Operator Insights

Practical writing on M&A integration, turnarounds, and operations — from someone who has run the floor.

Lean Turnaround Operations
How I Implement Lean When I Parachute Into a Business
A drill plant in Minnesota. A property management company in Vancouver. Different industries, same method: go do the work, map where value gets stuck, remove the excuses, fix the system.
May 2026 · 8 min read Read →
Turnaround Operations
Distressed to Profitable in Year One: What Actually Changed
The naive answer to a distressed plant is to cut costs and push harder. That’s usually wrong. What fixed the plant wasn’t heroics — it was the operating system.
January 2026 · 5 min read Read →
M&A Integration Leadership
Day One Is Already Too Late
The moment the deal closes, the clock is running. Talent is deciding whether to stay. The silence is filling itself with rumors. And most integration teams are still writing the plan.
November 2025 · 4 min read Read →
Operations
The KPI Scorecard I Install in Every Business I Take Over
Most businesses have data. What they don’t have is an operating cadence. The scorecard is the artifact. The cadence is the point.
June 2026 · 5 min read Read →
Operations Leadership
I Worked the Floor Before I Touched the Org Chart
You can’t understand a business from an org chart or a P&L. The real operating constraints live on the floor — in the handoffs, the workarounds, the things nobody writes down.
March 2026 · 4 min read Read →
Leadership M&A Integration
You Can’t Out-Argue Resentment. You Have to Find the Real Currency
Three outgoing founders were quietly blocking an integration, each for a different reason. Convincing them the change was good never worked. Finding what they actually cared about did.
April 2026 · 4 min read Read →
M&A Integration
The 500-Item Checklist Problem
Most M&A integrations fail not because of bad planning, but because teams lose sight of what actually matters. The checklist gives you comfort. The 40-item plan gets the deal done.
September 2025 · 5 min read Read →

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