The New Leader's 100-Day Action Plan, 5th Edition

CHAPTER 3Take Control of Day One: Make a Powerful First Impression. Confirm Your Entry Message.

Our brains remember information “presented first and last and have an inclination to forget the middle items.”¹ People will remember vividly their first impressions of you and their last interaction with you. Although you can update their last interaction constantly, you are going to be stuck with those first impressions. So be careful when choosing them. Be careful about the messages you send with your words, with your actions, with the order of your actions, and with the signs and symbols you deploy.

This is why Day One is such a meaningful pivot point for onboarding. Many people who are important to your new role will form their first, indelible impression of you on this day. As with the fuzzy front end, reconnect with your own behavior, relationship, attitude, value, and environment (BRAVE) preferences and approach, and think carefully about whom you are encountering and already starting to influence.

There is no one right way to manage your Day One, but there are many wrong ways to do it. It is all about the first impression received. Different people will have different impressions of the same thing depending on their perspective and filters. The problem is that before your first interactions with them, you can't understand their perspective and filters. So not only is there ...