In this article, David Gross shares eight key steps to setting up an effective transformation office. Setting up the Transformation Office is an important step towards ensuring successful and sustainable change management. The Transformation Office is a dedicated team within an organization that is responsible for leading and executing change initiatives. The primary goal of the Transformation Office is to help the company achieve its strategic goals by driving and coordinating changes that are necessary to support growth, innovation, and…

David Gross shares a concise article that explains the role of a chief restructuring officer and the benefits of hiring one.  As businesses navigate through their most challenging times, the need for efficient and effective crisis management and restructuring has become increasingly vital. The Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO) plays a critical role in leading a company through such times. This article summarizes the role of the CRO, the experience and expertise required to serve as the CRO, and the other…

David Gross shares an article designed to help improve the success of a merger and acquisition transaction. Trillions of dollars pour into mergers and acquisitions (M&A) annually as companies seek to increase market share, reduce costs, differentiate, diversify, refocus, and capture other sources of value. Unfortunately, M&A success is the exception, not the rule. A whopping 70 to 90 percent of transactions fail. This means, only 10 to 30 percent of transactions succeed. To put these terrible odds in perspective,…

David Gross shares an evergreen post and case study on WeWork’s accelerated IPO and how it contributed to business growth. The Startup Muse’s recent articles on WeWork Founder Adam Neumann and WeWork’s accelerated IPO got me thinking. In the WeWork story, are there indispensable reminders — i.e., reminders that apply regardless of industry, revenue, or stage of maturity — for all business leaders? I found five and cover three in this article, the first in a two-part series.  1) Business…

The odds of success with mergers and acquisitions are surprisingly low, but in this post, David Gross explains how to give M&A Transactions a larger chance of success. Trillions of dollars pour into mergers and acquisitions (M&A) annually as companies seek to increase market share, reduce costs, differentiate, diversify, refocus, and capture other sources of value. Unfortunately, M&A success is the exception, not the rule. A whopping 70 to 90 percent of transactions fail. This means, only 10 to 30…

  David Gross provides the first article in a series that illustrates the changes taking place in the US retail sector and what this means for consumers.  In this new series, “Irreversible Change in US Retail,” we explore the sweeping restructuring taking place in the retail industry. Most importantly, we explore the implications for consumers—a topic overshadowed by all of the talk about retailers, their suppliers, and their landlords. While this restructuring started prior to COVID’s arrival, COVID accelerated the…

  David Gross takes a look ahead at the looming concern about pension plans.    Author’s note: This article focuses on defined benefit pension plans in the private sector. To learn more about the pension challenges facing municipalities and states, check out this article by Mary Williams Walsh at The New York Times and the Federal Reserve’s analysis from December 2019.  Stock markets plummet by 20 to 30 percent. Long-term interest rates drop. Future economic growth and asset returns are…