I navigated five separate mergers and acquisitions over the course of my career. With those transitions, I often found that the flagship products in which I had my expertise suddenly became background products or even faced a sunset plan, while the acquiring company’s flagship product got all the new attention.
I also saw two common responses to that phenomenon. One was helpful; the other was not.
The unhelpful response was to “armor up.” People from the acquired company would compare the two companies’ products and highlight the features of their own product that the acquiring company’s didn’t have. They would start formulating arguments why the product in which they held their expertise should be the one to survive the merger.
The helpful response was to learn as much as they could about the new parent company’s existing product and customer base. The expertise shown here was not in a product line and its features or customers, but in the ability to show curiosity and to learn.
Those who took the responsibility to understand the acquiring company, its values, its technology, its products and their strengths as well as their weaknesses tended to fare better than those who defended their existing expertise. The curious were generally the ones who were invited into discussions about integrations, cross-selling opportunities, and future feature design.
When you’re willing to admit what you don’t know and seek opportunities to learn from others, you can often elevate people’s opinion of you and your value far more than simply trying to demonstrate the value of your knowledge.
If you’re facing a transition in your workplace and you’d like help developing your own curiosity, let’s talk. Visit stevedwire.com/talk to start the conversation.
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