Noise

Chapter 6A Misleading Leader

Jonas didn’t think he would fail so miserably. The career-defining moment when he would orchestrate an acquisition touted as a “merger of equals” seemed like a done deal.

“He read the crowd and all the key players wrong,” his former head of strategy, Paula, said, looking back on the year since the purchase. “Jonas felt so strongly that his communication and change management teams would get everyone onboard and working to integrate the two companies. He missed dozens of early warning signs.”

The deal had been years in the making, with a few key players making all the bold, behind-the-scenes moves. When all the financials were agreed to, they quickly raced to formulate a press release that would set the terms and create some buzz in the market. Like many deals like this, there was a lot of wishful thinking that people on both sides would embrace the “synergies” and follow their leadership teams forward.

“When the announcement was made, it was all hype, energy, and spin,” Paula lamented. “None of the people who had a stake in the event knew why the deal was made, and many worried that it wasn’t a blending of two companies at all but an acquisition that would crush one culture and never get teams working together.”

The damage from the overflow of information, and the subsequent noise created, undermined any chance of understanding and success.

Streaming Information

In the weeks and months after the announcement, the communication poured out systematically, ...