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

The First 90 Days

Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels

by Michael Watkins
(based on 79 customer reviews)

The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels (Hardcover)
Edition: 1
Author: Michael Watkins
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press


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Most useful review as voted by customers:
206 out of 213 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 12/20/04


An antidote to sink or swim

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

89 out of 94 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 4/9/05


Slightly second to Neff & Citrin, worth reading both

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.

33 out of 37 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 1/6/04


Not only for leaders, every position can take advantages!

Great book! You don't have to be a leader, new executive, or senior manager, you may be just a new employee joining to a new company. Regardless the position you are, the ten suggested guidelines from this book still provide you a great deal of practical advice, especially the chapter of 'Negotiate Success', which addresses how you should setup and manage the expectation between you & your new boss. Very helpful.

32 out of 34 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 11/2/03


Roadmap for fast start

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!

24 out of 29 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 11/18/03


Great book!

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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