The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Whether challenged with taking on a startup, turning a business around, or inheriting a high-performing unit, a new leader's success or failure is determined within the first 90 days on the job. In this hands-on guide, Michael Watkins, a noted expert on leadership transitions, offers proven strategies for moving successfully into a new role at any point in one's career. "The First 90 Days" provides a framework for transition acceleration that will help leaders diagnose their situations, craft winning transition strategies, and take charge quickly. Practical examples illustrate how to learn about new organizations, build teams, create coalitions, secure early wins, and lay the foundation for longer-term success. In addition, Watkins provides strategies for avoiding the most common pitfalls new leaders encounter, and shows how individuals can protect themselves-emotionally as well as professionally-during what is often an intense and vulnerable period.Concise and actionable, this is the survival guide no new leader should be without. 'Few companies develop a systematic 'on-boarding' process for their new leaders, even though this is a critical function with major organizational implications. Michael Watkins' "The First 90 Days" provides a powerful framework and strategies that will enable new leaders to take charge quickly. It is an invaluable tool for that most vulnerable time-the transition' - Goli Darabi, Senior Vice President, Corporate Leadership & Succession Management, Fidelity Investments.'Every job - private - or public-sector, civilian or military - has its breakeven point, and everyone can accelerate their learning. Read this book at least twice: once before your next transition - before getting caught up in the whirl and blur of new faces, names, acronyms, and issues; then read it again after you've settled in, and consider how to accelerate transitions for your next new boss and for those who come to work for you' - Colonel Eli Alford, U.S. Army.'Watkins provides an excellent road map, telling us what all new leaders need to know and do to accelerate their learning and success in a new role. "The First 90 Days" should be incorporated into every company's leadership development strategy, so that anyone making a transition in an organization can get up to speed quicker and smarter' - Suzanne M. Danielle, Director of Global Leadership Development, Aventis. 'Michael Watkins has nailed a huge corporate problem and provided the solution in one fell swoop. The pressure on new leaders to hit the ground running has never been greater, and the likelihood and cost of failure is escalating. Watkins' timing with The First 90 Days is impeccable' - Gordon Curtis, Principal, Curtis Consulting.'"The First 90 Days" is a must-read for entrepreneurs. Anyone who's been the CEO of a start-up or early-stage company knows that you go through many 90-day leadership transitions in the course of a company's formative years. In this groundbreaking book, Michael Watkins provides crucial insights, as well as a toolkit of techniques, to enable you to accelerate through these transitions successfully' - Mike Kinkead, President and CEO, time BLASTER Corporation, serial entrepreneur, and Cofounder and Trustee, Massachusetts Software Council.

Customer Reviews: Read 74 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

An antidote to sink or swim December 20, 2004
205 out of 212 found this review helpful

This book is not just for managers at the executive level. It's also for you and me. It's for functional managers, project managers, and supervisors. The book targets new leaders at all levels that are making the transition from one rung of the ladder to the next.

If you have just been promoted to a new leadership position (or expect to be soon), then this book is for you.

The book outlines ten strategies that will shorten the time it takes you to reach what Watkins calls the breakeven point: the point at which your organization needs you as much as you need the job. Here they are ... the ten strategies:

1. PROMOTE YOURSELF. Make a mental break from your old job. Prepare to take charge in the new one. Don't assume that what has made you successful so far will continue to do so. The dangers of sticking with what you know, working hard at doing it, and failing miserably are very real.

2. ACCELERATE YOUR LEARNING. Climb the learning curve as fast as you can in your new organization. Understand markets, products, technologies, systems, and structures, as well as its culture and politics. It feels like drinking from a fire hose. So you have to be systematic and focused about deciding what you need to learn.

3. MATCH STRATEGY TO SITUATION. There are no universal rules for success in transitions. You need to diagnose the business situation accurately and clarify its challenges and opportunities. The author identifies four very different situations: launching a start-up, leading a turnaround, devising a realignment, and sustaining a high-performing unit. You need to know what your unique situation looks like before you develop your action plan.

4. SECURE EARLY WINS. Early victories build your credibility and create momentum. They create virtuous cycles that leverage organizational energy. In the first few weeks, you need to identify opportunities to build personal credibility. In the first 90 days, you need to identify ways to create value and improve business results.

5. NEGOTIATE SUCCESS. You need to figure out how to build a productive working relationship with your new boss and manage his or her expectations. No other relationship is more important. This means having a series of critical talks about the situation, expectations, style, resources, and your personal development. Crucially, it means developing and gaining consensus on your 90-day plan.

6. ACHIEVE ALIGNMENT. The higher you rise in an organization, the more you have to play the role of organizational architect. This means figuring out whether the organization's strategy is sound, bringing its structure into alignment with its strategy, and developing the systems and skills bases necessary to realize strategic intent.

7. BUILD YOUR TEAM. If you are inheriting a team, you will need to evaluate its members. Perhaps you need to restructure it to better meet demands of the situation. Your willingness to make tough early personnel calls and your capacity to select the right people for the right positions are among the most important drivers of success during your transition.

8. CREATE COALITIONS. Your success will depend on your ability to influence people outside your direct line of control. Supportive alliances, both internal and external, will be necessary to achieve your goals.

9. KEEP YOUR BALANCE. The risks of losing perspective, getting isolated, and making bad calls are ever present during transitions. The right advice-and-counsel network is an indispensable resource

10. EXPEDITE EVERYONE. Finally, you need to help everyone else - direct reports, bosses, and peers - accelerate their own transitions. The quicker you can get your new direct reports up to speed, the more you will help your own performance.

This book is not only relevant on the individual level. This transition process for new managers happens so often that it should be handled with more professionalism by (big) organizations. Whereas we as managers try to work actively with introduction programmes and training for new employees, then many managers must face their transition challenge alone. It shouldn't be like that. The "sink or swim" approach should be doomed.

Peter Leerskov,
M.Sc. in International Business (Marketing & Management) and Graduate Diploma in E-business

4 out of 5 stars

Slightly second to Neff & Citrin, worth reading both April 9, 2005
89 out of 94 found this review helpful

This is a fine book with a lot of substance, and I place it slightly second to Thomas Neff and James Citrin's "You're in Charge--NOW WHAT?."

From my point of view as the reader, Neff & Citrin actually catalyzed me and inspired me into preparing a 100 day plan broken into 10 ten-day blocks, while Watkins is more of a manual with lots of useful checklists and suggested questions and so on, but between the two, Neff & Citrin actually drove me to the needed outcome: my own 100 day plan.

Both are good. If you buy only one, buy Neff & Citrin, but I do recommend that you buy both, read Neff & Citrin first, and then cherry pick from Watkins--the cost of these books is trivial in comparison to the return on investment.

5 out of 5 stars

Roadmap for fast start November 1, 2003
32 out of 34 found this review helpful

I am the CEO of a successful holding company involved in diversification. I was drawn to this book because I was looking for a roadmap for leaders to jump start their success. This wonderful book provides the necessary critical strategies. I recommend that leaders on all levels read this book and another, Optimal Thinking: How To Be Your Best Self to understand the shortcomings of suboptimal thinking in corporate culture and to create a team of optimizers who optimize every situation. Five stars for each of these books!

3 out of 5 stars

First 90 Days came up short... December 31, 2005
30 out of 32 found this review helpful

I bought "The First 90 days" by Michael Watkins and Neff/Citrin's book titled "You're in Charge - Now What." I found Neff's book to be a stronger and more practical guide. Both offered excellent guidance however Neff & Citrin produced a more interesting and readable (less text-book like) book with real life examples and a road map. Word of warning in that both books are written for senior business management and less applicable for lower levels of management or line positions.

5 out of 5 stars

Great book! November 18, 2003
24 out of 29 found this review helpful

As an author who writes and lectures on success, personal achievement, and leadership I try to crack open as many books on these topics as I can. But separating the wheat from the chaff if often a struggle in the first instance; with all of the books coming out these days you never know what you are going to get! But having read Michael Watkins material before when I was completing my MBA some years back, it was an easy choice.

Watkins really has put together a wonderful piece of literary insight that address critical leadership success issues and provides excellent techniques for men and women who have, are about to, or are aspiring to get hold of the reigns. I highly recommended it!

Reviewed by: James L. Clark, MBA, MSc., PhD Candidate is a serial infopreneur whose book Wading Through The Crap: How To Start Living The Successful Life You Have Always Wanted (ISBN 0972697551) has received rave reviews. Accelerate your success online and off by applying James' battle-tested and proven personal development strategies and you'll see amazing results immediately too!

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