We’ve all heard the doom and gloom statistics about mergers and acquisition. Even those that don’t move the financials to the wrong side of zero often fail to delight shareholders and stakeholders. Poor evaluation procedures take part of the blame—but only part. A failure to carefully plan for the integration has some culpability too. In the heat of finalizing the deal, integration is often left until the last minute or ignored entirely. To avoid the traps of integration, start by analyzing the Five Essential Traits for Successful M & A: vision, financial synergy, operations, talent, and culture.