A CEO’s Perspective on Culture and Mergers

As CEO of Laird Norton Wealth Management (LNW), Kristen Bauer has led significant expansion, growing the firm’s assets to $16 billion through a merger. But unlike most CEOs, she didn’t start with financials.

Her approach? People before profits. Culture before synergies. Leadership at every level. Bauer believes employees are just as important—if not more important—than clients. That mindset has shaped how LNW approaches growth, leadership, and mergers.

While many mergers focus on quick integrations and financial synergies, Bauer took a co-creation approach, allowing both firms to shape their future together. This longer, people-first strategy led to greater retention, cultural alignment, and long-term success.

At the 2025 i4cp conference, Bauer shared

• Why most mergers fail—and how LNW avoids common pitfalls.
• How to unite corporate cultures in an acquisition without losing what made them great.

Bauer’s people-first approach to M&A reflects the principles of Culture Renovation, a framework developed by i4cp, which emphasizes preserving what works, evolving with purpose, and engaging employees in shaping the future.

Why most mergers fail–and how to avoid the pitfalls

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are often seen as a growth strategy, but the reality is most fail—estimates suggest that between 70-90% of mergers don’t deliver the expected value.

Bauer has seen firsthand why so many integrations fall apart, and she’s intentionally designed LNW’s approach to avoid these common pitfalls:

1. Culture misalignment

• Most companies assume they can impose one culture onto another.
• Employees from acquired firms struggle with identity loss and resist top-down changes.
• Bauer’s approach: co-creation instead of forced integration. She slows the process down, ensuring teams shape their shared future together.

2. Rushing the process

• Many companies focus on hitting financial synergies within 12-18 months.
• This forces quick decisions, leading to high turnover and lost institutional knowledge.
• Bauer’s model: A four-year integration timeline focused first on relationships, then processes, then financials.

3. Underestimating the emotional Side of M&A

• Leaders focus on balance sheets, but employees focus on belonging.
• Without intentional culture-building, employees experience “integration amnesia”—romanticizing their old company and blaming all challenges on the new one.
• Bauer’s solution: Community agreements and shared principles that help employees move forward together.

4. Failure to act on cultural detractors

• A common mistake? Keeping misaligned leaders too long.
• Some employees won’t embrace the new vision, but leaders hesitate to make tough calls.
• Bauer’s lesson: Remove cultural detractors quickly. Delaying only creates more resistance.

5. Assuming top talent will stick around

• Many companies fail to proactively retain key talent post-merger.
• Bauer’s team listens, observes, and identifies true culture carriers—sometimes they aren’t who you expect.
• Lesson learned: Listen to what people say but also watch what they do.

"People will fight to preserve what they’ve built. The only way to move forward is to give them ownership in shaping the future."

The co-creation model: uniting cultures, not just companies

Most mergers operate on a top-down integration model—one company absorbs the other, imposes its processes, and pushes for quick alignment. Bauer took a different path. Instead of forcing a rapid transition, LNW approached integration as a co-creation process, allowing both firms to shape their shared future together.

Why co-creation, not just integration?

• Traditional M&A focuses on control. The acquiring company dictates culture, policies, and structures.
• Co-creation focuses on collaboration. Employees from both firms actively participate in defining the new organization.
• This shift results in greater buy-in, stronger retention, and long-term cultural stability.

A deliberate, four-year process

Bauer resisted the one-year rush to realize financial synergies and instead extended the process over four years to ensure sustainable cultural alignment.

Year 1: Listen and learn

• Prioritized relationship-building before operational changes.
• Created forums for open discussion about values, concerns, and expectations.
• Key lesson: People need time to process change before they can embrace it.

Years 2-3: Functional collaboration

• Leaders from both firms worked side by side to develop the new operating model.
• Focused on building trust before making structural decisions.
• Key lesson: Employees must feel ownership in the process—not just compliance with decisions.

Year 4: Financial and structural synergies

• By this point, culture was already aligned, so efficiency gains felt natural, not forced.
• The result: A thriving firm with long-term employee commitment, not just short-term cost savings.

Culture is built through shared agreements, not mandates

A crucial piece of Bauer’s co-creation model was establishing community agreements—shared principles that guided how employees worked together.

• Instead of issuing top-down mandates, employees contributed to defining these agreements.
• These agreements created psychological safety, allowing employees to have challenging conversations with mutual respect.
• The impact: Employees from both legacy firms felt like contributors, not outsiders.

Want to lead mergers that actually succeed?

i4cp’s Mergers & Acquisitions Knowledge Center equips leaders with the strategies, tools, research, and case studies to drive successful, culture-first M&A.