Women’s distinct deal-making talents became evident during a conversation with a male CEO I was interviewing for my M&A book. “You know, a man would never write this kind of book. It would never dawn on a guy to be addressing this emotional stuff. From my experience, it’s how people act or don’t act that dooms the deal. Women’s ability to anticipate and provide guidance on the more personal aspects of a deal is invaluable,” he suggested. Indeed.
As an M&A consultant, focused on the people piece of mergers and acquisitions, I’ve spent countless hours in due diligence and integration meetings. Men tend to be the majority in these meetings, yet women are growing in number and playing bigger roles. According to Datasite’s 2022 study on the changing landscape of M&A, women are a rising force in dealmaking, comprising nearly half of the Millennial and Gen Z workforce employed in mergers and acquisitions. This is a positive shift, as the CEO noted.
Read the rest of Jennifer’s Forbe’s article here, where she outlines the 5 superpowers women possess:
- Women illuminate the human side of M&A (which tends to be ignored)
- Women the intuition to see things (which may not be obvious to others)
- Women have people open up to them (in ways that are insightful)
- Women simplify the messaging (so more people can understand)
- Women can anticipate future challenges (thanks to intuition on what could go wrong)