How top management steers fast cycle teams to success

Every merger and acquisition deal presents a different goal and a different mix of critical issues to manage. Making, consummating, and integrating a deal puts pressure on chief executives to play multiple leadership roles and switch quickly from one role to another throughout the merger process. The roles employed vary dramatically with the type of deal and how ambitious the strategy. As the rationales for transactions have changed, new challenges have evolved, especially for those leading the deals: leaders must establish and communicate the strategic vision for the merger ‐‐ they need to explain the top four or five sources of value in the deal and what the core values and culture of the new organization should be; leaders must cheer on the stakeholders to generate enthusiasm for the merger or acquisition, and to confront fear and uncertainty in its various forms; leaders must close the deal; leaders captain change by managing the integration of the two entities; and leaders crusade for the new entity. These five roles are essential to all transactions, but leaders need to employ each at different times. The strategic rationale behind the deal, and the inherent risks and opportunities that it presents, determines which roles a leader needs to play and when.