Why the intangibles – organization strategy and people – define M&A success

Global M&A is set to accelerate in 2026, driven by ambitious growth strategies, AI-led investment opportunities, and significant pent-up private equity capital. Yet, too often in transaction processes, the so-called ‘intangibles’ are overlooked or addressed too late – exposing deals to material value-creation risks, write Maarten Altena and Erik Schmidt.

Despite decades of data, most organizations still treat deal intangibles – leadership alignment, talent, and culture – as Phase 2 concerns – to be addressed after the ink dries. However, that delay can come with a costly price tag down the line, when integration hits bottlenecks and challenges.

The key lessons for executives and leaders during M&A processes: treat intangibles as core design variables and result drivers for the deal.

Intangibles are the deal

When Microsoft acquired LinkedIn in 2016, the financial logic was clear – but Satya Nadella’s real insight was cultural. He recognized LinkedIn’s intangible assets: a culture of professional trust, user-centric innovation, and a leadership team that understood the future of work. Crucially, he let CEO Jeff Weiner keep the reins, preserving the autonomy that allowed LinkedIn to grow its member base from 433 million to over one billion.

The financial case was the entry ticket; the people strategy was the value driver.

T-Mobile’s 2020 merger with Sprint, executed in the middle of a global pandemic, reinforces the same point. CEO Mike Sievert leaned into the “Un-carrier” DNA – simplify, move fast, stay close to the customer. Instead of forcing one company to absorb the other, the integration centered on how teams would work together day to day: shared rituals, cross-company squads, and deliberate choices about what to keep, change, and stop.

In a deal executed under extreme uncertainty, attention to ways of working became a competitive advantage.

The evidence is unambiguous. McKinsey & Company reports that integrations actively managing culture are more than 40% more likely to meet cost-synergy targets and up to 70% more likely to hit revenue targets. Yet Korn Ferry research shows that only 36% of organizations bring HR expertise into due diligence – even though 77% say engagement metrics matter.

The gap between what leaders acknowledge and what they actually do remains wide, and the consequences are real.

Cultural misalignment is a strategic risk

Put a product-led, experimentation-heavy organization together with a quarterly-results machine built on tight control, and you will feel it immediately: slower decisions, confused priorities, and talent voting with its feet. Vodafone’s €18.4 billion acquisition of Liberty Global’s operations in Germany and Central and Eastern Europe illustrated exactly this dynamic.

The commercial logic was sound – scale, network investment, and competitive speed. But the execution challenge was human as much as technical: different decision-making norms, different customer promises, different legacy habits running deep. Complex integrations demand an explicit plan for how the combined organization will operate, and they need it before Day 1, not after.

McKinsey’s survey of deal leaders identifies cultural fit and friction among the top reasons integrations fail – cited by 44% of respondents. The prescription is not complicated, even if the execution is: conduct cultural due diligence before signing; define which norms are non-negotiable and which can flex; give cultural re-setting a formal place in the integration plan, led personally by the CEO; and embed the new ways of working consistently, without leaving a quiet path back to old habits.

Talent and Leadership: The first integration deliverables

Talent strategy is M&A’s most overlooked lever. Verizon’s $6.9 billion acquisition of TracFone in 2021 demonstrated a familiar tension: TracFone’s lean, customer-first habits did not automatically mesh with a larger, process-heavy operation. The lesson is not the organization chart – it is the discipline. Identify the pivotal roles that protect the deal thesis early. Give those people clarity. Make staying in the new organization feel like a step forward, not a compromise.

McKinsey notes that retention packages typically target fewer than 2% of employees, precisely because value is concentrated in a small set of pivotal roles. The work is identifying that group pre-close and backing it with real commitments – career pathways, role clarity, visible growth – not just financial handcuffs.

Leadership alignment is equally urgent. When AT&T closed its acquisition of Time Warner in 2018, telecom and media executives clashed over priorities and pace. CEO Randall Stephenson responded by establishing an integration council co-chaired by leaders from both businesses, with a unified decision-making charter. HBO Max launched on schedule, with over 4 million activations in its first month and 41 million US subscribers by year-end 2020.

The mechanism is worth replicating regardless of deal size: alignment at the top is the first integration deliverable, not a byproduct of good luck.

Six moves for human-centered integration

The deals that create durable value treat culture, leadership, and talent as first-order integration variables. In 2026 – when skills are scarce, teams are hybrid, and AI is reshaping roles faster than org charts can keep pace – execution speed depends less on systems migration and more on decision rights, leadership behavior, and an employee experience that keeps critical people committed and productive.

Six practical moves translate that insight into action:

1) Diagnose culture before signing. Use pulse checks, leadership interviews, and sentiment signals to understand where friction will surface in decisions and delivery.

2) Define your talent thesis pre-close. Be explicit about which capabilities and roles must be protected – and what it will take to keep and mobilize them.

3) Appoint a leadership integration council. Create a joint, co-owned forum that aligns decision rights, communication rhythm, and leadership behaviors from Day 1.

4) Design retention beyond compensation. Make staying attractive through role clarity, visible growth paths, and early wins.

5) Activate the culture plan on Day 1. Reinforce new ways of working through onboarding, team norms, and mechanisms that make the desired behavior easier than the old one.

6) Monitor, measure, adapt. Use real-time signals to spot drift early, course-correct quickly, and keep the integration narrative credible.

Conclusion

The imperative for 2026 is clear: treat the so-called intangibles – leadership, talent, culture, decision rights, incentives, and communications – as core design variables and result drivers for the deal. The most successful transformation leaders know that without a prioritized, rigorous plan for people and organization, and the muscle to deliver it, the value promised on the cover page will not materialize in the income statement.

About the authors: Maarten Altena is founder of Altena Consulting, advising leaders on cultural integration, leadership alignment, and people-centered change in post-merger environments. Erik Schmidt is founder of Erik Schmidt Consulting & Advisory, advising CEOs and investors on people strategy and large-scale transformation.