-making logic. “It’s the closest thing to a crystal ball,” one CEO told her. The irony is that many organizations choose to skip it entirely.
The Messy Middle and the Emotional Gap
Fondrevay sees a consistent leadership gap post-acquisition. The acquiring company often hands off integration to the front lines without thoroughly preparing managers or equipping them with the tools to lead through ambiguity.
“When I went through M&A deals myself, consultants would descend like locusts with spreadsheets and templates,” she said. “But humans don’t fit neatly into boxes.”
What leaders need to recognize, she argues, is that employees go through stages of grief. They’ve lost a familiar workplace and often feel powerless about what’s to come. Denial, anger, and bargaining are real reactions that demand acknowledgment, not dismissal.
In her workshops, Fondrevay uses music as a tool to help teams move from denial to acceptance. She asks participants to create a playlist: a song for how they felt when they heard the news, one for how they feel now, and another for how they hope to feel in 90 days. The exercise is as revealing as it is humanizing. It’s also a tactic which immediately erases any hierarchy. Who doesn’t love music?
“When senior leaders share their playlists, it’s a powerful moment,” she said. “It breaks down walls. It shows people they’re not alone.” Another One Bites The Dust for the win.
Talent Is Not a Line Item
Too often, M&A deals reduce talent to a spreadsheet column. Fondrevay warns that such behavior is both shortsighted and damaging.
“You’re not onboarding excited new hires. You’re integrating people who had this happen to them,” she said. That requires more than branded mugs and ‘Better Together’ t-shirts.
One of her more effective practices is assigning “culture buddies.” It is the creation of a peer guide from the acquiring organization that can help people navigate both formal and informal norms. “It’s about learning each other’s language,” she explained. “What acronyms do you use? Who are the influencers? How do you really get things done?”
Done right, this becomes an innovative retention tool as well.
Cast of Change Characters
In her book, Fondrevay details a “cast of change characters,” which are personas that consistently appear in M&A settings. They’re caricatures in the book, but based on real people from real deals.
For example, Fondrevay introduces the Specialist, someone who fears their expertise won’t be valued in the new structure. There is also the Know-It-All, the Dominator, the Skeptic, and the Great Unifier.
“The trick,” she says, “isn’t judging them, it’s understanding them. Most of these behaviors are driven by fear, uncertainty, or a desire to protect their turf.”
The key for leaders is to recognize these personas early and help them get to acceptance. “When you ignore them, they can quietly derail everything,” she said.
Leadership Must Evolve
Leaders who were brilliant at scaling a company are not automatically skilled at integration. Channeling her inner Marshall Goldsmith, as Fondrevay puts it, “What got you here won’t get you there.”
She sees a gap in how we prepare executives for the emotional, relational, and cultural complexity of M&A. “You have to pull different tools from the leadership toolkit,” she said. “You’re not just executing a deal, you’re guiding people through massive uncertainty.”
That means modeling empathy, getting proximate to the acquired culture and organization, and ensuring that HR and L&D aren’t left out of the process. In fact, those two groups should be core to it.
“Culture buddies, pre-mortems, scenario planning, and emotional acknowledgment are not soft skills,” she added. “They are business imperatives.” And they are key components of a strong and flourishing HR and L&D strategy.
Fondrevay would remind you that M&A transformation isn’t measured by deal size or exit amounts; it’s defined by how people are treated throughout the process.
Watch the full interview with Jennifer Fondrevay and Dan Pontefract on the Leadership NOW program below, or listen to it on your favorite podcast.