Working through a merger or an acquisition can be very exhausting, time consuming, and complicated. There are thousands, probably millions of books about the right way to do an M&A. The reality is that those books offer good things to think about and good guidelines, but they’re not exhaustive. They’ll talk about financial systems and process, benefits, compensation, culture, technology, marketing, sales and many other areas. All of the things are easily quantifiable.

The don’t cover one thing: being human.

The dictionary defines humanity as “compassionate, sympathetic, or generous behavior or disposition”. You can make the best food, craft the finest clothes, crank out the best code, and put on the most heartfelt play. The common thread in all of those things are the people that perform those tasks and the people that are part of your organization are the most important asset to your company. Business owners think that without clients they wouldn’t need their employees, so clients come first. That’s true to an extent. They should also keep in mind that without your employees, they wouldn’t have their clients. If you don’t do the proper due diligence to ensure that your newly "purchased" employees don’t suffer, you’re just going to end up standing on the deck of a very expensive ship with no crew and, eventually, no passengers. Often times, employees look up to ownership as parental figures and aspire to be as successful in their future. Pre-acquisition leadership is often a beacon of light for younger staffers. It is important to lead by example and to show them how family deserves to be treated. It may make more of an impact that you think.

“Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of your clients.” - Richard Branson