NC Transformation

My WordPress Transformation Blog

Leadership

#8 Acquisitions to Become.

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One of my mentors, Christian Simpson has a saying, “Your business is not your business – your business is the thinking you bring to your business!” Talking about thinking, I’ve been thinking about the company I used to work at for many years and specifically the amazing growth and success it has achieved. For more than 20 years I watched as numerous acquisitions we made and integrated into what has become one of the largest technology companies in the world

As the company grew so the industry changed. Technology companies have had to navigate major shifts over the last 20 years. Tech companies have had to adapt from products to services to managed services, the Internet to Cloud to digital and now new technologies like automation, robotics, artificial intelligence and analytics means everything will continue to change. These are discussions for another day. What I want to mention today is the interesting fact that as the company I worked for was making all these acquisitions, some worked extremely well and others failed spectacularly. While there can be many reasons for this, I noted that one type of acquisition always failed and the best way for me to describe this is as follows.

Some acquisitions grow the company and some are for the company to become. When a company is growing it requires a business-as-usual approach to integrate the acquisition. Everyone is on the same page and integration means consolidating resources, solutions, clients etc. Challenges are easily addressed by integrating and moving data from one system to another. It’s not easy but because the focus is on growth everyone can quickly refocus.

When an acquisition is made, to become, a completely different challenge faces the company. This is like adding new attributes to the company, attributes that need to be preserved as-is and any attempts at integration will result in a loss of the very essence of the acquisition. I watched as great companies, leaders in their field, with amazing offerings were slowly dismantled and the company’s sales team became stronger, engineering was enhanced, leadership was enriched but the very essence of what was acquired slowly disappeared and the entire “new” offering ceased to exist.

How does one then acquire to become? I thought of Christians quote that “….your business is the thinking you bring to your business”. Could this mean that what needs to be retained is the thinking that exists within the acquisition? I recall those good acquisitions were due to the rapid integration of those companies into the new company. Branding was removed, product and service offerings were replaced and systems and processes were moved over to the main company’s. What was being done was to get the acquired company to now be like the new company and that would include thinking like the new company.

Put simply, acquiring, to become, is not easy and will need to involve preserving the thinking and the culture and adding it to the main company. This way the company has the opportunity to become something bigger but also broader with more to offer.

#7 Partnerships

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There is no doubt in my mind that partnerships can be very powerful and beneficial, especially when one person’s strengths supplements and fills in for another’s weaknesses.

“Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.” Proverbs 13:20

You become like the people you partner with. It’s therefore important that you consider wisely when partnering. Chose who will add value to you and who you can add value to. If your partnership is a business, and the partnership has been established in wisdom, then both the individuals and the business will benefit and see much improvement and growth.

#6 Setting a better sail.

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The same wind blows on us all. The economic wind, the social wind, the political wind. The same wind blows on everybody. The difference in where you arrive in one year, three years, five years, the difference in arrival is not the blowing of the wind but the set of the sail. Jim Rohn.

I’m not much of sailor, well not at all, but a few years ago I had the opportunity to go sailing on the Mediterranian. We were a whole team and were allocated to several identical yachts each with a skipper that would show us the ropes. As we set out there was a slight breeze and while not ideal for sailing it did give us the chance to just sit back and relax after a long day of meetings and presentations. However, it did not take long for the different teams to start competing and soon a race had developed. I was amazed to discover how small changes to the sail would have a massive impact in speed over the other boats. I realised that while sailing looked easy in principle, it required much skill and intuition. Our skipper pointed out another boat that had moved ahead by some considerable distance and mentioned that the skipper was an Olympic champion.

The direction we headed in turned out to be an important factor as we would pick up more wind in different locations and the direction of the wind meant some boats would make better use of the wind from behind by tacking further out from the shore.

This whole experience came back to me this weekend as I read an article with Jim Rohn’s quotes and it made me realise that we all get to choose what we do with our time, who we spend it with and whether we decide to deliberately grow in our knowledge and experience. As Jim Rohn said, “It is not the blowing of the wind but the set of the sail.” It’s not what happens that determines your life future, it’s what you do about it.

Learning and growing are all about setting a better sail. We each get to set our sail and if we are deliberate in growing, the knowledge, skill and experiences we acquire will ensure we set better sails that will result in better more successful outcomes.

#4 Experience is not the best teacher!

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“Experience is not the best teacher!”

I heard John Maxwell say this on a mentorship call a few years ago. We all have experience at some level, and if we participate in life then we are continually gaining new experience. Why then is it that some people benefit and learn from their experiences and others don’t?

Reflection turns our experience into insight. The secret then is, experience teaches nothing but evaluated experience teaches everything. A great practice is to reflect daily on the experiences you’ve had. Ponder over them and become conscious of the lessons you can take out of the experience. Once you start applying these lessons you can then say, “My evaluated experience is the best teacher.”