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Home > Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast > Merging Three Companies Into One Platform — When Founders Can't Let Go and Leaders Won't Decide | Mukhtar Kadiri
Podcast: Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast
Episode:

Merging Three Companies Into One Platform — When Founders Can't Let Go and Leaders Won't Decide | Mukhtar Kadiri
Category: News & Politics
Duration: 00:18:21
Publish Date: 2026-05-13 10:05:00
Description: Mukhtar Kadiri: Merging Three Companies Into One Platform — When Founders Can't Let Go and Leaders Won't Decide

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Agile and Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.

"A lot of times, conflict arises because people don't understand each other. The first thing you need to do is make sure they understand each other." - Mukhtar Kadiri

Mukhtar brings us a challenge from a merger and acquisition program where a dominant software company acquired two competitors simultaneously — both solving the same market gap, each with their own platform, their own founders still in place, and their own fierce loyalties. The mission: merge three platforms into one. But the technical challenge was the easy part. The real complexity was human — founders who'd built their companies from scratch watching their babies potentially get retired, teams losing people to low morale and uncertainty, and leadership paralyzed by the knowledge that every decision would make somebody unhappy. Together, Mukhtar and Vasco explore a four-step approach to navigating these high-stakes disagreements: first, create a feeling of time abundance — never rush a decision that requires buy-in. Second, get each side to present their perspective with only clarifying questions, no judgment. Third, name the disagreement explicitly — turn emotions into concrete, debatable statements. And fourth, co-create an alternative solution that doesn't come from either original position, because co-creation builds commitment. Mukhtar adds a critical fifth element: steel-manning — having each side articulate the other's argument as if defending it. When people feel genuinely understood, even "disagree and commit" becomes possible.

In this episode, we refer to steel-manning and the concept of disagree and commit.

Self-reflection Question: When you're facilitating a disagreement between two strong positions, do you rush toward a decision — or do you invest the time to make sure both sides can articulate each other's argument before you even think about next steps?

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