After all, it’s people that generate the numbers
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An integration in five steps
AcquirerTargetEvery dot is a person
Cross-Border Mergers and AcquisitionsCo-author, Wiley 2016
Top 30 Global M&A VoicesSelected in 2025
Harvard Business School caseAlbany International / Geschmay
Cambridge Judge Business SchoolMentor, MSt Entrepreneurship
Who it's for
Every integration lands on a few desks first. Each of them needs something different, and all of them need it early, ideally during due diligence.
CEO of the acquirer
“How do we keep the business running while we integrate?”
A sparring partner who has led 47 integrations and talks to you as a peer. Clear governance and one story for every audience from the day of the announcement.
PE Operating Partner
“How fast can we integrate and still keep the people who carry the value?”
Speed with adoption: a weekly cadence from day one, and synergies with an owner, a milestone and a probability. Protect customers, keep leaders, deliver synergies.
CEO of the acquired company
“How do I lead my team while the pressure is at its highest?”
Orientation for your managers, a plan your teams write themselves in Week One, and someone at your side who has seen this situation many times.
Corporate M&A team, CFO, board
“How do we run the next integration ourselves?”
A proven method, the Masterclass and sparring on your own deal, so the know-how stays inside your company.
Quick check
Pick what you see in your integration today, or what you expect to see after the announcement.
Orient · Engage · Prioritise
Value starts eroding on announcement. Before people can engage, they need orientation, and before they can deliver, they need focus. Each event answers one question every manager on both sides is asking.
The why
Right after the announcement
Managers hear why the deal happened, where the company is going and what their own role is. Governance and communication are set before rumours fill the gap. Purpose, strategy and goals are clarified and lead the way forward.
Result: everybody oriented; senior leaders and managers speak as one.
The how
Three days, one mixed team per workstream
Each workstream team, with members from both the acquirer and the acquired company, takes a pre-prepared integration plan with a charter and draft key projects. Within guardrails, they challenge, change and complete it, including a list of what they will not do.
On the third day, every team hears what the other workstreams plan, and together they resolve the interdependencies.
Result: a plan the teams own and can be held to, within days, not weeks.
The what
Four to six weeks after closing
Leadership agrees on the big rocks, the few synergies that create real value, and decides which pebbles to ignore on purpose. One tracking tool, clear milestones.
Result: focus that fits alongside the day-to-day business.
Every synergy needs an owner, a milestone, a type and a probability. Otherwise it is an aspiration.
Appleton, Wisconsin
Albany International had acquired Geschmay. In our first meeting at the Appleton plant, the plant manager stuck the Mickey Mouse tie he was wearing into my face. A confrontational protest against our presence. He had not been told everything the acquisition would mean for him and the business he was managing.
My response was: “Before we talk about anything else, I want you to know that I am here to listen. This room is yours.”
The tie hangs on my office wall today. It reminds me where every integration starts: with the people in the room.
Sectors and selected clients
Landmark transactions
T-Mobile NL / Orange Netherlands · Goodyear / Sumitomo Rubber · Deutsche Post / Global Mail · Avaya Global Connect joint venture with Tata · Wacker / Air Products joint venture · Albany International / Geschmay
Two kinds of buyers
Private equity and strategic buyers integrate for different reasons, at different speeds, and they stumble in different places. The method is the same; the emphasis changes.
| Aspect | Private equity | Strategic buyer |
|---|---|---|
| Value logic | EBITDA and exit readiness | Fit of the operating model |
| Speed | High | Medium |
| Governance | Tight cadence, board loops | Committees and matrix |
| Typical stumble | Speed without adoption | Slow decisions, growing backlog |
Cadence equals control
The same rhythm every week. Decisions come on schedule, risks surface early, and everyone knows when the next answer arrives.
Every workstream sends its status report.
The integration manager meets each workstream lead, at least 30 minutes.
Dashboard and status report for the steering committee are ready.
Steering committee, one hour: weekly update, monthly decisions, actions published.
The integration office stays independent and escalates to the steering committee only.
Work together
Pick the depth that fits your deal. Every format rests on the three key events: Executive Alignment, Week One and the Synergy Working Session.
Learn
A 20-lesson programme on M&A and integration, filmed at Saïd Business School, Oxford. Built for busy executives.
Apply
The Masterclass plus 20 sparring sessions and three implementation days with Thomas, applied to your own deal. The result is your integration playbook.
Facilitate
Thomas moderates Executive Alignment, Week One and the Synergy Working Session with your leadership teams, from preparation to the agreed outputs.
Deliver
Integration office, toolkits, culture work and synergy tracking, led by Thomas with a senior team. Value protected, value delivered.
Equip
The method, built into software for your integration team. From the deal document and half a page of context, it drafts the strategic direction, a charter for every workstream, the work plan, the roadmap and the critical path in minutes. Your teams then challenge, change and complete it, in Week One and every week after.
On its own or with any of the four formats above. AI drafts, your people decide.
Already working with a large consultancy? Thomas joins as Integration Director. He steers the consultants on time and budget and makes sure the know-how stays with you. Senior people from the first day to the last.
Insights
Short answers to the questions leaders ask in the weeks around a deal, from 47 integrations led hands-on.
Post-merger integration
What to do from announcement to day 100, in the order people need it.
Key event 1 · The why
The first key event: one story of the deal, told the same way by every leader.
Key event 2 · The how
The second key event: mixed teams write the integration plan themselves.
Key event 3 · The what
The third key event: few synergies, each with an owner, a milestone and a probability.
Private equity
Platforms and add-ons: how to integrate fast and keep the people who carry the value.
For CEOs
For CEOs of the acquirer: how to keep the business running while you integrate.
Questions
Post-merger integration is the work of combining two companies after a deal so that the value of the deal is actually delivered: one strategy, one organisation, one way of working. It starts on announcement day, not at closing, because value starts eroding as soon as people hear about the deal. Thomas H. Kessler structures it around three key events.
Executive Alignment (the why), right after the announcement; Week One (the how), three days in which mixed workstream teams make a prepared plan their own; and the Synergy Working Session (the what), four to six weeks after closing, where leadership agrees on the few big rocks. Together they orient, engage and prioritise everyone involved.
O.E.P. stands for Orient, Engage, Prioritise: the three questions every integration has to answer, in this order. Orientation removes rumours and flight risk, engagement turns “Why is this happening to me?” into “How can I help?”, and prioritisation focuses people on the actions that create value. Thomas H. Kessler developed it from 47 integrations.
The Boulder Beach principle says: put the big rocks in first. In an integration, leadership picks the few synergies that carry most of the value and deliberately ignores the pebbles, the many small harmonisations that drain energy. Each big rock gets an owner, a milestone, a type and a probability of implementation.
That is the goal. The Masterclass and the implementation sparring build exactly this capability, so your teams run the next integration with their own playbook.
The PMO keeps the cadence. The value comes from people: whether they understand the why, own the plan and focus on the big rocks. That is what the three key events are for.
Value starts eroding on announcement day, not on closing day. The three events are built to save time: one alignment, three days in Week One, one synergy session, and a weekly rhythm in between.
Then make independence a design decision. Function by function, you choose to preserve, select, converge or merge, decide it early and explain it clearly.
Contact
The best time to talk is during due diligence. Book a call for a deal ahead of you, or to bring the Masterclass to your leadership team.
Or write to info@integrationsuccess.com