Insights
Notes for the people who run the plan
Featured
Integration6 min read
What breaks first after the deal closes
The people work that stalls integration is predictable. Here is the order it usually fails in, and what to own in week one.
- Integration
- M&A
- First 100 days
Latest
What we are writing
Compensation7 min read
The comp conversation to have before diligence
Three pay structures and no bands is a diligence finding. Fixing it takes a quarter; explaining it takes a discount.
- Compensation
- Diligence
- Pay bands
Leadership5 min read
Promoting managers without breaking them
Your best individual contributors are not automatically your best managers. What to put around them before you promote.
- Managers
- Leadership
- Capability
Sponsor notes6 min read
A people scorecard the board will actually read
Ten metrics on one page, delivered on the fifth business day. What belongs on it and what does not.
- Board
- Metrics
- Scorecard
AI and workforce8 min read
AI in HR without the data risk
Where AI earns its place in a people function, and the employee-data lines you do not cross to get there.
- AI
- Employee data
- Automation
Leadership5 min read
When to hire a full-time CPO
The honest version: headcount, complexity, and deal timing signals that mean you should stop renting the role.
- Chief People Officer
- Hiring
- Timing
ScalePath Partners
16
The Integration Playbook
Screening to steady state, with eight working tools.
PDF, 41 pages
Guides and tools
The Integration Playbook
Sixteen sections from screening to steady state, and eight working tools you can copy into the deal room: the diligence request list, the key-person heat map, the decision calendar, the Day 1 checklist. Forty-one pages, free.
Send it to me
Guides and tools
The People Risk Scan
Twenty-five questions a leadership team can answer in thirty minutes. Complete it online and the result arrives in your inbox: your score by area, the diligence items and what to fix first.
ScalePath Partners
25
The People Risk Scan
Questions, scoring, and a what-to-fix-first key.
PDF, 6 pages
The newsletter
An occasional newsletter, without the HR jargon
People, leadership, and value creation for founders, executives, and the sponsors behind them. Sent when there is something worth saying, not on a schedule. New articles arrive here first.
Listen and read
Listen and read
Blog
Human Capital, Rewired
Finesse’s essay series: people leadership, value creation, and the operating decisions behind both, written for chief executives, operating partners, and people leaders.
Podcast
The Next Introduction
Conversations with the people who make the introductions that change a career.
Tell us what is changing
In 30 minutes, we will talk through the decision in front of you and what we would examine first.