Corporate Combinations: When Your World Shifts

By Jack Cumming

You’ve likely noticed that Senior Living Foresight is now “Powered by ProCare^HR.” That has had many benefits, especially for those Foresight employees who are on the payroll. Since I work as a volunteer, loving the independence of expression that gives me, I have not been part of the change.

The Big Question

That led me to ponder, “How can ProCare^HR realize the best value from its purchase?” Although I write regularly for Foresight, I’ve been no part of the merger integration. Thus, like you, I’ve been able to watch the process from a bit of a distance, though I have more interest than most readers, and I’ve been privy to insider conversations. That means I have a unique story that can inform the consolidation.

If you’ve been through a merger, you know how it can go smoothly or otherwise. For me, the ProCare^HR/Foresight transaction serves as a model. Many mergers start out with optimism and hope and end up as something else. No wonder mergers and rumors of mergers can be anxiety-producing. Have you ever had merger-fear anxiety?

I confess that I’ve had some anxiety about ProCare^HR. If you are facing the prospect of a potential merger, you likely have the same anxiety. It’s best to plan for the worst while hoping for the best. What Color Is Your Parachute? is a perennial favorite, updated for the digital world of 2026. That includes considering how you may best adapt to artificial intelligence (AI) even if it strips you of your current job. I know what my parachute is, and I’m ready to pull the rip cord if needed.

Think Positively

With that aside, though, my thinking here is focused on the question, “How can ProCare^HR realize the best value from its purchase of Foresight?” This is something that you might do if your employer is taken over in a consolidation. Just thinking through the question of why the merger took place can better prepare you to work with the new owners. Here’s my template for answering that specific question.

Stage 1: ProCare^HR gains stature as an industry thought leader from the merger. Notable is the editorial independence promised by ProCare^HR to Senior Living Foresight.

In Stage 1, investing in a thought-leading journal and then giving it complete freedom of expression establishes ProCare^HR as a business that puts the common interest before typical corporate aggrandizement. From that, ProCare^HR clients can derive assurance that they can trust that ProCare^HR will put their interests first.

That’s an enormous advantage in a time when self-interest dominates the headlines. It also implies that ProCare^HR has the core talent not to fear evolution because management is confident that the organization can adapt quickly to change if change is warranted. That level of talent is rare.

Stage 2: ProCare^HR becomes best in class for giving businesses the highest conceivable quality HR services bar none.

In Stage 2, which follows hard on the heels of Stage 1, ProCare^HR uses conventional marketing tools of events and industry outreach to sell aging services their tailored package of human resources/PEO services.

In short, a PEO firm handles the chores related to employing people. Among those concerns are employee benefits, staff administration and payroll, risk management, employment-related compliance, talent management, and related support and technology. The idea is that an outside firm might be able to handle these processes at lower cost with greater sophistication.

Since HR is not directly germane to the business purpose, it can make sense to outsource these functions. The challenge is that this bundle of services can function like a commodity product that is hard to distinguish competitively from others.

Stage 3: ProCare^HR emerges as a strategic partner with its clients, helping client senior living enterprises to thrive and prosper.

This is where the ProCare^HR odyssey becomes both more promising and more daunting. It’s one thing to follow conventional business-school-type textbook advice. It’s another to go beyond the textbook to help build a great business.

That requires the kind of creative, imaginative thinking and insight that is rare. Often, as with Steve Jobs and many others, ideas flow and make schooling irrelevant. Consider how many of the most transformative businesses were built by people who didn’t take educational credentials seriously.

Building a talent team that is strong enough to stand out from competitors can be an enormous challenge for a CEO or business owner. Talented CEOs have an eye for talent and what it takes to attract and motivate them into becoming a team. That core talent team at the top is what drives a corporate reputation for excellence.

Becoming a worthy strategic partner requires a level of creative and analytical talent of the kind that distinguishes a Goldman Sachs, long known for excellence, from other financial wannabes. ProCare^HR has an opportunity to become that lead firm for HR services.

Stage 4: ProCare^HR leverages its core talent to become the lead organization helping senior living move to people empowerment. HR, as “human resources,” evolves to become “human relationships.” Senior living gains investor value by allowing people of all ages to find better lives.

Stage 4 is where the long-term opportunity lies. Today, enter the exhibit hall at the annual LeadingAge Conference, and Ziegler, the financing firm, and Greystone, the leading development firm, are front and center. Money interests are even more prominent at other industry conferences. The ProCare^HR opportunity is to position itself to be right there in front, leading with people relationships to enhance value and to drive investor returns.

Look at the history of transformative enterprises and one usually encounters something like “in [year] the company revolutionized [name of industry].” For ProCare^HR the year might be 2030 and the industry would be “senior” living, though by then the industry may have a bigger footprint beyond just old people.

HR as “human resources” sounds dehumanizing, as though people were no more than interchangeable parts in a machine without individuality or spark. No wonder that there are almost no examples of HR specialists rising to be CEOs of major businesses.

An exception is Mary Barra of General Motors, and her relationship skills break the mold. Most enterprises, and especially senior living enterprises, are people organizations. The common sense of developing people to realize their full potential can be the key to whether a business leaps forward into the future or remains mired in convention. Ms. Barra managed GM’s HR during the company’s restructuring.

The HR opportunity for “senior” living, or for all-purpose living, is to focus on “human relationships” and to put people first. “People” includes not merely the “workforce” or the “frontline workers,” but it also includes suppliers, residents, families, and every single person who touches an organization. People first is far more important for success in “senior” living than any other element.

Final Thoughts

Ziegler leads because it answers the question, “How do we finance this industry?” ProCare^HR can become the new leader if it answers the more profound question: “Why does this industry exist, and who does it serve?” The answer to that question is what we might call “People First.”

People First pictures aging as a time of fulfillment, connection, and purpose; communities where residents, families, staff, and leaders all flourish; capital as necessary but not as master. Those are values that serve all ages, not just those who are aging, and certainly not just those who are very old. Those very old need care, and there is a niche for that, but the opportunity is so much broader.

Now we can answer the questions with which we began. First: “How can ProCareHR realize the best value from its purchase of Foresight?” Answer: by marshaling Foresight’s forward-leaning thought leadership and sending those qualities off to reimagine the lives of people everywhere, especially those who are now encountering old age.

Second: “What can, or should you do when your world shifts due to a corporate consolidation?” Answer: Do exactly what you would do if you suddenly had a new boss. Start by giving your new boss your wholehearted support. Help your boss succeed, and your own success should follow. The same applies to a new owner.

Give the new folks a chance to reveal what they have in mind with the merger. Then, you have to consider whether their values align with your values. If they don’t, that’s the time to get active in evaluating the opportunities available elsewhere that might best fit your abilities.

On the other hand, it’s possible that the new leadership has a vision that ignites your imagination and makes you look forward to work. If that positive experience leads you to improve your commitment and, with commitment, your performance, then the new organization may be the best thing yet for your career.

Disclaimer: Although I think regularly about senior living and have for years written regularly for Senior Living Foresight, I have received no benefit from the ProCare^HR/Foresight affiliation. Thus, this article is independently conceived and authored. The views expressed are solely those of the author and no one else.