The Pacesetter Pod

Imagine you close an M&A deal that will skyrocket your business.

But your top personnel leaves for the competition, before the integration process even starts.

If you haven't acquired a company yet, it will surprise you that this is a bitter reality for many CEOs.

Losing the team members you count on to your rivals may seem unfair.

But you can do a lot to make sure they realize that staying is better for them, and that they don't give in to advances from outside.

And the first step is to set up a retention plan for the most important people who will realize your M&A plan.

In today's episode, you'll discover the different types of leaders your M&A plan depends on, how to figure out what they need in order to stay with you, and how to communicate with your team in a way that makes them ignore lucrative job opportunities in the market.

Listen now!

Show highlights include:

• Why your competitors may poach your best people in the middle of a merge (4:28)
• 5 leaders in your business a successful M&A integration depends on (6:43)
• The "Retention Plan" checklist to keep your most important team members (even if leaving would be "easier") (11:56)
• A quick mind game to single out your most valuable partners during the M&A process (13:51)
• One simple communication rule that leaves your competition no chance to win over your best people (16:23)

One of the most common misconceptions about M&A integration is that it's a strategy.

This is a fatal mistake.

Because you can acquire a company without having any sort of strategy.

And, if you try to wrap your strategy around a merge, it will most likely fail.

Why?

Because it's important to walk away from an M&A plan when it won't help your business grow. When you think you need an M&A integration at all costs, you lose your sense of judgment.

And this neediness destroys even the best plans.

In today's episode, Jason Price, CFO of the Hilmar Cheese Company, shares the solution. Plus, he reveals 3 questions to determine if an M&A integration fits into your strategy, the cognitive biases which force bad strategic decisions, and how your management team can protect you from them.

Listen now!

Show highlights include:

• 3 steps to find out if acquiring a company is going to grow your business (or if you're better off without it) (2:24)
• Why M&A only works for businesses that don't need it (4:10)
• Warren Buffet's "Margin of Safety" rule to spot lucrative investments (without worrying about strategy) (5:15)
• How cognitive biases prime you for business-wrecking investments (and how your team can protect you from them) (11:17)
• 5 daily questions to help you navigate your agribusiness in turbulent times (23:18)

M&A integration is not fair.

It demands excellence from you as a leader and your team.

But it also weakens your company during the integration process.

You need enough reserves to cover potential drawbacks, and flawless communication with your team, while you get across your company culture to a mass of new people.

The sheer amount of questions you'll have to answer means that an M&A integration will never meet your expectations.

But it doesn't have to.

Making your M&A integration plan "not fail" is what gets you into the top 20% of businesses in your industry.

And with this in mind, you can simplify any merging process into 3 non-negotiable rules for M&A success.

In today's episode, you'll discover the basic economic principle to ensure your M&A plan works, and how to use pressure to reach key objectives without overloading your team with work.

Listen now!

Show highlights include:

• The "Copy Kitten" method to simplify M&A integration into 3 key ideas (0:46)
• How too much comfort kills your M&A plans (and how to avoid that) (3:57)
• Why only successful M&A managers are pedantic with their budget (6:25)
• The underrated way lack of presence alone makes your M&A plans fail (10:48)
• An unexpected way your personnel may make a merge fail (even if they give it their all) (12:49)

For more about Joe Mosher, go here:

https://moshercg.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joemosher/

Most CEOs don't realize the magnitude of effects their change plan has on the organization, and create more problems than they try to solve.

When your business goes through major change, it's in your best interest to ensure that the day-to-day processes don't suffer from it.

And your people perform worse when you implement a new idea, if you don't have the right system in place to manage the change.

Why?

Because the change process appears mechanical, as if the people matter less than your objectives.

But, there is a simple method to anticipate and minimize the risks of your change process derailing your companies' future.

Comparing your agribusiness to an outdoor sport may give you the best ideas to improve it.

Not only do both depend on the weather, but they rest on a certain sense of community you don't find anywhere else.

This approach grants cohesion and stability, and also gives the people in your team an active role in it.

So, rather than being a trade-off, the change process can accelerate your success.

And in today's episode, the seasoned agribusiness executive Brett Bell shares how to tell if your business plan is worth pursuing, why your personnel is the best source to find new business ideas, and the best framework to stress test a seasonal agribusiness.

Listen now!

Show highlights include:

• A common fallacy about strategy which leaves every business worse off than before (1:35)
• How $billion companies plan their recruiting to reach their goals (and how you can too) (3:20)
• The "People-Process-Tech" framework for generating business plans (without looking outside of your company) (5:02)
• The ugly truth about why most agribusiness don't benefit from merging together (7:33)
• How to stress test your seasonal agribusiness against unforeseeable risks in three steps (13:12)
• Why most agribusinesses are turning into unproductive bureaucracies (and how to prevent it from sinking yours too) (20:12)

For more about Joe Mosher, go here:

https://moshercg.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joemosher/

There is a certain bias that makes almost all M&A integrations fail.

Most CEOs think they need to make the integration as short as possible, so they avoid eroding their company's assets.

And While it's important to burn as little cash as you possibly can, this is also where things go wrong.

Why?

You minimize the risk of losing economic substance before you land the deal - not after.

Because integrating a company into your ecosystem is like starting a car: .

Abrupt acceleration leads to accidents.

What makes or breaks the success of your M&A integration plan, is how well you plan the process of the integration itself.

So, in today's episode, you'll discover our proven "Integration Pacesetter" technique, how you truly keep your budget in control, and how to set your business up to grow after your M&A integration succeeds.

Listen now!

Show highlights include:

• 3 common business-crippling M&A mistakes after you land the perfect deal (2:46)
• The barrier of entry for M&A success most agribusinesses fail to reach (4:19)
• (7:53)
• The "Operating Model" checklist to limit potential losses during an integration (10:00)
• How merging SMBs chase away their most loyal customers (and how to avoid that) (11:29)
• The quick start guide to reverse engineer your M&A integration process (even if it's your first time) (15:05)

For more about Joe Mosher, go here:

https://moshercg.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joemosher/

What is the goal of your business?

The obvious answer for a business leader is profit.

And you achieve profit by growing your business.

But this is where things get tricky if your business outgrows you.

Why?

Because every business confronts you with the Federal Reserve's dual-mandate.

The Fed wants the economy to grow, but growth mustn't outpace the productivity behind it.

And while competition pushes your business to fast growth. The true winner aligns growth with productivity.

M&A integration is the fastlane to grow your agribusiness.

But what makes or breaks your agribusiness is sustainable growth.

And in today's episode, you'll discover why every sustainable business is like the Federal Reserve, how to align the growth of your business with its productivity, and the signs which tell you an M&A integration will overwhelm you or not.

Listen now!

Show highlights include:

• Why the best business leaders act like the Federal Reserve (and how you can too) (00:40)
• The "Apple" imperatives which keep your business at the top of the pyramid (2:37)
• Three common ways growing your agribusiness can make it fragile (5:51)
• The "Big Bets" method to scale (and prevent neglecting) your core business (10:32)
• Follow this checklist to keep the right balance between growing and protecting your business (15:35)

For more about Joe Mosher, go here: https://moshercg.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/joemosher/

A CEO is like a general.

If you acquire a company, you also take responsibility for a legion of new employees.

And if you don't gain the loyalty of your followers, like a bad general, your M&A will fail.

In fact, this is one of the most underrated risks for an M&A integration.

In the eyes of the people, you're someone who changed a comfortable status quo.

And the longer your employees are wary of you, the less likely your plan succeeds.

Fortunately, there are 4 ways you can convince them to trust you, so everyone can reap the rewards sooner rather than later.

In today's episode, you'll discover how your presence alone can boost the confidence of your entire personnel, the steps to avoid confusing your new employees into inaction, and how to build trust with your team even though you don't know the answer to every question.

Listen now!

Show highlights include:

• The "Proxy" trap that dooms every acquisition from the get-go (even if you fulfill every part of your checklist) (3:10)
• How to win over a legion of suspicious employees from day one (4:58)
• How the best CEOs use tough questions from their personnel to their advantage (9:51)
• Why integrity makes you stand out from the crowd of bad leaders (and kickstarts M&A success) (16:49)

For more about Joe Mosher, go here: https://moshercg.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/joemosher/

With expected farm income taking a nosedive, and the highest borrowing costs in over a decade, agriculture seems to be on the ropes.

By this logic, we could expect less mergers and acquisitions in the industry, but reality seems far different. Seasoned investors are seizing the opportunity to get ahead of their hesitant competitors.

Why?

They understand the current risks and - more importantly - the long-term chances in agribusiness. They know how they can use the demographic shift in the industry to their advantage, and which segments in the market offer the biggest potential.

Since you have a lot to lose if it fails, it's easy to forget that an M&A integration can skyrocket your business like nothing else does.

So, in today's episode, you'll discover the 7 ways an M&A integration makes you overtake your competition, the current developments in the industry to know which companies to acquire, and the most lucrative markets with problems only agriculture can solve.

Listen now!

Show highlights include:

• 7 unfair advantages you get the instant you acquire a business (without sacrificing your time on menial tasks) (0:24)
• The "Chicken Little" trap that makes every M&A fail (and sends your business to its doom) (1:36)
• How experienced investors seize the opportunities of the current down market (while everyone else fears for the future of the industry) (4:57)
• Why now is a historic opportunity with agribusinesses desperate for a takeover (and the type of company you can consolidate and scale best) (7:36)
• Why the low growth potential in agriculture is a myth (and the most profitable markets to tap into) (12:05)

For more about Joe Mosher, go here:

https://moshercg.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joemosher/

The success of your M&A integration hinges on your communication with all parties involved. Yet despite having best practices, communication templates, and literature on successful communications, we tend to fall short, especially when it comes to the folks whose stability gets upended by an M&A.

I've recently experienced something like this when a blizzard delayed my flight home by 48 hours. At first, the airlines gave me a masterclass in communication, until, well, they ran out of solutions, and I had to book my flights home myself.

The same exact thing happens when you interrupt your stakeholders' stability in an M&A. And in this episode, I reveal how to communicate effectively with every party involved (even when you don't have the solution).

Want to improve your communication, so your M&A succeeds instead of being a massive failure?

Listen now!

Show Highlights Include:

• Why the success of your M&A integration hinges on communication (and how to communicate more effectively for all parties involved) (1:27)
• How relying on communication templates, best practices, and stakeholder's analysis can't replace effective communication (and may sabotage your deal) (3:17)
• The "Delayed Flight" communication secret for keeping even the most disgruntled members in an M&A satisfied (4:37)
• Why apologizing to affected members of an M&A won't give anyone comfort (and how the "AGPR" method does) (10:03)
• How an unanticipated concern in an M&A gives you a chance to build confidence for everyone involved (even if you don't have the solution yet) (12:35)
• WHy providing differing options as solutions shifts the burden from you onto your stakeholders (and why making a decision creates the best-case scenario for them) (15:21)
• The 3 underlying principles your M&A must have or else you risk undermining the success of your deal (21:53)

For more about Joe Mosher, go here:

https://moshercg.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joemosher/

The average M&A transaction has TEN THOUSAND individual, unique, and crucial decisions to make. Some of these include:

• How long is this going to take?
• How do we avoid making stupid decisions?
• How do we avoid wasting our time and/or money?

And these are only 3 of 10,000 decisions you have to make. That's only 0.03% of the decisions you need to make!

Undertaking an M&A without knowing the answers to these questions BEFORE you start is why most acquirers feel underwhelmed by their deal.

So, how can you increase the chances of a successful M&A?

We answer that in today's episode, where we cover M&A "IRR." This will help you develop a concrete view on exactly when you're ready to undertake an M&A integration.

We also "debunk" one of the greatest industry myths: that 70 to 90% of M&A transactions fail. Is this really true? I reveal the answer in today's episode.

Listen now!

Show Highlights Include:

• Not sure if you're ready to undertake your M&A? Use the M&A Integration Readiness Roadmap to be confident and clear when making your decision (3:28)
• Why the sacred cow statistic, "70 to 90% of M&A transactions fail", may actually be M&A consultants trying to pump you full of fear (6:24)
• The spectrum which shows how most M&A integrations underwhelm the acquirers and participants involved (7:30)
• How to find the areas of weakness that produce friction, stress, or turbulence in your integration with the M&A IRR (12:25)
• The 12 "Integration Success Levers" to develop a predictive view on your readiness for M&A integration (16:46)
• Want to develop your own M&A "IRR?" Here's 2 issues which gives you the false sense of making progress (when you're actually procrastinating) (17:31)
• How to spy on your competitors and understand exactly where they stand in terms of M&A integration readiness (18:18)

For more about Joe Mosher, go here:

https://moshercg.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joemosher/