Summary
Acquisitions are messy unless you have a plan to keep culture, talent, and momentum intact. Kathleen Weslock, former CHRO at Ansys (now part of Synopsys), employment lawyer, and ex-Mercer consultant, shares the playbook her team used to navigate a multibillion-dollar deal with low turnover and high trust.
She explains how to run HR like a Swiss train during M&A, from 1,000+ employee listening sessions to identifying “critical roles” (including hidden gatekeepers) and deploying global equity to retain top engineers. Kathleen details the leadership development her team built for turbulent times resilience, change management, and DISC-informed coaching plus why HR must align every dollar to business outcomes and avoid “shiny AI” distractions.
She also calls out broken talent acquisition practices (ghosting, premature references) and how to fix candidate experience fast, then makes the case for people analytics and labor economics as core CHRO skills.
Expect practical guidance on CEO alignment, speaking in ROI, and protecting culture while accelerating results.
Timestamps
[00:45] – Guest intro and the Ansys/Synopsys acquisition: mission, culture, and CHRO mandate
[05:25] – The M&A playbook: keep HR ops steady; use 1,000+ focus groups to build trust
[06:55] – Protecting critical talent: skills mapping, contingency chains, comp and global equity
[08:30] – Equipping leaders: resilience and change management, “above/below the line” coaching
[10:25] – 2026 outlook: align to business impact; spend wisely; avoid shiny-AI syndrome
[12:35] – Bespoke L&D that scales: HiPo development on a dime and DISC-based change programs
[14:30] – Fix TA first: stop ghosting, elevate candidate experience, and pulse employee sentiment
[16:40] – What trips CHROs up: subject-depth gaps, comp fluency, CEO alignment, and speaking ROI with data
Takeaways
- Run HR like a Swiss train in M&A keep core ops humming while increasing employee listening.
- Map critical roles and skills; create bespoke retention plans using fair comp and global equity.
- Equip managers with resilience, change management, and DISC-informed leadership tools.
- Align every HR investment to business outcomes; skip “shiny” tech unless it solves a defined problem.
- Repair talent acquisition now: end ghosting, treat candidates like customers, and protect your brand.
- Speak the CEO’s language with data build people analytics, labor economics, and compensation expertise to influence decisions.
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