We've Been Acquired

The company announcement was last week and this week has been a blur. You’re not only trying to keep all the balls in the air from your day job, but now you’re part of a new company and they’re welcoming you with webinars and in person meetings and training and information. All you want to do is get back to what you were doing last week, all of this stuff is so distracting!! This episode looks at prioritizing the new employee onboarding training for an acquisition or merger. Visit www.wevebeenacquired.com for more resources.

Why did I write the book, We've Been Acquired? I'll tell you the inspiration (and why I write under a pseudonym and have my friend voice these podcasts) in this episode.

When a merger or acquisition threatens your job, it doesn't just threaten your bank account. For a very specific group of people, it feels like an existential threat to their actual right to exist. I’m talking to the perfectionists. Visit www.wevebeenacquired.com for more resources.

In the corporate world, we use clinical terms like "synergy," "restructuring," and "redundancies." But what you are actually experiencing during a major acquisition is grief. The Grief Recovery Handbook teaches us that grief is the conflicting feeling caused by the end of, or change in, a familiar pattern of behavior. Visit www.wevebeenacquired.com for more resources.

It is one of the most agonizing, frustrating bait-and-switches in corporate life. You did everything right. You put in the extra hours, you hit your KPIs, and you had the explicit, verbal backing of your manager. You were told, "Next quarter, that new title and that raise are yours." You were practically at the finish line, ready to step into a new chapter of your career. And then, the acquisition announcement drops. Visit www.wevebeenacquired.com for more resources.

The severance agreement is signed, your corporate laptop is locked, and you are officially on the outside looking in. Naturally, your next stop is LinkedIn. You open the app, and your feed is flooded with those boilerplate "Open to Work" announcements. You know the ones: the green photo frame, the long paragraph thanking the company for an "incredible journey," and a tag list of fifty coworkers. Visit www.wevebeenacquired.com for more resources.

It’s a text message or a sudden morning announcement that makes your stomach drop: your manager—the person who hired you, mentored you, and shielded you from corporate politics—is leaving the company. Visit www.wevebeenacquired.com for more resources.

We need to talk about a very strange, deeply unsettling psychological twist that happens during a corporate acquisition. We’ve talked about survivor's guilt from the perspective of the person who kept their job. But what happens when you’re the one who got handed the cardboard box, ushered out the door, and given your severance package... and yet, you’re the one feeling guilty? Visit www.wevebeenacquired.com for more resources.

The calendar invite for the emergency morning meeting vanished, the Slack icons for half your team suddenly went grey, and the text messages started pouring in. The axe finally swung. But as the dust settles on a brutal round of corporate restructuring, you realize something jarring: you are still here. Visit www.wevebeenacquired.com for more resources.

In our last look at Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, we talked about how a corporate merger instantly drops you down the psychological pyramid. Today, we need to talk about the worst-case scenario: what happens when the company actively strips away the bottom two tiers entirely? Visit www.wevebeenacquired.com for more resources.

When an acquisition happens, the office rumor mill goes into overdrive. Fear takes the wheel. Today, we are leaning on ancient Toltec wisdom to keep our sanity intact through The Four Agreements. Visit www.wevebeenacquired.com for more resources.

Have you ever wondered why an unexpected corporate merger can make you feel so entirely unhinged? Why is it that normally calm, hyper-rational professionals suddenly find themselves unable to focus, losing sleep, or feeling deeply resentful over seemingly minor changes to their routine? To understand this emotional tailspin, we have to look at a classic psychological framework: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Visit www.wevebeenacquired.com for more resources.

During a merger or acquisition, it is incredibly easy to view our managers as the villains, the gatekeepers, or at the very least, all-knowing corporate robots who hold all the answers. We constantly look to them for stability, direction, and updates on our job security. But here is a reality check: your manager is going through the exact same transition you are. Visit www.wevebeenacquired.com for more resources.

Today we’re talking about Stay Interviews. In some companies, stay interviews are mandatory at certain intervals, in others they offer stay interview resources but don’t have specific requirements, and in others, nobody has ever uttered the words “stay interview.” A stay interview is a separate one-on-one call with your direct report that is focused on their needs and satisfaction, not their performance. Visit www.wevebeenacquired.com for more resources.

During an M&A transition, the workplace dynamic quickly morphs into an absolute pressure cooker. Your slack notifications are buzzing at 9:00 PM, managers are making frantic, last-minute requests, and the unwritten expectation seems to be that everyone should work 60-hour weeks just to prove they deserve to keep their jobs. Visit www.wevebeenacquired.com for more resources.

The first week of an acquisition is an emotional rollercoaster. You’re dealing with frustrating town halls, anxious peers, and a complete lack of concrete answers from management. In moments like this, a voice inside your head might start whispering—or screaming—"Just quit! Open up LinkedIn, message a recruiter, and walk away before they can push you out!" Visit www.wevebeenacquired.com for more resources.

I love books because they give you different perspectives on things. Today’s book is Plunder: Private Equity’s Plan to Pillage America by Brendan Ballou. If you've been acquired by a private equity firm, this is a must read so you understand how things work to lessen the personal attacks you feel as your company is being acquired by private equity. Visit www.wevebeenacquired.com for more resources.

When your company gets acquired, you don’t just carry that stress in your laptop bag—you bring it right through your front door. It sits at the dinner table, and it keeps you awake at night. One of the hardest parts of corporate disruption isn't managing your boss; it's managing the conversation with the people who depend on you. This episode will give you tips on what to say to your family and friends and how to separate your work life from home life. Visit www.wevebeenacquired.com for more resources.

Fear comes from the unknown. If you want to demystify the entity that just bought your employer, you need to step outside your internal corporate bubble and do some external intelligence gathering. It’s time to research the acquirer. This episode will give you tips on what to look for. Visit www.wevebeenacquired.com for more resources.

An acquisition creates an information vacuum. And because corporate leadership rarely fills that vacuum fast enough with concrete facts, human nature takes over. Rumors fill the void. This episode covers how to be a vault and not a megaphone, focusing on the facts, not rumors. Visit www.wevebeenacquired.com for more resources.

Asking questions in front of your peers and managers can be nervewracking, but I guarantee you aren’t the only one with the question. Some people show up to town halls or open office hours not to ask questions themselves, but to see what questions other people are going to ask. That may be from a “what are other people thinking that I should be thinking” perspective, or it could be purely for entertainment to see if someone is going to ask the burning question that EVERY employee is thinking. This episode covers 27 questions that might be appropriate to ask at the town hall.

When you want to get information or an answer to something, it can be uncomfortable to ask. Your burning question may only apply to your situation (or you may think it only applies to you) and it may not be appropriate for the visible Q&A in the companywide town hall. Your supervisor can be a great resource for your burning questions. This episode gives you 23 questions that might be applicable to you. Visit www.wevebeenacquired.com for more resources.

The mandatory company-wide Town Hall is M&A theater at its finest. You’ll sit through shiny slide decks, enthusiastic speeches from executives you've never met, and repeated assurances that "nothing is changing" and that this is a "win-win partnership for growth." This episode goes through what to do. Your job during the Town Hall isn't to blindly buy into the hype, nor is it to roll your eyes openly on camera. Your job is to listen for what isn't being said. Visit www.wevebeenacquired.com for more resources.

Yesterday was the big announcement, and today reality is starting to sink in. The initial shock has evolved into a heavy, lingering sense of panic. You might feel a knot in your stomach when you log into Slack, or you find yourself staring blankly at your monitor, unable to focus on a single task. This episode touches on focusing on what you can control and what you can't. Visit www.wevebeenacquired.com for more resources.

The Day One announcement has happened. Maybe you got an ominous, last-minute calendar invite for an all-hands meeting, or maybe you opened your email this morning to a press release full of corporate buzzwords. Your company has been acquired. Don’t do anything impulsive. This episode will give you some tips on what you can do to stay calm focus on what you can control. Visit www.wevebeenacquired.com for more resources.

Welcome to the We've Been Acquired podcast, the show dedicated to helping you navigate the turbulent waters of workplace changes, mergers, and acquisitions. I'm your host, and today we’re looking at our new corporate reality through the lens of *The Reality of M&As for Everyday Employees*.Every single year, thousands of corporate deals close right here in the United States. In the first quarter of 2026, there were more than 3,000 mergers and acquisitions. Behind every spreadsheet, press release, and executive handshake are tens of thousands of everyday employees left wondering what comes next. The M&A industry is heavily geared toward supporting business owners, maximizing C-suite payouts, and pleasing corporate boards. But what about the folks actually executing the work?When change hits an organization, it is rarely neutral. It impacts every facet of your professional existence:Your Day-to-Day Stability: Shifts in who you report to and what tools you use.Your Compensation Frameworks: Changes to base salary potential, commissions, and underlying benefits packages.Your Psychological Grounding: Moving from a tightly knit, entrepreneurial workspace to a massive, process-driven ecosystem.Change doesn't automatically mean disaster—it can open doors to unprecedented growth, new roles, and broader resources. The challenge isn't the change itself; it's the lack of guidance for the workforce left in its wake. If you feel disoriented, anxious, or like you've been blindsided, realize that you are experiencing a standard, highly structural business lifecycle. Your path forward depends entirely on your ability to separate your personal value from corporate maneuvering.For more resources to help you through this transition, visit www.wevebeenacquired.com. And as we close out today's episode, let's repeat the We've Been Acquired mantra:I cannot control what my employer doesI can only control my reaction and actionsNo matter how idiotic the decisions they makeI’m going to do my jobI will do my best

It's the We've Been Acquired Mantra. Save this episode to be able to play it whenever you need it. Sometimes you need to step out of the office, take some deep breaths, and center yourself before you can go back into the office and be productive. Use it whenever you need to take a breath during a quick break. Go to www.wevebeenacquired.com for more resources.