The First 90 Days

Summary

The book 'The First 90 Days' offers proven strategies for new leaders to navigate their initial months effectively. It emphasizes the importance of creating momentum, learning quickly, and securing early wins to establish credibility. The guide covers self-promotion, adapting strategy to situation, team building, and maintaining balance while avoiding common leadership pitfalls. A must-read for emerging leaders seeking to excel in their new roles.

Takeaways

• 😀 The first 90 days are critical for new leaders as they are particularly vulnerable due to a lack of index knowledge and understanding of their new role's requirements.
• 🚀 Creating momentum in the initial 90 days is essential for long-term success; without it, the rest of the tenure can be a challenging uphill battle.
• 💡 Promoting oneself in a new role involves mentally transitioning and leaving past roles and responsibilities behind, avoiding the common mistake of applying old strategies to new situations.
• 📅 Establishing a clear timeline and hitting the ground running from the moment of appointment is crucial, not just when physically starting the new role.
• 🔍 Assessing vulnerabilities early on, such as areas of discomfort like public speaking or team building, is key to identifying areas for improvement.
• 📝 Defining a learning agenda and creating a learning plan with a clear timeline helps in systematically absorbing necessary information in a new role.
• 🧐 Matching strategy to the specific situation one finds themselves in, such as startup, turnaround, realignment, or sustaining success, is vital to avoid failure.
• 🏆 Securing early wins is important for boosting credibility, motivation, and creating value for the organization, but requires careful focus and alignment with corporate culture.
• 🤝 Negotiating success with one's boss is necessary to set realistic expectations, align on the situation, and ensure access to adequate resources.
• 🏗️ Achieving alignment within the organization involves understanding and harmonizing the five elements of organizational architecture: strategy, structure, systems, skills, and culture.
• 🤔 Regular self-assessment is essential to maintain balance and avoid common traps such as lack of focus, undefined boundaries, overcommitment, and work avoidance.

Q & A

Why are the first 90 days critical for new leaders according to the book?

The first 90 days are critical for new leaders because they are a period of vulnerability due to a lack of index knowledge about the issues they will face and what is needed to succeed in their new role. Failure to create momentum in this period can lead to an uphill battle for the rest of their tenure.

What is the significance of promoting oneself in a new leadership role?

Promoting oneself in a new role involves mentally transitioning into the new position and leaving the past role and responsibilities behind. It's important because continuing to rely on past strategies and behaviors from previous roles is a common mistake that can hinder success in the new role.

What are the three steps to promote oneself in a new leadership role as suggested by the book?

The three steps are: 1) Establish a clear break point by mentally picturing oneself in the new role and considering the differences in behavior and responsibilities. 2) Set a clear timeline for when to move into the new role and take on new responsibilities. 3) Assess one's vulnerabilities, such as areas where one may need improvement, like public speaking or team-building.

How can a new leader accelerate their learning in a new role?

A new leader can accelerate their learning by defining a learning agenda that includes a focused set of questions they want answers to, identifying promising sources of information, and creating a learning plan with a timeline for what they want to learn at different stages of their first 90 days.

What are the four broad categories of situations a new leader might find themselves in?

The four categories are startup, turnaround, realignment, and sustaining success. Each situation requires a different approach and understanding them helps the leader make early choices about their strategy and priorities.

Why is securing early wins important for a new leader?

Securing early wins is important because it boosts the leader's credibility, motivates the team, and creates value for the organization. It also helps build momentum under the leader's guidance.

What are some common mistakes new leaders make when trying to secure early wins?

Common mistakes include failing to focus by trying to do too much, not taking the business situation into account, not adjusting to the corporate culture, failing to get real wins that matter to the boss, and focusing on the what rather than the how of achieving results.

What is the importance of negotiating success with one's boss?

Negotiating success with one's boss is crucial to ensure that expectations are realistic, both parties are aligned on the situation, and that adequate resources are available to get things done effectively.

How can a leader achieve alignment within an organization?

Achieving alignment involves understanding the five elements of organizational architecture—strategy, structure, systems, skills, and culture—and ensuring they work together effectively. It also requires being like an organizational architect and preparing for a 'sailing trip' by setting goals, choosing strategies, and assembling the right team with the necessary skills.

What are some common mistakes made when building a team?

Common mistakes include keeping the existing team too long without evaluating its effectiveness, not molding the team in flight, not working on organizational alignment and team restructuring in parallel, not holding on to the best people, starting team building before the core team is in place, making implementation-dependent decisions too early, and trying to do everything oneself without seeking help.

How can a leader create coalitions when their success depends on people they don't directly manage?

To create coalitions, a leader needs to learn how to influence people horizontally across the organization, identify key players, understand potential supporters and detractors, and work on bringing people on side. It involves a cycle of gaining allies, increasing resource bases, and reinforcing the likelihood of success.

What strategies can a leader adopt to maintain balance during their first 90 days?

Strategies to maintain balance include regularly performing self-assessments, adopting success strategies discussed in the book, enforcing personal disciplines like planning and evaluation cycles, setting aside time for hard work, and building support systems both at home and within the organization for advice and counsel.