The Silent Threat to Tech Careers: How to Survive Being Unseen After a Merger
Change in the tech sector can be brutal. For most of my career, my path hasn't been a nice steady climb; it's been a series of forced pivots. I’ve lived through eight mergers and acquisitions, across various publicly traded companies.
I know exactly what it feels like to go from a trusted team player to an unknown quantity overnight. I’ve had great outcomes, but I’ve also made huge mistakes.
My biggest lesson? You can’t put your head down and wait for change to happen; you have to make change work for you.
The Good, The Bad, and The "Two in a Box"
My journey through tech change has been a masterclass in resilience AND humility.
The Wipeout (GPT became Marconi): My first big experience was GPT becoming Marconi. So long ago, but it still feels real! My mistake here was passivity. I kept my head down, hoping I wouldn't get cut. I survived, but I was early in my career and could have taken a more proactive approach if I’d been more confident.
The Overlord (Alcatel bought Newbridge, then Timetra): We were consumed by the feeling that “our” culture was somehow less than “theirs”. My mistake was focusing on the noise. I wasted energy resisting the new culture instead of quickly finding the new power brokers and aligning my skills to their strategic goals. I survived for a while, but never regained my trusted position.
The Showdown (Ciena bought WWP, then Nortel MEN): This was the infamous "two in a box" scenario - collaborating with your peer while also openly competing for one job, in very visible senior executive positions. My eventual success came from when I stopped focusing on competing with my peer and started competing to be the most valuable resource for the new leadership team and for my end customers.
The Cultural Reset (Gartner bought CEB, Infinera bought Transmode/Coriant): Whether it was Gartner or Infinera, the core challenge was always re-establishing value. The good outcomes I’ve had were built on a clear, data-driven story of my value, not just my old job title. I also built out my new network fast in these companies - I stopped myself being unseen.
Three Mistakes I Made (And How I Fixed Them)
The times I struggled most were when I made one of these three key errors. I learned a lot from these!
Mistake #1: Believing My Old Title Mattered
Your new leaders don't care about your historical track record. They care about how you solve their current problems. I learned to stop selling my history and start selling the value I add NOW.
Mistake #2: Waiting to Be Seen
The worst thing you can do during a change is put your head down and hope you survive. Hope is not a strategy (thanks, Andy for always reminding me of this). I learned to be proactive, identify the new power structure, and solve the problems the company faced.
Mistake #3: Going It Alone
The anxiety of change is isolating, especially at the Director/VP level. I tried to manage everything internally and, more than once, I nearly burned out resisting the change. I found that success accelerated when I sought out a confidential group of peers (most recently - Stu, Jan and Franco at Infinera kept me sane!). But also I've sought out strategic guides, coaches and mentors to support me (Paul and Clara come to mind here).
Now, I Want to Hear Your Story
I survived eight of these cycles, and every time, I refined the strategy required to not just survive, but reclaim my seat at the table.
For those of you who have navigated massive corporate change - whether it was an acquisition, a merger, or a huge internal restructure:
What was the single most valuable lesson you learned, and what was the biggest mistake you made that you would never repeat?
