Lead with governance: the integration lesson most companies learn too late

By Someone Who Was in the Room

The press called it a triumph. A masterstroke of scale and synergy. BT had acquired EE for £12.5 billion. The headlines were full of spectrum portfolios, market share, and convergence. All true.

But in the rooms where the real work began - away from the headlines - we were asking a quieter question. One with steel beneath it:

How do you actually make two companies become one?

Not in brochures.

Not on stage at the company offsite.

But in the plumbing. In the wiring. In the guts of decision-making.

Because that’s where integration lives - and where it so often dies.

The cultures weren’t compatible - and that was the point

BT was the monarchy. Built on hierarchy, shaped by procedure, rich in rituals of governance but poor in momentum. A cathedral of compliance.

EE was the insurgency. Scarred by survival, quick on its feet, allergic to bureaucracy. Less refined, but more alive.

We could have clung to the illusion of parity - a neat marriage, equal partners, arms linked, smiling for the camera.

But we didn’t.

Because we knew - and we said - that if we wanted to build something fit for the next decade, not the last, it had to feel more like EE than BT.

Yes, the PowerPoint said “best of both.”

But the operating model said: follow the tempo that works.

Lead with governance - or lose the plot

Here’s the truth no one wants to print in the welcome pack:

If you don’t change the reporting lines, you haven’t changed a thing.

Integration is not a mood. It is not a memo.

It is the hard, unfriendly act of redistributing power.

So we didn’t begin with brainstorming sessions or culture workshops.

We began with the map of authority:

• Technology was collapsed into one function from Day 1.

• Business Units were unified, under one roof, from Day 1.

• Even in Consumer - where brand complexity gave us pause - we moved swiftly to integrate behind the scenes.

We weren’t chasing synergies.

We were building a chassis.

Not trimming fat - removing drag.

We didn’t ask teams to collaborate across silos.

We eliminated the silos altogether.

Because transformation doesn’t happen in polite conversation.

It happens in budget lines. In who-reports-to-whom. In the guts of governance.

So - who took over?

This was BT acquiring EE.

But look closely - and you’ll see that in the places where execution mattered, EE leaders took the reins.

Not because of sentiment.

Because of results.

It wasn’t a takeover. It was a pivot.

A conscious decision to elevate the culture that shipped, that sprinted, that scaled.

We didn’t “blend.”

We chose.

Because great companies aren’t built on compromise.

They are built on clarity.

So yes, we honoured “best of both” as the story.

But behind the curtain, we made sure governance backed the truth.

The part most companies fudge

Most integrations fail not for lack of vision - but for lack of nerve.

They delay the structural calls.

They tiptoe around egos.

They send joint emails while maintaining divided chains of command.

They hope - foolishly - that culture will just emerge, like mist.

That cooperation will blossom in the absence of control.

It doesn’t.

Because in the end, integration is not about consensus.

It is about command.

The lesson

If you want harmony, start a choir.

If you want change - lead with governance.

That’s not the friendliest path.

It doesn’t win many applause lines.

But in the rooms where things get built, scaled, and shipped -

it’s the only move that works.

And the sooner you make it,

the sooner the real company begins.