Original thinking on risk, change, and leadership.

A colleague said something to me last week that stopped me... He had known me for years, talked with me on HR related challenges, the usual and he had no idea I speak at events, run executive workshops, or lead retreats. “You need to tell us at least three other things you do,” he said, “apart from HR.” He was right. I've spent most of my career behind the scenes. Building things quietly. Fixing what was broken before anyone noticed it was broken. That's the job, and for a lo

Pre-M&A Reality Check – Part 5 of 5 This is the final installment of the Pre-M&A Reality Check series. And it ends where most deals actually fall apart, not in the model, not in the negotiation, but in the execution. The plan existed. It was documented, reviewed, and approved. What didn’t exist was readiness. Payroll errors surfaced in the first pay cycle and trust collapsed immediately. HR wasn’t assigned an integration role until after close — creating a 30-day leadership v

The financial model was sound. The strategic rationale was compelling. The due diligence was thorough. And then the two organizations tried to actually work together. What happened next is something I’ve witnessed across more transactions than I can count: productivity dropped 20 to 40 percent. Decision cycles tripled. Cross-functional alignment broke down within 90 days of close. And two cultures collided and stayed that way. No one modeled that. And no one saw it coming. Wh

ReInvent Summit 2026 - 2027 Something is shifting, not just in markets or technology, but in what leadership itself requires. The executives pulling ahead right now aren’t those who’ve eliminated uncertainty. They’re the ones who sense the shift early, convene the right people around it, and move with both speed and judgment. That’s the exact conversation ReINVENT 26 is built for. What you’ll walk away with Every session is designed to move from insight to impact — with three

Past Performance ≠ Deal Readiness I’ve spent years watching the same assumptions destroy value in transaction after transaction. The leadership team built something impressive. The track record is real. The business grew. And so, the deal closes with a quiet, untested conviction: if they ran it before, they can scale it now. That assumption is almost never stress-tested. And it is one of the most expensive errors in M&A. 67% of acquired CEOs leave within three years of the cl

I spent the early part of my career watching M & A deals succeed on paper and unravel in practice. The numbers cleared. The diligence was complete. The valuation held. And then the people left. What I understood then, and what I’ve built my practice around since, is that the financial model is only as sound as the human assumptions underneath it. And in most transactions, those assumptions are never tested. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a PE-backed platform acquisition, a

Most M&A deals don’t fail because the numbers were wrong. They fail because the people assumptions were wrong. After years of post-deal clean-ups, restructurings, and inevitable “how did we miss this?” moments, the same patterns surface again and again: Financial models failed to account for people realities Culture clashes quietly slowed execution Hidden compliance liabilities surfaced post-close Leadership capability didn’t scale Integration readiness was assumed , not engi

The Leadership Inflection Point at ReINVENT 26 In today’s environment, CEOs aren’t rewarded for predicting the future — they’re rewarded for sensing the shift before the market does. McKinsey calls this “the perception edge.” Gartner frames it as “anticipatory leadership.” Deloitte highlights “signal intelligence” as the capability separating resilient companies from the rest. Different labels. Same truth: leaders who detect inflection points early outperform. That’s exact

We don’t lose money only in court, we lose it when managers miss the moment to engage. Protect Your Profit Line gives leaders simple moves to spot risk early and respond well , a field-tested playbook for leaders who want durable performance without legal landmines. Rather than recycling cautionary tales, the book distills patterns from thousands of leadership touchpoints across PE-backed, manufacturing, tech, CPG, healthcare, and services organizations, what actually reduce

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So, you’re all set to grill your next job candidate and find the perfect match for your company. But hold up! Don’t let your interview...

On July 1, 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom signed groundbreaking legislation to overhaul California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA)....

How C-Suite Leaders Set the Tone from Top to Bottom In today’s whirlwind business world, C-suite leaders are the ultimate culture czars....

In the hustle and bustle of a typical board meeting, where the minds of directors are already drifting towards their impending flights...