The Law
M&A professionals love facts. Synergy models, valuation analyses, operating models, governance structures and integration plans all matter. They are the architecture of the transaction.
But ask employees five years later what they remember. Rarely is it Slide 27. They remember moments: the first town hall, the founder’s farewell, the day two rival teams celebrated a shared success, the customer event that reassured anxious clients, the symbolic gesture that said we are building something together.
Robert Greene’s thirty-seventh law says to create compelling spectacles. Use imagery, symbols and dramatic gestures to make ideas emotionally memorable. Human beings do not remember only what they are told. They remember what they experience.
In M&A, this law must be handled carefully. Spectacle can unite people, but it can also become theatre that insults them. Empty symbolism collapses when daily reality contradicts it. Meaningful symbolism endures because it gives people a felt experience of the future they are being asked to build.
People rarely remember the slide deck. They remember the moments that helped them believe they belonged to the future being created.
Law 36 was about releasing what no longer deserves attention. Law 37 is about investing attention where it can create meaning. Letting go clears space. Symbolism helps people understand what the cleared space is for.
The M&A Translation
The M&A translation of Law 37 is this: create meaningful moments that embody the future you want people to build.
Every acquisition creates uncertainty. People ask: who are we now? What traditions remain? What future are we building together? Which company won? Which company disappeared? What does this mean for me?
Leaders often respond with presentations and charts. Those tools explain the logic, but they do not always create belonging. Human beings organise meaning through stories, rituals, symbols and shared moments. Transformation becomes real not only through execution, but through experiences people carry with them after the meeting ends.
The challenge is to use symbolism to reinforce reality, never to replace it. A town hall cannot compensate for broken trust. A launch party cannot hide a weak operating model. A new logo cannot create unity if the organisation’s behaviour remains divided. But when symbol and substance align, even a small gesture can become unforgettable.
Symbols become powerful when they tell the truth people are already beginning to experience.
Where This Shows Up in a Deal
Law 37 appears wherever people need to feel transformation, not merely understand it.
It appears at the first combined town hall, when employees are watching whether leaders honour both legacies or simply announce a winner. It appears in customer events, where anxious clients need reassurance that the deal improves their future rather than destabilising it. It appears in Day One communications, where symbols can either unite people or reveal how shallow the integration story is.
It appears in milestone celebrations, where exhausted integration teams need to feel that progress matters. It appears in branding, badges, office rituals, leadership visits and founder transitions. It appears whenever a moment can make the abstract future tangible.
In each setting, the question is not how do we impress people? The question is what experience will help people understand, feel and remember the future we are asking them to join?
The Deal Power Map
For Law 37, the power map is a meaningful spectacle map. The question is not only what event or symbol will attract attention. It is what truth the moment should embody, who needs to feel it and whether daily actions will support the meaning created.
Five Questions to Map Meaningful Spectacle
Before designing a symbolic moment, map whether it will deepen trust or merely create theatre.
- 1What truth should this moment embody?
Name the message beneath the event: unity, continuity, respect, progress, shared identity, customer commitment or confidence in the future.
- 2Who needs to experience it?
Different groups need different moments. Employees, customers, founders, integration teams and leadership may each require a different symbol of progress or respect.
- 3What emotion should people carry afterward?
Do you want people to feel included, reassured, proud, grateful, energised, respected or ready? Design the moment around the emotion you need to create.
- 4What daily behaviour must support the symbol?
A symbol unsupported by behaviour becomes hypocrisy. Make sure the ritual, event or gesture is backed by operational decisions.
- 5How will the moment invite participation?
The best spectacles are not performances watched from a distance. They let people participate in the story of the new organisation.
Cases from the Deal Floor
These cases show that compelling moments do not need to be grand. What matters is whether they make meaning visible, shared and honest.
Disney Parks
Customers and employees need to feel the magic, not merely hear about it.
Disney understands experiences better than almost any company. Characters are not introduced through manuals. Stories become physical environments. Guests participate rather than simply observe.
The power is not only in the facts of the story, but in the experience of stepping into it. The world becomes tangible. The audience feels like part of something larger than the product.
That lesson matters in M&A. A combined company cannot rely only on explanations of synergy, governance and strategic logic. People need moments where the future becomes visible and emotionally believable.
Experiences create stronger memories than explanations because they involve the whole person, not only the rational mind.
- Facts inform the mind, but experiences capture the heart.
- When people participate in a story, they become loyal to it.
Experiences create stronger memories than explanations.
Salesforce Dreamforce
Customers, employees and partners gathered around shared identity rather than only product information.
Dreamforce evolved far beyond a standard corporate conference. It became a community experience where customers, employees and partners gathered around a shared identity and a sense of belonging.
The product announcements mattered, but the emotional residue was bigger than any feature list. People remembered what it felt like to be part of a community with language, rituals and energy of its own.
In a changing market, that kind of belonging becomes a strategic asset. Communities endure change better than disconnected customer lists because they have shared memory and shared meaning.
Rituals and gatherings can strengthen belonging when they are grounded in real value and real relationships.
- Rituals and gatherings strengthen belonging.
- A shared identity makes market change easier to navigate.
Rituals strengthen belonging. People want to be part of a community, not just a customer list.
The First Combined Town Hall
Anxious employees from both legacy companies needed to see whether they would be respected.
After an acquisition, leadership focused obsessively on slides, synergy targets and timelines. The first combined town hall was becoming a heavily scripted presentation of logic.
An experienced HR leader proposed something different. Employees from both organisations were invited to share short stories about customers they had helped.
Laughter emerged. Pride surfaced. Strangers became colleagues. People left remembering one another, not the presentation.
The stories did what the org chart could not. They revealed shared purpose beneath different logos.
- Strategy is abstract; human stories are real.
- Shared pride breaks down legacy walls faster than an org chart.
Stories humanise strategy. Let the people tell the story of the work.
Apple’s Product Launches
A global audience waits to see how technology changes their lives, not only what specifications have changed.
Apple transforms standard announcements into global experiences. Technology becomes a narrative. Features become human possibilities. Specifications are translated into how life, work, creativity or connection may feel different.
The spectacle works when it connects technical complexity to emotional clarity. People remember the anticipation, the simplicity and the sense of possibility.
M&A leaders can learn from this. A technical milestone such as system integration, product migration or operating-model launch becomes more meaningful when linked to the human improvement it enables.
Emotion helps complex ideas endure in the minds of the audience.
- People do not buy specifications; they buy better versions of themselves.
- Emotion helps complex ideas endure.
Emotion helps ideas endure. Connect technical milestones to human possibilities.
The Empty Celebration
Employees saw through the expensive spectacle because the daily reality did not support it.
One acquisition featured elaborate launch events, professional videos, lavish venues and grand promises of a perfect future.
Employees applauded politely. But the months after the event told a different story: unclear decisions, poor communication, unresolved role anxiety and leadership absence.
The spectacle had exceeded the reality. Instead of building belief, it deepened cynicism because employees felt the company had invested in appearance before substance.
You cannot buy belief with a catering budget. When the stage is brighter than the actual future, people feel lied to.
- You cannot buy belief with a catering budget.
- When the stage is brighter than the future, people feel lied to.
Symbolism unsupported by substance becomes cynicism. Never promise through spectacle what execution cannot deliver.
The Integration Bell
An exhausted integration team needed to feel that its hard work mattered.
An integration team introduced a simple tradition. Whenever a major milestone was achieved, someone rang a small brass bell in the middle of the office.
A successful customer migration. A critical system transition. A difficult issue resolved. Each time, people paused, applauded and acknowledged the collective effort.
The bell became symbolic. It did not pretend the integration was easy. It reminded people that progress mattered, people mattered and the journey deserved recognition.
Years later, employees remembered the sound. The ritual was small, but the meaning was large.
- Rituals do not need to be expensive to be effective.
- Acknowledging progress prevents integration fatigue.
Small rituals often create powerful cultures. Give people a physical way to celebrate the hard work of integration.
The Two Name Badges
Divided employees were clinging to legacy identities and old rivalries.
During an integration event, employees arrived wearing badges displaying their legacy company logos. People naturally gathered with familiar faces. Conversations remained cautious.
An organiser proposed something different for the second day. New badges were distributed. This time, they contained only names. No logos. No titles. No organisational identities.
At first, people laughed. Then groups mixed. Stories emerged. Friendships formed. People stopped introducing themselves as representatives of the past and began introducing themselves as individuals.
Years later, participants remembered the badges. The future stopped feeling theoretical. It became human.
- Symbols of the past can keep people divided.
- Removing labels can help people see the human being in front of them.
The strongest symbols do not tell people what to think. They help people experience who they can become together.
The Pattern Behind the Cases
Across these cases, symbolism works when it makes an underlying truth felt.
Disney and Dreamforce show the power of immersive experience and community. The first combined town hall shows stories doing what slides cannot. Apple shows how emotion makes complex ideas memorable. The integration bell shows that rituals can turn progress into shared memory.
The empty celebration shows the danger of spectacle without substance. The two name badges show that a small symbol can change how people experience identity, belonging and the future.
The pattern is clear. The best spectacles do not distract people from reality. They help people feel the reality leaders are already working to build.
Spectacles do not have to be grand to matter. Sometimes a bell, a story or a badge is enough to transform strangers into a community.
Four Diagnostic Questions
Before designing an event, ritual or symbolic gesture, ask four questions.
The Four Questions That Protect Meaningful Symbolism
These questions help ensure symbols create trust instead of theatre.
- 11. Am I using symbols to unite people or distract them?
If the symbol avoids uncomfortable reality, people will eventually experience it as manipulation.
- 22. Do our milestones have rituals that help people feel progress?
Integration is exhausting. Shared rituals help teams experience momentum, recognition and collective pride.
- 33. What moment will employees remember five years from now?
Design for memory. The most important moment may be a story, gesture, conversation or ritual, not a slide deck.
- 44. Is our symbolism grounded in daily action?
Symbols become credible only when the organisation’s behaviour supports them after the event ends.
The Four Principles of Meaningful Symbolism
Together, these practices create experiences that strengthen trust.
- 1Make the Future Visible
Help people experience the destination. Do not only describe the new operating model; create an environment where they can feel how it will work.
- 2Create Shared Rituals
Celebrate progress together. Integration is exhausting. Rituals like the integration bell give teams a shared heartbeat and a reason to pause and be proud.
- 3Connect Emotion to Purpose
Help people feel why the change matters. Facts explain the logic, but stories and symbols explain the meaning.
- 4Align Symbolism with Reality
Never promise through spectacle what execution cannot deliver. If daily experience is painful, a lavish launch party will breed resentment.
How to Apply This at Your Level
Role Lens: Senior, Mid-Level and Junior
If you are a CEO, founder, partner, managing director, board member or investor, recognise that people remember moments more than presentations. Design experiences intentionally, and make sure every grand gesture is backed by daily operational decisions.
At every level, Law 37 asks for the same discipline: stop trying to impress people with theatre, and start creating moments of meaning they can carry with them.
The Trap
The trap of Law 37 is mistaking spectacle for substance.
Some leaders discover that symbolic moments create emotion and begin to rely on them too heavily. They produce launch videos, town halls, branded events, new logos and polished speeches while leaving the hard operating issues unresolved.
This is not leadership. It is theatre. It may create short-term applause, but if the daily experience contradicts the symbolic promise, the spectacle becomes evidence against leadership rather than evidence for it.
There is an opposite trap as well: dismissing symbolism as fluff. Some leaders believe only facts matter, so they communicate integration through trackers, timelines and governance charts. They miss the human need for meaning, memory and belonging.
The mature version of Law 37 is truthful symbolism. Create moments that people can feel. Make the future visible. Honour the past. Celebrate progress. Then ensure every symbol is supported by action after the lights go out.
Empty theatre asks people to believe what they cannot experience. Meaningful symbolism helps people name what they are already beginning to feel.
The Paradox at the End of Law 37
The paradox of Law 37 is that people often dismiss symbolism as superficial, yet human beings naturally organise meaning through symbols, rituals and shared experiences.
Spectacle without substance weakens credibility, but symbolism grounded in truth strengthens commitment. A bell, badge, story or ritual can carry more emotional weight than a detailed integration plan because it gives people a way to feel the plan becoming real.
Every acquisition creates a story. The question is whether people experience themselves as spectators or participants. Information alone rarely changes hearts. Human beings seek meaning, belonging and reassurance that disruption serves something worthwhile.
The leaders who navigate these moments well create rituals that celebrate progress, tell stories that honour the past while inviting people into the future, and use symbols carefully. They make sure what is promised through experience is supported through action.
In M&A, people may forget the synergy percentages and the integration timeline. But they remember how leaders made them feel during uncertainty. They remember whether they felt respected, included, hopeful and proud.
Because the most powerful spectacles are not those that impress people. They are those that remind people why the journey is worth taking together.
Create Compelling Spectacles
In M&A, create experiences that make transformation meaningful and memorable. People rarely remember the slide deck; they remember the moments that helped them believe they belonged.
Because the most powerful spectacles are not those that impress people. They are those that remind people why the journey is worth taking together.
Before your next meeting on a live deal, ask yourself:
- 1.Am I using symbols and events to unite people, or just to distract them from uncomfortable realities?
- 2.Do our integration milestones have shared rituals that help people feel progress?
- 3.When employees look back on this acquisition in five years, what specific moment will they remember?
- 4.Is our symbolism grounded in the truth of our daily actions?