Due Diligence
Your due diligence is probably wrongGlobal Advisors: a consulting leader in defining quantified strategy, decreasing uncertainty, improving decisions, achieving measureable results.
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Global Advisors is a leader in defining quantified strategies, decreasing uncertainty, improving decisions and achieving measureable results.
We specialise in providing highly-analytical data-driven recommendations in the face of significant uncertainty.
We utilise advanced predictive analytics to build robust strategies and enable our clients to make calculated decisions.
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Thoughts
Global Advisors’ Thoughts: Empathy and understanding – why they are the qualities that help us achieve our own happiness and success
By Marc Wilson
Our team had just finished a book review presentation on Dale Carnegie’s “Making Friends and Influencing People”. Jane (*name changed) looked troubled: “Isn’t this stuff about manipulating people?”
Therein lies a paradox in showing empathy: without empathy for others, you face less influence, friendship, love and success. But if those are your goal rather than the sincere care for others, then your empathy is not really empathy at all.
Many people might react to empathy as “soft.” But empathy is a mark of incredible strength. It dares us to care. It requires us to put ourselves to one side. It requires us to be vulnerable – otherwise all we are doing is showing sympathy. Empathy requires self-awareness and skill.
Sympathy is easy. Sympathy does not go as far as empathy – it keeps us distant from the situation someone else is experiencing. It places us in danger of being condescending. Empathy requires us to put our self into their situation as them – not us.
Empathy gets the best out of those around us – and opens us up to be a better version of ourselves.
I find it incredibly difficult to manage a balance. A balance of being sufficiently confident and willing to share my own experience in an unbiased and helpful way – while removing enough of myself to allow someone else to find their own path and live their own experience. To be an empathetic leader, I believe I need to care about my team being at their best at work and in life.
Skills such as active listening are important to remove ourselves from the coaching we give others. But I think empathy requires us to be authentically present and involved in a way that facilitating someone else’s own solution does not.
Empathetic leadership challenges me to use my own experience and position in a way that is open to the challenges and experiences of others. And most critically demonstrates that I act out of care and acknowledgement of them.
Empathy requires that we know our self well enough that we are able to remove our projections of our own biases and feelings from the situation, appreciate the other person’s view of the world and how that impacts the situation for them.
Think about how you respond to others. How often do you respond to their experience, feelings and fears based on your own fears? Do your responses contain the word “I?” Do you fear genuinely experiencing the world as them? Do you seek to affirm your own view and experience through your response? Are you scared as being seen as similar to the other person in their own “deficiencies” and “imperfections”? How many of these imperfections are merely your own biases and fears?
Read more by clicking here: http://www.globaladvisors.biz/thoughts/20170627/empathy-and-understanding-why-they-are-the-qualities-that-help-us-achieve-our-own-happiness-and-success
Strategy Tools
PODCAST: Your Due Diligence is Most Likely Wrong
Our Spotify podcast explores why most mergers and acquisitions fail to create value and provides a practical guide to performing a strategic due diligence process.
The hosts The hosts highlight common pitfalls like overpaying for acquisitions, failing to understand the true value of a deal, and neglecting to account for future uncertainties. They emphasize that a successful deal depends on a clear strategic rationale, a thorough understanding of the target’s competitive position, and a comprehensive assessment of potential risks. They then present a four-stage approach to strategic due diligence that incorporates scenario planning and probabilistic simulations to quantify uncertainty and guide decision-making. Finally, they discuss how to navigate deal-making during economic downturns and stress the importance of securing existing businesses, revisiting return measures, prioritizing potential targets, and factoring in potential delays.
Read more from the original article.
Fast Facts
Modern portfolio theory (MPT) can be applied to business portfolio decision-making
- Shareholders seek to maximise company profits while minimising risk
- However, lower risk businesses are usually accompanied with lower returns and high risk businesses with higher returns
- Comparisons between various risk and return profiles can be measured using the Sharpe ratio – return per unit of risk
- Combinations (degree of balance sheet investment) in individual portfolios could realise higher returns per unit of risk than what is achievable in an individual business unit – some combinations are not always obvious
- By exiting a higher risk-return portfolio BU J, ABC would be able to increase its return per unit of risk from 4,3 to 4,5
- It is often psychologically difficult for businesses to exit high return portfolios
- Emotional decision-making can be muted by applying the logic of modern portfolio theory in the board room
Selected News
Quote: Rich Roll, ultra-endurance athlete, bestselling author
“When you think you’re done, you’ve only tapped into 40 percent of what you are truly capable of.” – Rich Roll,
Ultra-endurance athlete, bestselling author
Rich Roll, ultra-endurance athlete, bestselling author, and host of the The Rich Roll Show podcast, is known for his transformative journey from a self-described “lost soul” to one of the world’s fittest men. The quote reflects his belief in human potential, rooted in both physical and mental resilience.
In his memoir Finding Ultra, Roll details his midlife transformation: overcoming addiction, obesity, and existential despair through plant-based nutrition, rigorous training, and mindfulness. During grueling races like the Ultraman World Championship (a 70.3-mile triathlon), he learned that perceived limits—like exhaustion or self-doubt—are often mental barriers. The “40 percent” idea stems from teachings he encountered, including those of author David Goggins, who emphasizes that true potential lies far beyond initial fatigue.
Roll uses this philosophy to inspire others to reframe challenges. Whether in sports, career shifts, or personal growth, the quote underscores that surrendering too soon stifles progress. It’s a call to recognize that effort and persistence can unlock capabilities we often dismiss as impossible.
His work across books, podcasts, and speaking engagements amplifies this message, emphasizing that transformation is accessible to anyone willing to confront their mental limits. For Roll, the journey isn’t just about physical endurance—it’s about aligning action with purpose and embracing growth beyond comfort zones.
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