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Key Takeaways

Culture is what people repeatedly do, so it has to be translated into mindsets and observable behaviors.

“Listen and learn” fails without answers to who decides, who has the burden of proof, and what happens to dissent.

Use the separation period to define shared behaviors with both teams, not impose them.u003cbru003e

Nuveen just closed its $13.1 billion acquisition of Schroders, the 222-year-old British asset manager. The deal pushes Nuveen into the top 10 global asset managers, with $2.6 trillion under management.

The headline is the money. The more interesting part is what CEO Bill Huffman said about culture. After more than 10 acquisitions, he has a clear view of how most mergers go wrong . The acquirer walks in, decides it knows better, and starts making everything its way. His alternative is simple. The first job after a deal is listening and learning, “Right? Not telling.”

He’s right.…