What I found especially interesting was the personal "structogram" and the typical behavior depending on the "color" of the personality. Even though I had expected to focus more on actual technical subjects, it was a good investment in our future team to first of all establish a very good working relationship and understand each other.

Thomas Holst
Tube Line Management Team
AREVA NP

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Most acquisitions fail.
40% to 55% of alliances break down prematurely and inflict financial damage on both partners, according to “When to Ally and When to Acquire”

(Harvard Business Review, July-August 2004)

The missing element is professional relationship management. JPB’s long experience in this area has convinced them that the key to success in international co-operation is to focus not on cultural but on human factors.

People have to find a way to work together, not as Frenchmen or Germans or Americans, but as human beings. As human beings, all of the key players will inevitably bring their personal emotions into the venture, projecting their hopes and their fears onto their working partners.

This results in certain specific "emotional viruses" which damage the quality of relationships and reduce people’s basic trust in each other. Cultural differences are often “blamed” for the problems, but these problems usually have to do with personality, company and cooperation structures.

JPB has found that a breakdown in relations between international headquarters and field offices breakdown typically has more to do with a power and decision-making balance, rather than national cultural issues.

Rather than simply setting up a one-off cultural exchange workshop, the expertise of JPB lies in creating a multidimensional "tipping point" which is based on the company’s ability to identify and treat these "emotional viruses."

Business is human!

Building on knowledge developed over the past two decades where we have focused on French-German mergers with dozens of success stories to our credit, JPB Consulting is today bringing its mentalmerger^® process to other international corporations.

The mentalmerger^® process is designed helping business people who although very professional in business are not necessarily able to behave professionally in their relationships.

Consider the minds of top athletes or sports teams who develop strong mindsets which allow them to perform at extraordinary levels. The mentalmerger^® process is invaluable in creating efficient internal alliances between the various silos that exist within companies.

There is the story of a man who is down on his hands and knees, looking for his keys under a street lamp. A passer-by comes along and asks, "What are you doing?" The man replies, "I’m looking for my keys." "Are you sure you lost them here?" asks the passer-by. "Well," the man replies, "actually, I lost them over there," he says, pointing to an area a few yards away, "but there isn’t any light over there."

With global competition demanding ever higher levels of performance, it may be time for your company to stop looking under the street lamp for the solutions for problems which remain unsolved.  It may be time to engage with the experience which has already increased speed, innovation and trust in many international companies

It may be time to consider the JPB mentalmerger^® process as a way to encourage the establishment of more professional and productive relationships with your partners as well as within your organization.