The Merger Mogul Read Free Page A

buy in the skills if we need
them.”
    “We should
probably look at our client list and the contacts we’ve got at our clients and
what we know about them since their merger,” offered Brian.
    “Good idea.
Claire, can you be the scribe? Who’s going to transcribe this and put it in
some sort of order?”
    “Harold!” 
Everyone else said.  They knew their strengths and weaknesses and that was
Harold’s strength. He nodded in agreement.
    After they’d
been at it for about two hours, Daniel said: “OK! We created an inventory of
our skills, listed our clients and the main contacts in their businesses and
now we need to find out which ones are having post merger issues by talking
with them, figure out what’s causing the issues and how we can help them and
ourselves at the same time. Have you got all that Claire?”
    “Yeah, in hieroglyphics.  Harold, I may have to
translate some of this stuff for you.  My arms are aching.  Is this a
good time for a coffee break, boss?”
    “Yes. 
There should be a coffee break set up just outside the door. Let’s come back
together in 20 minutes.”

 
 
    Two hours
later, Daniel let himself into his room. His body was still relaxed from the
massage but he was mentally exhausted.  They had identified some of the
issues that they thought could be the cause of post merger problems, but they
hadn’t been able to come up with possible strategies to fix them yet. In any
case, that would depend on what they found by talking to their clients. His
head was now aching again.  He had asked the front desk to call him in a
couple of hours so that he could get ready for dinner with the team, so he
kicked off his shoes, dropped across the king-size bed and was asleep in
minutes.
    The sound of
the telephone woke him.  He groped for the offending instrument and
dragged it to his ear, growling “Hello!”
    “Mr. Tennant
this is your wake-up call,” said a cheerful voice on the other end.
    “Thanks,” he
muttered and hung up.  He sat on the side of the bed, rubbed his hands
over his face, felt his day-old stubble and headed for the bathroom. 
Twenty minutes later, freshly shaved and feeling refreshed he was dressed and
heading downstairs to the restaurant where the group was meeting for dinner.

 
 
      “Here boss!” waved Ben from across the
room.  He looked refreshed, excited and full of youthful enthusiasm.
    Daniel made his
way to the table set for six, followed by several pairs of female eyes, and sat
down.
    “Hi, Ben.   You’re early.  Did you manage to grab
some sleep?”
    “Nah, I worked
out in the gym and then went for a swim.”
    “Oh, to have half of your energy! What did you think of the
retreat?” asked Daniel.
    “It was
great!  I really enjoyed the way everyone tossed out ideas and no idea was
considered too stupid, even my suggestions, though I’m the new kid on the
block. And I like the fact that we all bring different skills to the business
so that we have a good mix of possible services we can offer.”
    “That was my
thought when I started to expand the company. We just need to figure out how to
fix the problems in the merged companies and we’ll be smiling all the way to
the bank.”
    The rest of the
team joined them and they spent the next couple of hours enjoying a good meal
and talking about what they needed to do when they got back to the office the
following week.
    “I’ll get my
part done by Tuesday and e-mail it to everyone,” said Harold.
    “Thanks
Harold.  Then we can begin to set up meetings with our clients and see
what their issues are and what services we can offer them,” said Daniel.
“Brian, your idea to focus on our existing clients first makes good sense,
since we already have relationships with them and know their business. I’m glad
we have this balance in the team because my tendency is always to be looking
for newer and greener pastures rather than grazing old grass, excuse the bad
pun.”
    “Yeah, we
know,”