Master Your Merger Podcast

Klint Kendrick

Master Your Merger is the podcast where deal strategy and people strategy meet.Hosted by Klint Kendrick, this show explores how HR, corporate development, and private equity leaders unlock value by putting culture, leadership, and talent first.Through candid conversations and real-world case studies, you'll learn what truly drives M&A success — from the inside out.

  1. 2d ago

    Christina Haxton on Leadership Alignment After Close | Master Your Merger S2 Ep 18

    When two leadership teams come together after a deal, the execution risk is not in the deal room. It is in the first moment those two groups have to make a real decision together, under pressure, with no shared rules for how they decide. Christina Haxton is the founder of the Center for Sustainable Strategies. Before moving into executive coaching, she spent years as a marriage and family therapist. That background shapes how she diagnoses what breaks down when two organizations combine. She works with CEOs and executive teams navigating growth, leadership transition, and organizational complexity, including PE-backed environments where strategy has to become execution without burning out the people doing the work. In this episode: Why leadership alignment fails as an execution problem, not a strategy problem, and what signals tell you a combined team is working in practice versus coexisting on paperThe difference between an ownership culture and an accountability culture, and why that gap accelerates in an integrationWhat the CEO must be doing and saying during a merger that no one else on the leadership team can doHow closing the employee feedback loop after a deal rebuilds trust faster than any survey alone Listen on [platform] and subscribe to Master Your Merger for more practitioner-focused content on the people side of deals. Links: Center for Sustainable Strategies: www.centerforsustainablestrategies.com Email: christina@sustainable-leaders.com Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinahaxton/

    Christina Haxton on Leadership Alignment After Close | Master Your Merger S2 Ep 18

  2. Jul 10

    Mark Guidi on Building M&A Execution Discipline | Master Your Merger S2 Ep 17

    Most M&A failures are not strategy failures. The deal thesis was sound, the target made sense, and the diligence cleared. What breaks is execution: culture assessed in one deck slide, integration leadership named too late, synergies built to win approval rather than reflect reality, and a leadership team that never settled who makes which decisions. Mark Guidi is Managing Director of Operations and Transformation and Global Head of M&A Integration at IQ-EQ. With more than 25 years leading complex operating environments across PE-backed and public companies, he has personally led more than 250 diligence engagements and is the architect of the PACE framework, a practical, execution-oriented model for M&A and organizational transformation. He is also the author of Transform: A Leader's Survival Manual to Driving Change in the Age of AI. WHAT LISTENERS WILL TAKE AWAY •  Why M&A execution breaks down in the same three places across most deals, and what each one costs •  How the PACE framework turns M&A from a one-off transaction into a repeatable business discipline •  Why decision rights, not intent, are what determine whether leadership alignment holds through integration •  Five concrete steps for building M&A as an organizational capability that compounds across deals Listen to Master Your Merger on Apple, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. LINKS Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markguidi/  Guest website: www.MarkGuidi.com  Book: Transform: A Leader's Survival Manual to Driving Change in the Age of AI (available on Amazon)  https://a.co/d/09Fi38Vs

    Mark Guidi on Building M&A Execution Discipline | Master Your Merger S2 Ep 17

  3. Jun 26

    Cass Bailey on M&A Communications | Master Your Merger S2 Ep 16

    Communication in M&A is often treated as something to finalize after the deal team has made the big decisions. That is a costly mistake. Employees, managers, clients, suppliers, and leaders all experience the transaction differently, and the way the message is planned, delivered, repeated, and reinforced can shape whether trust transfers or breaks down. In this episode of Master Your Merger, Klint Kendrick talks with Cass Bailey, founder and CEO of Slice Communications, about communication planning during acquisitions, integrations, and transition moments. Cass brings both advisor experience and firsthand experience as a business owner who sold her company, later bought it back, and has continued to grow through acquisition. In this conversation, you’ll hear: Why communication planning should start before close, not after the announcementHow to identify communication and culture gaps before they create resistanceWhy middle managers need scripts, FAQs, role play, and time to process the newsWhat to do when communication has already gone wrong and trust needs to be rebuiltListen and subscribe to Master Your Merger for practical conversations on the people side of deal execution. Links: Cass Bailey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassandraorylbailey Slice Communications: https://slicecommunications.com/ Cass Bailey bio: https://slicecommunications.com/team/cassandra-bailey/

    Cass Bailey on M&A Communications | Master Your Merger S2 Ep 16

  4. Jun 12

    Margo Diewald on M&A Communications That Actually Moves Work | Master Your Merger S2 Ep 15

    When a deal is moving fast, “more communication” often creates less clarity. HR, IT, and Comms ship messages in parallel, employees get overwhelmed, and critical integration actions slip. This episode gets practical on what M&A communications looks like when the plan changes midstream and execution pressure is real. Klint is joined by Margo Diewald (name spelling needs final confirmation), Managing Director at Adeptation, who has led communications strategy and execution across 25+ deals and three IPOs, including divestitures, new entity standups, and tech-enabled transformation. What you’ll learn: How to treat communications as a lever for value creation, value protection, and time-to-valueWhy checklists and a comms hub reduce employee stress and drive actionHow to pace messaging using progressive specificity without boxing in delivery teamsWhat minimum viable comms setup looks like when budget and resources are thinListen now, and subscribe for more operator-grade lessons on integration and separation execution. Links Margo Diewald (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/margo-diewald-chiAdeptation (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/company/adeptationAdeptation (Website): https://sparkadeptation.com/Part 1: https://sparkadeptation.com/brand-narrative-integration-amplifying-value-creation-part-1/Part 2: https://sparkadeptation.com/brand-narrative-integration-amplifying-value-creation-part-2/Part 3: https://sparkadeptation.com/brand-narrative-integration-amplifying-value-creation-part-3/

    Margo Diewald on M&A Communications That Actually Moves Work | Master Your Merger S2 Ep 15

  5. May 29

    Cris Casey on Fixing M&A Execution Drag | Master Your Merger S2 Ep14

    Most integrations do not derail because leaders lack strategy. They derail because execution gets buried under miscommunication, unclear ownership, and self-inflicted complexity that multiplies over time. In this episode, Klint Kendrick talks with Cris Casey, an M&A execution and integration practitioner and the creator of the CRISP method, about what actually breaks post-close and how operators can reduce friction without adding bureaucracy. What you will take away: How “small” communication issues compound into missed decisions and stalled workstreamsWhy many integration plans look good but fail under real SME bandwidth and dependency constraintsThe integration basics to lock early: decision rights, escalation paths, and governance that does not create dragA practical view on TSAs: reduce administrative issues by agreeing operating mechanics before closeListen now, and follow or subscribe for more operator-grade M&A execution conversations. Website and Book Optimizing M&A Execution with CRISP™: Mitigating the Risk of Using Yesterday’s Playbooks in Today’s World (Cris Casey). (Amazon) CRISP™ Method — crispmethod.com (crispmethod.com) CrisCasey.com — criscasey.com (criscasey.com)

    Cris Casey on Fixing M&A Execution Drag | Master Your Merger S2 Ep14

  6. May 22

    Mariam Huss on Making Change Stick After M&A | Master Your Merger S2 Ep 13

    Most M&A integrations do not fail because the strategy is wrong. They fail because leaders underestimate what it takes for people to adopt new ways of working. A communication plan is not the same thing as change management, and moving fast can destroy trust faster than teams can rebuild it. In this episode, Klint Kendrick is joined by Mariam Huss, founder of Axxum Consulting, a human capital and change leader with global experience across major organizations and transformation work. In this conversation, you will learn: How to avoid “broadcast only” communication and build real listening loopsWhy trust and culture change take time, even when deal timelines do notHow role clarity (expectations, KPIs, RACI) reduces resistance and reversionHow to assess change capacity and prioritize when everything is changing at onceListen and subscribe to Master Your Merger wherever you get your podcasts. If you want to connect, here’s my LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariamhuss/ #MasterYourMerger #PeopleFirstMNA #IntegrationLeadership #CorporateDevelopment

    Mariam Huss on Making Change Stick After M&A | Master Your Merger S2 Ep 13

  7. May 15

    Simone Vascotto on Cultural Signals and Integration Debt | Master Your Merger S2 Ep 12

    Most deals do not drift off track because the values sound different. They drift because behaviors do not match, decision-making slows down, and uncertainty creates integration debt: duplicated work, stalled commitments, and quiet value leakage. In this episode, Klint talks with Simone Vascotto, founder of Humanaq, about reading culture through observable behaviors and using early signals to spot misalignment before it hits the surface. Listener takeaways: Why culture is best understood as behavior patterns, not slogansThe early signals of uncertainty that slow decisions and stall ownershipHow misalignment turns into integration debt through duplication and reworkWhat strong alignment looks like in priorities, decision rights, and collaborationResources: Humanaq: https://humanaq.com/ Simone Vascotto (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/simone-vascotto-7a2a81257/ Listen now, and follow or subscribe for more people-first, execution-focused integration lessons.

    Simone Vascotto on Cultural Signals and Integration Debt | Master Your Merger S2 Ep 12

  8. Apr 15

    Miles Overholt on Organizational DNA and Strategy-Execution Alignment | Master Your Merger S2 Ep 11

    Most integration plans fail in the same place: they assume the organization will behave rationally after close. But once you combine teams, reporting lines, and decision-making, the real operating patterns show up fast, and the deal thesis gets tested in the messy middle. In this episode, Klint Kendrick is joined by Miles Overholt, Founder and CEO of Strategia Analytics, who has spent decades working at the intersection of organizational change, strategy execution, and M&A. Miles shares how leaders can diagnose “organizational DNA” and make more intentional integration decisions when alignment, time, and certainty are in short supply. In this episode, you’ll learn: How deal teams confuse “what looks good on paper” with how companies actually operate post-closeThree diligence questions that uncover execution reality, not just intentWhy highly aligned companies can be harder to integrate, not easierWhat a more surgical integration approach looks like when you are trying to protect valueListen now, and follow Master Your Merger for more practical, people-first integration lessons Miles Overholt / Strategia Analytics: 🌐 Website: strategicanalytics.com ✉️ Email: moverholt@strategiaanalytics.com 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/milesoverholt/

    Miles Overholt on Organizational DNA and Strategy-Execution Alignment | Master Your Merger S2 Ep 11
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About

Master Your Merger is the podcast where deal strategy and people strategy meet.Hosted by Klint Kendrick, this show explores how HR, corporate development, and private equity leaders unlock value by putting culture, leadership, and talent first.Through candid conversations and real-world case studies, you'll learn what truly drives M&A success — from the inside out.

Information

  • Creator
    Klint Kendrick
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    19
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Klint Kendrick
  • Show Website
    Master Your Merger Podcast