Post-Merger Integration: Building the Mindset, Skills, and Discipline Needed for Deal Success

David Fubini has advised leaders at companies including Merck, American Airlines, Raytheon, IBM, Rio Tinto and Keurig Dr Pepper on M&A, organizational turnarounds and the working relationship between CEOs and their boards.

That relationship is where much of his counsel begins. "CEOs don't always get the entire truth, and many feel constantly judged by their Boards," he says. "Both have a responsibility to build an effective, mutually beneficial partnership, and that starts with productive cooperation." His book Hidden Truths, with a foreword by GE Aerospace chairman and CEO Larry Culp, pulls back the curtain on the realities of a CEO's daily life. "The leadership skills managers learn as they climb the ladder of success toward the C-suite are of no value to the role of CEO," Fubini explains. "You have to learn a whole new set of skills, yet many candidates are unaware of this. That's why I wrote the book."