The company needed to merge two large firms with different cultures into a single entity. The single entity was to reflect an entirely new structure, different from that of either of the two merged firms – different, in fact, from any conventional structure in the entire industry.

We worked on three levels:

• with the key executives to define goals of the integration, bridge differences, and make decisions about the future organization;
• with an expanded leadership team to understand the current situation and to explore alternatives on organization, roles, and responsibilities;
• with corporate leadership to ensure some consistency with general integration strategy.

The organization that we helped create is fully operational and achieved significant organizational as well as cultural shifts while still maintaining mutual respect among all personnel. The company also managed to sustain the efficient execution of daily operations during the merger.