The First 90 Days Book Summary

Book Summary

15 min

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Brief Summary

The first 90 days of transition in a new role are essential for a new leader to secure long term success. In this time period, new leaders should strive to make a positive first impression on their employees and bosses by learning and understand the organization’s challenges and clearly defining goals, expectations, and visions for success. Taking this time to listen, learn, and understand the organization and its employees will help the new leader achieve early wins, form a bond of trust with their employees, and build up positive momentum that will set them up for long term success.

About the Author

Michael D. Watkins is a Canadian author and leading expert on accelerating transitions. He is the author of The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at all Levels and Your Next Move: The Leader's Guide to Successfully Navigating Major Career Transitions. He has worked as a professor at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the Harvard Business School, and INSEAD in France. He is the Professional of Leadership and Organizational Change at the International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland. He has also written for the Harvard Business Review.

Topics

Self Development Management & Leadership

The First 90 Days Book Summary Preview

What You’ll Learn

How to build up momentum, establish a positive first impression, and gain employees’ trust in the first 90 days at a new organization
The importance of listening to employees, learning, and understanding the company before implementing changes
How to tailor strategies and organizational structure to each company’s specific challenges and position on the STARS chart

Who Is This For

First-time executives who want to establish a strong professional reputation
Leaders undergoing a period of significant transition in their careers
CEOS and other business leaders who want to build positive momentum when transitioning into new organizations

Key Insights

When executives transition into a new role, the first 90 days are essential for shaping their long term success in the position and the company. An executive who makes a positive first impression and achieves early wins in the first 90 days will establish trust with his team and generate momentum that will lead to long term success. However, missteps and mistakes can spiral and harm the executive’s ability to form a positive relationship with employees and create successful change. The first 90 days are vital because failure to make a strong transition can harm a leader’s professional reputation, and lead to long-lasting negative effects over the course of their career.

To be successful, new leaders should not jump into action but should use the first 90 days to listen, learn, and understand their new role, their employees, and the goals and organization of the company. While leaders often face pressure to act quickly, they should understand the current status quo, take time to meet with and assess their employees, and work with their bosses to align on a vision for success, before implementing any changes. At first, leaders should aim to secure early wins that are in line with the executive team’s goals and are tailored to the company’s specific challenges. It is important for new executives to align and adjust the company’s organizational structure, establish a strong relationship with their bosses and the executive team, and understand the company’s overall public perception. Focusing on these areas in the first 90 days of transition will lead to long term success for a new leader.

First Impressions Are Vital For Long Term Success

When leaders enter a new role, their first actions are critical. If they utilize their positive moment, they can achieve early wins and set themselves up for long term success, but any negative actions will have far-reaching negative repercussions for themselves and their team.

Like it or not, first impressions matter a great deal. According to Harvard Business School professor and social psychologist Amy Cuddy, new professional relationships begin with two questions. First, employees ask themselves, can I trust this person? Then, they ask, can I respect this person? If leaders want to develop long-lasting, successful professional relationships with their team, providing positive answers to these questions is essential. However, first impressions take only seconds to form. According to some studies, many people even form their first impressions of someone simply by looking at a photograph of them, without even...