The first men walked on the moon? Reagan was shot? Kobe Bryant’s helicopter crashed?
I remember many significant events in my lifetime, and I can usually tell you exactly where I was when I heard the news.
I was in the offices of a major insurance company in San Francisco, staring out the window over the city, listening to an emergency PeopleSoft All Hands call. I remember both Dave Duffield and Phil Wilmington explaining that it was official: PeopleSoft had been acquired by Oracle.
After more than a year of fighting off the takeover, Oracle made the shareholders an offer the Board could not refuse. $26.50 a share. $10.3 billion.
There were 11,000 of us. Shortly after the acquisition closed in January 2005, Oracle eliminated approximately 5,000 positions, many of them PeopleSoft team members. I wasn’t part of that first wave. In fact, I stayed with Oracle for another five years.
Looking back, the acquisition taught me a lot about change, leadership, culture, and the people who make a business successful. Here are some of the lessons I took away.
1. The enemy isn’t always who you think they are.
Long before the acquisition, we viewed Oracle as the “evil empire.” They were our competitors in the ERP market, and we firmly believed we had superior products and a better company.
When we got into the integration activities and began working with our peers in Oracle Services, we met talented, welcoming people who were genuinely interested in our business. Not everyone, to be honest, but many.
We shared our Services model: Sell-Deliver-Staff. The Oracle Services team saw the value in our model, and we worked collaboratively to shift the organization toward that approach.
It was a good reminder that what may happen at the leadership level doesn’t necessarily reflect the people you’ll be working alongside every day.
2. Integration takes patience, and sometimes a change in mindset.
Getting on the same page around resource tracking, margin calculations, and other foundational Services concepts wasn’t easy. We had different systems, processes, and ways of thinking about running the business.
It took patience, engaging the right people, and helping PeopleSoft team members understand that some things would need to change.
Not everything could or should stay the way it had been.
3. People leave, and that’s okay.
Many PeopleSoft employees felt they simply couldn’t work for Oracle, specifically for Larry Ellison. Some left shortly after the acquisition.
PeopleSoft had a healthy partner community, and Services professionals were in demand. There were opportunities elsewhere.
This is common in acquisitions. People leave for different reasons. They may not want to make the shift, may feel working for the acquiring company compromises their pride or integrity, or simply see a better opportunity.
They’re not forsaking their peers or the company they helped build. They’ve made a personal decision about what’s right for them.
4. People stay, too. And they need leadership.
Others stay, sometimes feeling a little conflicted about the decision.
This is where leadership really matters. You have people looking to you for guidance and an example. They want to know they’ll be okay if they stay. They want to believe they still have careers that can develop and that they can succeed in this new environment.
Deciding to stay isn’t admitting defeat.
I think of it like a field change at halftime. You’re still playing the game, but now you’re heading toward a different goalpost. You can absolutely do it, but you have to decide you want to be part of the team and score in the right direction.
As leaders, our job is to help people see that possibility.
5. Be open to learning a different way of doing business.
Companies have processes that are similar, and others that are wildly different.
If you’re going to thrive in a new environment, you have to be willing to learn. Sometimes that means asking, “Why is this how it’s done?” when a process seems cumbersome, duplicative, or just plain dumb.
It takes courage to question the status quo, particularly when you’re the one who just joined the organization.
You also have to pick your battles. Not every hill is worth climbing. Understand what matters, where you can influence change, and where it’s better to adapt.
From being acquired to leading an acquisition
In January 2006, Oracle acquired Siebel. By then, I had a different perspective on acquisitions, and I was asked to lead the integration of the Siebel Services team into Oracle.
My experience integrating PeopleSoft Services, along with an understanding of what the newly acquired team was going through, were key factors in selecting me for the role.
We had many of the same conversations with the Siebel team that we’d had with PeopleSoft. But this time, the path was clearer, and the process was much smoother.
I had learned a few additional lessons along the way:
- Provide clarity. What is the intended end state? Are the teams remaining separate or combining? What processes will be used? What does success look like, and how will we measure it? People need to understand where they’re going.
- Lead with empathy. This wasn’t new for me, but emphasized. It is a difficult time for the people being acquired. But don’t forget the acquiring team. They also have questions and concerns about their future. Change creates uncertainty on both sides.
- Don’t underestimate the power of experience. Having been through an acquisition myself gave me a perspective that I could bring to the team. I understood the questions, the emotions, and the challenges because I’d lived them.