The New Leader's 100-Day Action Plan: How to Take Charge, Build Your Team, and Get Immediate Results, 3rd Edition

INTRODUCTION

An Executive Summary of the Onboarding Process

Are you a veteran CEO taking the reins of your next organization? Or starting a new role as a frontline supervisor? Or are you starting to plan ahead for such a transition? Whether you are joining a new organization from the outside, getting promoted from within, hitting a restart button with your existing team, or mapping out future possibilities, The New Leader's 100-Day Action Plan will help you manage your leadership transition so you can take charge, build your team, and deliver better results faster than anyone thought possible.

We've found that 40 percent of executives hired at the senior level are pushed out, fail or quit within 18 months. It's expensive in terms of lost revenue. It's expensive in terms of the individual's hiring. It's damaging to morale.

—Kevin Kelly, CEO of executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles, discussing the firm's internal study of 20,000 searches.¹

What do these failed leaders not know or see? What do they not do? Why can't they deliver? In most cases, they dig their own holes by missing one or more of the crucial tasks that must be accomplished in their first 100 days. Some don't understand the impact of their early words and actions and inadvertently send their new colleagues the wrong messages. Some focus on finding a new strategy, but fail to get buy-in and fail to build trust with their new team. Some do a lot of work and expend a lot of energy without accomplishing the one or two ...