by admincf | Aug 20, 2026 | Current PMIspective, Event, PMIspective
Even the strongest CEO from due diligence isn't safe from this one. If anything, the very autonomy that served him for a decade is why the first year of the investment gets bumpy.
Before closing, a fund examines everything that can be examined: competence, track record, crisis management. All of it sits in the past. How a CEO responds to a private equity fund's beat can't be tested that way, because he has never lived inside it. Reporting frequency, decision speed, how and where a piece of bad news is expected to land: to the people inside the fund, all of this is so self-evident that they never spell it out. You don't, after all, explain something you take for a law of nature.
That's exactly where the mismatch begins. A capable CEO, a sound plan, two different beats, and between them they stall the first year of the investment case. Which happens to be the very stretch where the course is set.
The good news: this mismatch isn't fate. It disappears the moment a fund puts its own beat into words instead of silently assuming it. In this edition of PMIspective, we show why fit and rhythm are two different things, why the gap sits structurally on the buy side, and what has to be said on day one so a strong CEO never turns into a misunderstanding.
📆 September 9, 2026, 1:00–1:40 pm CET
🎙️ Host: Dr. Carsten Friedrichs, The Hardt Group
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by admincf | Jun 5, 2026 | Current PMIspective, Event, PMIspective
Press release: "Corporate group fully integrated following successful buy-and-build."
Reality: Four phone systems, three ERP systems, two business card designs. And one CEO who's running on fumes.
The CEO built his company from scratch. Now he's supposed to combine it with four others. Without instructions. That's a completely different job.
Leading and integrating are two different things. Anyone who believes one person can simply do both will pay the price: a flat-pack that looks like a corporate group on paper, but in practice consists of grumpy concrete blocks.
In this PMIspective session, we'll have a closer look at the moment when the buy is done and the build isn't quite getting off the ground. When does a transformation manager need to step in alongside the CEO? What does he actually do? And how do you recognise that moment while the numbers still look good?
With insights, practical tips and real stories from PMI professionals.
📆 15 July 2026, 1:00–1:40 pm CET
🎙️ Host: Dr. Carsten Friedrichs, The Hardt Group
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No worries – the next PMIspective is scheduled for September 9. Save the date!
About PMIspective
by admincf | Apr 22, 2026 | Current PMIspective, Event, PMIspective
A traditionally run company acquires a fully remote target. No shared office, no door to knock on, no casual chats by the coffee machine.
Staff are spread across the globe, Slack ist he new conference room, and asynchronous communication between Cairns and Castrop is the norm.
The integration plan kicks off. And the first challenge doesn’t come from the target.
It comes from within.
The buyer’s own workforce watches. Draws comparisons. And draws its own conclusions. What’s on their minds isn’t in any integration plan: What does this acquisition mean for how we work? Who decides? And when?
From this PMI perspective, you’ll take away:
✅ Why the buyer‘s own workforce is the hidden risk in fully remote acquisitions
✅ Which governance decision must be made before closing and why it rarely is
✅ How buyers hold on to the people they paid so much to acquire
Drawing on real M&A experience, straight talk over spin, and examples from integrations where the problem isn’t in the target’s Slack channel — it lives in the buyer’s own corridors.
📅 June 3, 2026
🕐 1:00 - 1:40 PM
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About PMIspective
by admincf | Mar 15, 2026 | Current PMIspective, Event, PMIspective
What happens to integration when the PMI budget falls victim to leverage pressure? It happens anyway. Just uncontrolled, unplanned, and in the end more expensive than any PMI investment would have been.
In this PMIspective, we look behind the budget decisions of debt-financed M&A processes and put forward a proposition: integration on a low flame is not half an integration. It’s a smart one.
Our panel of experts will discuss:
What needs to be thought through from the outset, even under budget pressure?
What can wait and how do you make sure it really does just wait?
And why is "low flame" a strategy and not a declaration of bankruptcy?
With insights from M&A practice, plain speaking rather than whitewashing and examples of integrations that worked despite tight budgets. And some where the final bill was twice what it needed to be.
📆 April 22, 2026
🕐 1:00 - 1:40 PM
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About PMIspective
by admincf | Feb 13, 2026 | Current PMIspective, Event, PMIspective
Mergers are like marriages between strangers.
The strategic logic is sound. The synergies have been calculated. The presentation is convincing.
So you say „I do“.
But you've never worked together on day-to-day operations.
⚡ And then it becomes apparent:
Structures clash. Cultures collide. Integration takes more energy than planned.
Our experience:
❗ Many mergers would have been better off starting as strategic partnerships, or even remaining as such.
In this PMIspective, our panel of M&A experts will discuss the following:
❇️ When an alliance makes more sense than a merger
❇️ How cooperation serves as a reality check before committing
❇️ What questions need to be clarified before saying “I do”
Practical advice. Experience-based. Without merger romanticism.
📅 Wednesday, March 11, 2026
🕐 1:00 - 1:40 PM
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We look forward to your stories!
Can't make it this time?
No worries – the next PMIspective is scheduled for April 22. Save the date!
About PMIspective
