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Articles by Don Scales
Author Post: Why The Chief People Officer Is Critical To A Merger & Acquisition
getty The active involvement of the chief people officer is crucial for a merger/acquisition to succeed. But too often companies don’t give the chief people officer sufficient voice when planning an M&A. It’s no wonder that most mergers fail. I have been in the professional services business for more than 30 years. I’ve been involved in more than 40 M&A deals on the buyer and seller sides.
Author Post: The Conversation That Must Happen For Your Merger To Succeed
Without values alignment, the success of any merger is at risk. getty If you are planning a merger this year, you have plenty of company. The global M&A market is heating up in 2021 after a blistering finish to 2020. Unfortunately, many mergers/acquisitions will fail. In my career, I’ve been involved in more than 40 M&A deals. So I’m going to let you in on a little secret: if you want your merger to succeed, you need to make sure your two CEOs have a conversation about your shared corporate values.
Five Imperatives For Agile CEOs In 2021
Don Scales is the Global CEO of Investis Digital and co-author of the book "How to Lead a Values-Based Professional Services Firm." getty Normally, this is a time when thought leaders predict what’s going to happen in the business world over the next 12 months. After the kind of year we just had, I’m not going to try to do that. But I do have some thoughts about how CEOs and their communications teams can succeed during a time of digital-first acceleration.
Council Post: How To Win The Long Game With A Merger/Acquisition
Don Scales is the Global CEO of Investis Digital and co-author of the book "How to Lead a Values-Based Professional Services Firm." Getty A merger/acquisition is a marathon, not a sprint. I’ve been involved in many mergers over the years. I’ve seen them flourish. I’ve seen them fail. One thing I’ve learned is that the real work with a merger begins after two businesses agree to do an M&A.
Make Or Break: How To Manage The Transition Period In A Merger Or Acquisition
Don Scales is the Global CEO of Investis Digital and co-author of the book "How to Lead a Values-Based Professional Services Firm." getty At some point in your career, you’ll probably be involved in a merger or acquisition. Perhaps you have already. If so, you’re participating in an important milestone in the growth trajectory of any company, but one that is often misunderstood.
How To Apply Corporate Values When You Plan For M&A
Don Scales is the Global CEO of Investis Digital and co-author of the book "How to Lead a Values-Based Professional Services Firm." getty In 2020, we've seen some industry leaders position themselves for long-term success by acquiring other companies. As the second half of 2020 got underway, businesses had launched eight deals of more than $10 billion in the six weeks, according to Refinitiv data. This activity is to be expected during a time of turmoil.
Unleash your brand ambassadors for online education
Online learning is exploding and everyone at colleges, universities and trade schools is adapting. Here’s how leveraging brand ambassadors and testimonials can be a key differentiator to finding success and can set academic programs apart. University of Florida Online's testimonials page highlights several graduates and their successes.
The No. 1 Reason Corporate Mergers Fail
Don Scales is the Global CEO of Investis Digital and co-author of the book "How to Lead a Values-Based Professional Services Firm." Getty The next time you find yourself involved in a merger or acquisition, keep a sobering statistic in mind: Almost all of them fail, according to the Harvard Business Review. And yours probably will too unless you do one thing really well: make sure your values are aligned.
There is no issue that cannot be solved…
Reviews Paul Robinson Solved! How other countries have cracked the world’s biggest problems and we can too By Andrew Wear (Black Inc) At a time when the doomsayers are having a field day and elected leaders appear reluctant to lead, Solved! reads like a much-needed ray of sunshine. This is no keyboard warrior polemic. Having worked as a public servant and as a public policy adviser for the OECD, Andrew Wear knows his stuff. His eureka moment occurred in a bookshop.
The Problem With Brand Purpose
Photo: Getty What is your brand purpose? This question is getting harder to answer during these difficult times. From what I've seen, the meaning of brand purpose is unclear to many chief marketing officers. They hear about a company like Patagonia defining its brand around saving our planet, and they wonder whether they should redefine their brand around a social or environmental cause. They ask how the global pandemic might affect their brand purpose over the long haul.
Five Rules For Rebranding
Photo: Getty “We need a new brand.” How often have you heard this refrain? Gone are the days when businesses chiseled their brands in stone and never deviated an iota. The world is moving too fast for companies to stay locked into an identity. I know. I have been involved in a few major rebrands throughout my career managing professional services firms. I understand the pain and effort required in a rebrand.
Council Post: Why Professional Services Firms Need Brand Foundations To Succeed
Eighteen years ago, the business world was rocked by the shocking collapse of Arthur Andersen & Company. Here was a firm that had become a bedrock of commerce since its founding in 1913. At its peak, Arthur Andersen employed 85,000 people and achieved $9.3 billion in revenue based on a reputation for providing auditing, tax and consulting services with utmost integrity. Then, seemingly overnight, a global powerhouse went kaput after being found guilty of crimes in the company’s auditing of Enron.
How To Effectively Tell Your Brand's Sustainability/ESG Story
Photo: Getty How well do you tell the story of your commitment to sustainability/ESG? This is the defining question for 2020 — not just for your business, but every business. Why Is Sustainability/ESG A Critical Issue? Sustainability/ESG is one of the defining issues of our time. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we have roughly 12 years to put global warming in check, or else we’ll face a catastrophic outcome.
It's Time For Investor Relations, Corporate Communications And Marketing To Come Together
For many years, marketing, corporate communications and investor relations have been loosely connected by a dotted line in many organizations.
Five Ways CEOs Can Take A More Personal Approach To Cybersecurity
Cyberthreats are one of the top concerns facing CEOs in 2019. But not enough CEOs are acting on those concerns. They’re relying on their IT departments to handle security, as they should, but CEOs need to take a more personal interest in security, too. ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER ADVERTISEMENT Some Telling Statistics Let me give you some context: One of the services we provide is managing clients’ websites on a secure cloud platform. Many of those clients are publicly traded firms.
Five Rules Of Millennial Recruitment And Retention
Millennials aren’t like everyone else. They’re the largest generation in the labor force -- 56 million strong, says Pew Research. They’re also most likely to hop from one job to the next -- three times more likely to change jobs than non-millennials, according to Gallup. To convince them to join your firm and stay there, you need to play by their rules.
Why Your Brand Is Only As Good As Your Narrative
Effective digital marketing isn’t about how active you are on social or how many followers, likes or tweets you have. Being findable on digital platforms is important, but findability doesn’t create lovability. Great brands build emotional connections with people by creating powerful digital narratives. When businesses create digital narratives, they go beyond simply being present on digital spaces.
Three Ways to Do Purpose-Driven Marketing Right
Purpose-driven marketing has quickly become one of the topics defining the conversation about branding in 2019. Businesses seem to be falling all over themselves to run marketing and advertising campaigns that rally around topics and causes. During Super Bowl LIII alone, advertisers shelled out $5 million each for 30-second spots that connected their brands to a higher purpose.
Why CEOs Must Own Corporate Brand Values
The world’s leading brands -- the companies that amass large market caps and appear on “most admired” lists each year -- do a lot of things right. They create products that consumers love, differentiate themselves and manage their operations well. They have something else in common, too: Their CEOs play an active role in defining and articulating their companies’ brand values or the attributes and principles a business believes in and stands for.
Solving The Great Brand Disconnect
It’s never been more important for businesses to clearly articulate their brand values or the attributes and principles the company believes in and stands for. And yet, businesses struggle to share their brand values in a sea of devices and channels. As a result, there is a disconnect between what brands believe and what they actually share with their stakeholders. And that’s a big problem.
Storytelling In The Age Of Fake News
We live in a world plagued by rampant untruths and public skepticism. The implications these have on every aspect of business and communications is monumental. As a communicator -- or as I prefer, storyteller -- in the industry for nearly three decades, I’ve never experienced such a challenging time and drastic shift in my role. In this age of fake news, brand reputations are more volatile than ever before.
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