Master Your Merger Podcast

Master Your Merger is the podcast where deal strategy and people strategy meet.Hosted by Klint Kendrick, this show explores how HR, corporate development, and private equity leaders unlock value by putting culture, leadership, and talent first.Through candid conversations and real-world case studies, you'll learn what truly drives M&A success — from the inside out.

Master Your Merger Podcast is a business podcast hosted by Klint Kendrick, with 21 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Klint Kendrick hosts Master Your Merger Podcast, a business show with 21 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

• 

  Episode #21

  Gwen Pope on Deal Thesis Drift, AI Limits, and the M&A Capability Cliff | Master Your Merger S2 Ep20

  Aug 21, 202650 minS2

  Most M&A failures aren't about overpaying. They happen after the deal closes, when the thesis drifts, sponsors move on, and nobody owns the outcome. That pattern has a name: the M&A Capability Cliff. And it's getting steeper. Gwen Pope is the CEO and co-founder of Tiger Team M&A, an M&A intelligence and advisory platform. She spent over 15 years building M&A functions at Google, Microsoft, and eBay before co-founding Tiger Team. Gwen and Klint co-authored research on the M&A Capability Cliff and are collaborating on an M&A Value Creation Hackathon series launching in 2026. In this episode: Why playbooks are necessary but insufficient, and what decision architecture looks like across a deal lifecycle when the thesis is under pressure Where revenue synergy assumptions break down in execution, including a war story from a multi-billion dollar deal closed on a back-of-napkin agreement Why general purpose AI falls short for M&A decisions on consistency, domain relevance, and traceability, and what purpose-built AI with "meaning before intelligence" actually does differently Where the M&A operating model is headed in five years, and why the gap between intentional acquirers and reactive ones is widening fast Listen on [platform] and subscribe to Master Your Merger for more practitioner-focused content on the people side of deals. Links: Tiger Team M&A: www.tigerteammna.com M&A Value Creation Hackathon: https://masteryourmerger.com/deal-hackathon-registration Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gwenpope/

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #20

  Guy Bartlett on What Actually Kills Deals and What to Do About It | Master Your Merger S2 Ep 20

  Jul 31, 202640 minS2

  Most deals that fall apart were not undone by the financials. They were undone by founders who never asked how much they needed, buyers who handed the process to their lawyers and stepped back, and teams left wondering whether they were going to keep their jobs. Guy Bartlett is the founder of Fidelis Advisory, a fractional M&A firm helping established business owners grow through acquisition, exit on their terms, and navigate complex company transitions. With nearly 30 years in business and over two decades of transaction experience, he has bought, built, advised on, and guided businesses across multiple sectors. He also brings 42 years of British Army Reserve service to the work, including commissioned service in the Royal Engineers and leadership training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. In this episode: Why founders consistently price their businesses against what a peer sold for rather than what they actually need, and how that single gap reshapes the entire deal What it means to read accounts like the story of a business rather than like an accountant, and what the balance sheet reveals that the P&L alone never will How comparing "what could go wrong" lists with the seller before involving lawyers changes the tone of every conversation that follows What the first 30 days after close are actually determining, and why the most important question to ask the team has nothing to do with strategy Links: Fidelis Advisory: https://fidelis-advisory.uk/ Guest YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@guybartlettofficial Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/guybartlettuk/

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #18

  Christina Haxton on Leadership Alignment After Close | Master Your Merger S2 Ep 18

  Jul 19, 202638 minS2

  When two leadership teams come together after a deal, the execution risk is not in the deal room. It is in the first moment those two groups have to make a real decision together, under pressure, with no shared rules for how they decide. Christina Haxton is the founder of the Center for Sustainable Strategies. Before moving into executive coaching, she spent years as a marriage and family therapist. That background shapes how she diagnoses what breaks down when two organizations combine. She works with CEOs and executive teams navigating growth, leadership transition, and organizational complexity, including PE-backed environments where strategy has to become execution without burning out the people doing the work. In this episode: Why leadership alignment fails as an execution problem, not a strategy problem, and what signals tell you a combined team is working in practice versus coexisting on paper The difference between an ownership culture and an accountability culture, and why that gap accelerates in an integration What the CEO must be doing and saying during a merger that no one else on the leadership team can do How closing the employee feedback loop after a deal rebuilds trust faster than any survey alone Listen on [platform] and subscribe to Master Your Merger for more practitioner-focused content on the people side of deals. Links: Center for Sustainable Strategies: www.centerforsustainablestrategies.com Email: christina@sustainable-leaders.com Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinahaxton/

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #17

  Mark Guidi on Building M&A Execution Discipline | Master Your Merger S2 Ep 17

  Jul 10, 202636 minS2

  Most M&A failures are not strategy failures. The deal thesis was sound, the target made sense, and the diligence cleared. What breaks is execution: culture assessed in one deck slide, integration leadership named too late, synergies built to win approval rather than reflect reality, and a leadership team that never settled who makes which decisions. Mark Guidi is Managing Director of Operations and Transformation and Global Head of M&A Integration at IQ-EQ. With more than 25 years leading complex operating environments across PE-backed and public companies, he has personally led more than 250 diligence engagements and is the architect of the PACE framework, a practical, execution-oriented model for M&A and organizational transformation. He is also the author of Transform: A Leader's Survival Manual to Driving Change in the Age of AI. WHAT LISTENERS WILL TAKE AWAY • Why M&A execution breaks down in the same three places across most deals, and what each one costs • How the PACE framework turns M&A from a one-off transaction into a repeatable business discipline • Why decision rights, not intent, are what determine whether leadership alignment holds through integration • Five concrete steps for building M&A as an organizational capability that compounds across deals Listen to Master Your Merger on Apple, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. LINKS Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markguidi/ Guest website: www.MarkGuidi.com Book: Transform: A Leader's Survival Manual to Driving Change in the Age of AI (available on Amazon) https://a.co/d/09Fi38Vs

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #16

  Cass Bailey on M&A Communications | Master Your Merger S2 Ep 16

  Jun 26, 202641 minS2

  Communication in M&A is often treated as something to finalize after the deal team has made the big decisions. That is a costly mistake. Employees, managers, clients, suppliers, and leaders all experience the transaction differently, and the way the message is planned, delivered, repeated, and reinforced can shape whether trust transfers or breaks down. In this episode of Master Your Merger , Klint Kendrick talks with Cass Bailey, founder and CEO of Slice Communications, about communication planning during acquisitions, integrations, and transition moments. Cass brings both advisor experience and firsthand experience as a business owner who sold her company, later bought it back, and has continued to grow through acquisition. In this conversation, you’ll hear: Why communication planning should start before close, not after the announcement How to identify communication and culture gaps before they create resistance Why middle managers need scripts, FAQs, role play, and time to process the news What to do when communication has already gone wrong and trust needs to be rebuilt Listen and subscribe to Master Your Merger for practical conversations on the people side of deal execution. Links: Cass Bailey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassandraorylbailey Slice Communications: https://slicecommunications.com/ Cass Bailey bio: https://slicecommunications.com/team/cassandra-bailey/

  ListenShow Notes

Recent guests on Master Your Merger Podcast. Study who booked and why before you pitch.

Based on semantic analysis of episode topics and host coverage, this show is a strong guest fit for executives in:

Industry fit is computed by PitchCentric using vector embeddings of the show's episode catalog.