Great Change

CHAPTER 5Creating your 90-day blueprint

Even if you're supremely sensitive to the world around you, and subsequently capable of developing an awesome strategic response, many of the people you lead will judge you on what you do in your first 90 days. This is the period during which your closest team will judge your character, competence and overall cultural style. They will scrutinise the decisions you make (or not), the confidence and professionalism of your approach, and ultimately, whether they're prepared to follow you. It's therefore critical that you have a thorough plan for how you'll approach your first 90 days so that you finish it with a clear understanding of the major issues at hand, you make a meaningful connection with the people in your new team and you build a sense of momentum that the future will be positive.

Making an impact

It's early 1951, and General Douglas MacArthur, commanding Korean war operations from his headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, has taken a gamble. He has ordered his seven US infantry divisions (when the United States has only 12 divisions in total across the globe) north towards the Communist Chinese border, where an army of 253 divisions — totalling five million men — awaits his arrival. What could possibly go wrong?

By mid December 1951, 30 000 US troops have been encircled and attacked by 120 000 Communist Chinese troops. The battle of Chosin Reservoir has just played out, being fought over some of the roughest terrain of Korea, during ...