Resonance: Voices, insights, conversation
“When strategy points the way, culture tells you whether the team will follow …”. Here we bring together voices from owners, supervisory boards, private equity, executive boards and management – distilled into what really matters in deals: the situation, trust and the ability to connect.
Culture cannot simply be read from behaviour … – it reveals itself in the depth of how people think, understand and assess what is really at stake.
Oliver Borchmann
The executive board and supervisory board need a shared understanding of culture and of the topic’s priority in PMI. Without this alignment, culture remains an afterthought – even though it is the “enabler” or “blocker” of strategic objectives.
Dr. Andreas Häberli
Culture as a strategic factor
If the middle layers are not won over, the synergy spaces that were planned will collapse.
Interview, anonymous
Value realization
& integration logic
Buy-and-build only works if I consider the cultural architecture from the outset.
Interview, anonymous
People, Trust & Owners
perspective
It is about what the seller really wants – often it is not just money, but respect for what they have built and for the people behind it.
Interview, anonymous
This is an employee’s market – you cannot afford to have people leave simply because they do not feel taken along and their culture is being ignored. If anyone can communicate that credibly, it is someone like you.
Florian Welz
Interviews: What keeps coming up!
From the conversations: Why culture makes the difference
These insights do not come from a survey, but from confidential dialogues with people who carry responsibility: owners and supervisory boards, private equity (PE) and operating partners, executive boards and managing directors, CFOs and corporate development teams. Across industries and deal contexts, we spoke with professional friends, clients and referral contacts – not about programmes, but about lived practice: Where integration holds. Where it tips. And why culture often remains underrepresented in the M&A context, even though it visibly shapes outcomes.
We listened, asked follow-up questions and discussed contradictions. We wanted to know what decision-makers really need:
- a cultural situation report that reveals areas of fit and tension;
- Guardrails that secure the ability to connect;
- Guidance on how to retain trust among teams and customers.
No heroic posturing, no methodological fireworks – just distilled experience.
Five recurring themes emerged from these conversations – our “Big Five”. They are not dogma, but a compass: concentrated practical experience that provides direction without flattening complexity. A basis for decisions – and an invitation to think further.
Interviews: The “Big Five”
Five recurring themes emerged from these conversations – our “Big Five”. They are not dogma, but a compass: concentrated practical experience that provides direction without flattening complexity. A basis for decisions – and an invitation to think further.
Culture decides after closing
The strongest cultural effects emerge after closing. This is where it becomes clear whether strategic synergies take hold, whether people stay and whether leadership has an impact. Culture is not a soft factor – it operates beneath the surface, but with clearly measurable consequences for value creation, leadership and integration.
Example: “On paper, everything fit – but decisions were made in the middle layers.”
Situation report instead of a list of measures
Managing directors, entrepreneurs and PE do not need measures first and foremost – they need a clear picture of the situation in order to make decisions! Almost all interviewees stated this clearly: Cultural work must be relevant, objective and close to decision-making. No training, no change tool – but a precise picture of the cultural starting point that informs decisions and enables effective steering.
Example: One page with a cultural thesis, 3–5 red / yellow flags and initial guardrails.
Governance + Management: a shared perspective
Governance in the M&A context has an impact when it recognizes and prioritizes cultural dynamics. Supervisory bodies and shareholders do not want to manage culture operationally – but they do want to understand where tensions lie, trust is lacking or integration could fail. The clarity and priority given to culture thus become a strategic lever for steering and trust.
Example: One joint session clarifies understanding, roles, the communication line and “decision gates”.
Credibility beats rhetoric
Credibility builds trust – more consultant-speak does not. Acceptance of the topic depends heavily on the sender’s credibility. Experience, clarity and an entrepreneurial perspective are what people expect. Avoiding “esoteric” terminology and taking a clear position on the topic make the difference.
Example: A navigator with experience, clarity and an entrepreneurial perspective.
Culture navigates the success factors
It can accelerate or slow down Time-to-Value, the retention of key people and customer trust. The key is to decide early what will be integrated, what will be preserved – and in what order. And: It is not about “making everything the same”, but about understanding cultural areas of tension. The idea of a situation report supplemented by a Culture Risk Index was confirmed repeatedly.
Example: A navigation map with dos / don’ts, sequencing and possible tipping points.
Can culture be quantified?
What does it cost when the business case is right – but the integration is not?
We wanted to know whether culture’s influence on economic success can be presented in a comprehensible way. That is why we combine experience from transactions and integrations with insights from 16 conversations with entrepreneurs and top managers.
The result is a model business-case calculation showing how cultural dynamics can determine whether the stakeholders’ values create new value – or whether the business case starts to erode.
Conversation in a dream: Peter Drucker meets Christoph Strömer
One night, one library … I meet Peter Drucker in a dream. We talk about how leadership gains direction in demanding integrations and why culture is the medium through which decisions can take hold at all. My present meets a brilliant mind of clarity.
… Peter Drucker (slowly nods): “Culture eats strategy for breakfast” – people keep attributing that to me. I never said it. I believe instead: Culture determines whether strategy even gets digested. Culture determines whether people are willing to embrace something new at all ...
Find out here how the dreamlike dialogue between Peter and Christoph continues:
Note: Fiction; inspired by interviews & practice. No connection to estates / foundations.
Insights at a glance
- Situation report instead of change initiatives: A compact picture of fit, risks / opportunities and the route ahead – ready to connect with PMI teams.
- Resonance before scorecards: Mental models & clear guardrails make decisions sustainable; numbers where they have an impact.
- Secure value realization: Culture acts as an accelerator or brake on synergies, retention and time to impact (Time-to-Value).
- Optional risk perspective: Identify cultural risk situations (optional: Culture-Risk-Index) – without a methodological fireworks display.