Lessons learned from mergers and acquisitions with Chad Anselmo, CEO of Corvia

What advice would you give to others when aligning cultures during an M&A?

You need to create an alignment of trust, and be open with the employees that will remain in the organization. If you communicate this early in the process, everyone can continue to get on with the work rather than worrying about updating their CVs.

What have been the most effective communication strategies when navigating the complex M&A puzzle?

We’ve always tried to keep a small group of people in the know and then it’s about letting everyone know with full transparency what their role is, what they are going to do, and how it impacts them.

How do you align your values during M&As?

You need to see if the values of the other organization are compatible with your own – and narrow them down to the most important ones. In our interviewing strategy, after we’ve done the usual skills and management interviews, we have a cultural interview – just to get to know the employees and what makes them tick.

What are your biggest challenges right now as CEO of Corvia?

After a period of hyper-growth, we’ve since come down to a normal growth level. This has been challenging to deal with, especially when our identity has become wrapped up in a hyper-growth environment.

It’s easy to get emotionally attached to assets, which might lead to overpaying on them – it’s important to trust your instincts on what you think is valuable. Understanding your limit allows you to be cognizant about which assets will help your business.

What have been the most effective personal methodologies you have used to grow and develop as a leader?

The most important one is to continually ask for feedback – which is hard when you get to the leadership role, as people assume you know what you’re doing! We also have a meeting once a year where we share our failures for the last year to help us work towards our common goal.

Is there a book, podcast, or movie that you could recommend that you’ve taken some long lasting learns from? 

‘How To Become A CEO’ by Jeffrey Fox which talks about how to identify the building blocks of what you need to become a CEO.