Comments

I thought you'd be interested in knowing that when my son and I read the Wall Street Journal on the problems with the Sprint Nextel merger we both said in unison, Tom Peters was sure right about that. We both enjoy your blog.

Posted by John O'Connell at October 12, 2006 3:01 PM

Thanks, John. If it's so obvious to me, why isn't it to these so called worldbeating CEOs?

Posted by tom peters at October 12, 2006 3:41 PM

Dear Tom:

Hard doesn't mean it is bad.

There is one saying here in Mexico, maybe in the USA is the same:

"To tell the truth is not a sin, but is very uncomfortable to the people you say it."

Best regards

Juan Miguel

Posted by Juan Miguel Robles Vargas at October 12, 2006 6:36 PM

Companies think big mergers are about money. Wrong. If there is any hope for a merger to be successful it has to be focused on the people. It's like putting two families together. I have yet to see two people remarry and then decide which kids to kill so the new family will be more efficient. If they did, can you imagine the confidence and trust the remaining kids would have in their new parents?

Big finance and money cannot cross human nature.

Posted by Phil Clark at October 13, 2006 9:13 AM

My take on mergers - "The bigger the merger the lesser the value created"…this can be mathematically explained as “the value created in a merger is INVERSELY PROPOTIONAL to the size of the merger”, which ALSO means that small mergers could create (and have created in the past) greater value than originally envisaged.

Reason: The most important thing in a merger (be it big or small) is "the merging of minds, morals, beliefs, attitudes, cultures, values, ideas, goals, vision...rather than market size, market share, sales growth, potential customers, bottom-line, EVA et al”

If the merged entity focuses on the soft side, the hard side is automatically taken care of – to quote Tom – “Soft is Hard”

Posted by K.Sriram at October 14, 2006 12:58 AM