Think Like An Activist.

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A large advertising firm was approached by an activist about merging with another, smaller firm citing consolidation trends in the industry as a driver for the strategy.

Unbeknownst to the activist, the ad firm had already considered the combination internally, having predicted an activist proposal about a merger might come along.

The company's management took the initiative to explore the possibility of an acquisition; an important step to help mitigate activist fallout.

This proxy season, instead of looking for ways to repel an activist proposal, consider a counterintuitive tactic: embrace the activist mindset.

While there were fewer activist proposals overall in 2018, says law firm Gibson Dunn in its client letter on shareholder proposal developments, the...