The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter, Updated and Expanded

“The good news on transitions is that they give you a chance to start afresh and make needed changes in an organization. But transitions are also periods of acute vulnerability, because you lack established working relationships and a detailed understanding of your new role.”

Watkins highlights the dual nature of leadership transitions: they offer an opportunity for a fresh start and organizational change, yet they also present vulnerability due to unfamiliarity with the new role and relationships. Watkins juxtaposes the positive and negative to make the negatives appear more foreboding, prompting the reader to engage with the book’s advice.

“You spend too much time focused on learning about the technical part of the business and not enough about the cultural and political dimensions of your new role. You don’t build the cultural insight, relationships, and information conduits you need if you’re to understand what is really going on.”

Watkins discusses Avoiding Common Transition Traps: an excessive focus on technical aspects of the business, often at the expense of understanding the cultural and political dynamics within the organization. He emphasizes the need to strike a balance between acquiring technical knowledge and developing cultural insight and relationships. This underscores the holistic approach of the text.

“Transition failures happen because new leaders either misunderstand the essential demands of the situation or lack the skill and flexibility to adapt to them.”

Watkins identifies a core reason behind transition failures: leaders' misconceptions about the challenges they face in their new roles. This underscores the critical importance of understanding and adapting to the unique demands of a leadership transition. The diction in this passage is simple rather than technical, such as “failures” or “skill and flexibility,” to appeal to a broad range of readers making leadership transitions in a variety of areas.

“It’s a mistake to believe that you will be successful in your new job by continuing to do what you did in your previous job, only more so.”

Watkins emphasizes that success in a new leadership role doesn't come from reproducing one's previous work practices and behaviors. Instead, it requires a fundamental shift in approach, wherein the new leaders must realize the fact that the requirements and challenges of the new role may be drastically different. Watkins warns new leaders about Avoiding Common Transition Traps—in this case, clinging to what worked in their prior positions—and advises them to unlearn, relearn, and adapt themselves to the demands of their new role.

“The sooner you understand the business environment in which you’re operating, the sooner you can make productive contributions.”

Watkins underscores the importance of swiftly grasping the nuances of one's new business environment, laying the foundation for the theme of Accelerating the Learning Curve to Excel in a New Leadership Role. By gaining insights into the unique dynamics, culture, and challenges of their new organization, leaders can make informed decisions and take actions that align with the company's objectives, accelerating their ability to add value and succeed in their roles. Watkins uses anaphora (“the sooner”) to establish the urgent temporal parameters of the book that reflect the “90 days” in the title, reinforcing his broader argument that leaders have a short amount of time to carve out their role before problems occur.

“One way to pinpoint your vulnerabilities is to assess your problem preferences—the kinds of problems toward which you naturally gravitate.”

Watkins advises that leaders can identify their vulnerabilities by recognizing their inclinations towards certain types of problems or challenges. By understanding the kinds of issues that they naturally prefer or avoid, leaders can gain insights into their problem-solving tendencies. This point exemplifies Watkins’s incorporation of psychological principles into business advice; in this case, suggesting that self-awareness is essential in a leadership transition because it enables individuals to address their potential ignorance and adapt their problem-solving approach to effectively deal with the demands of their new roles.

“When a new leader derails, failure to learn effectively is almost always a factor.”

Watkins highlights the critical role of Accelerating the Learning Curve to Excel in a New Leadership Role. When a leader fails to thrive, the inability to learn and adapt to the new environment is often a significant contributing factor. He uses the metaphor of “derails” to heighten the sense of the stakes involved in the learning curve.

“An actionable insight is knowledge that enables you to make better decisions earlier and so helps you quickly reach the break-even point in personal value creation.”

Watkins emphasizes the concept of actionable insight as a crucial element for leaders in transition. These insights are pieces of knowledge that empower leaders to make informed decisions and reach the “break-even point” in their role more swiftly. The financial metaphor simplifies the concept of a leader’s inputs equating to their outputs, making it easier to comprehend.

“The first question is; what kind of change am I being called upon to lead? Only by answering this question will you know how to match your strategy to the situation. The second question is; what kind of change leader am I? Here the answer has implications for how you should adjust your leadership style.”

Watkins highlights two crucial questions for leaders in transition. The first question pertains to the nature of the change they are expected to lead. The second question concerns the leader's self-awareness, focusing on their leadership style and how it should adapt to effectively address the change situation. Watkins frequently uses rhetorical questions such as this to prompt the reader to relate the contents of the book to their own leadership challenges.

“Negotiating success means proactively engaging with your new boss to shape the game so that you have a fighting chance of achieving desired goals.”

The term “negotiating success” implies that leaders should take an active role in shaping their working dynamics, aligning expectations, and defining goals. By doing so, they increase their chances of achieving the desired outcomes in their new role. Watkins uses the active, conflict-oriented verbs of “negotiating” and “fighting” to emphasize the potential struggles of being proactive.

“Whatever your own priorities, figure out what your boss cares about most. What are his priorities and goals, and how do your actions fit into this picture? Once you know, aim for early results in those areas.”

Watkins advises that understanding one's boss's priorities and aligning personal actions with them is key to early success in a new leadership role. This guidance underscores the importance of not only comprehending the organizational objectives but also knowing how your role contributes to those goals. Watkins uses the masculine pronoun “his” to refer to a boss; the book hence reinforces patriarchal dynamics that represent men in leadership roles.

“Leaders in transition understandably are eager to get things moving. Thus, they naturally tend to focus on the problems that are easiest to fix quickly. This tactic is fine, up to a point. But be careful not to fall into the low hanging fruit trap. This trap catches leaders when they expend most of their energy seeking early wins that don’t contribute to achieving their longer-term business objectives.”

Watkins cautions new leaders against fixating solely on easily solvable problems in their quest for quick results. While addressing these “low hanging fruit” issues can provide immediate satisfaction, he argues that it's crucial not to lose sight of the bigger, long-term goals. This metaphor of the fruit creates an illustrative picture of this common trap, aiming to make it easier for readers to identify the “low hanging fruit” in their own leadership scenarios.

“If you achieve impressive results in a manner that is seen as manipulative, underhanded, or inconsistent with the culture, you’re setting yourself up for trouble.”

Watkins emphasizes the importance of not only achieving results but also considering the means through which those results are attained. He argues that success achieved through manipulative or culturally inconsistent methods can ultimately backfire. This point emphasizes The Significance of Building a High-Performing Team since Watkins emphasizes that the collective response is as important as the actions of the individual.

“Early actions often get transformed into stories, which can define you as hero or villain. Do you take the time to informally introduce yourself to the support staff, or do you focus only on your boss, peers, and direct reports? Something as simple as this action can help brand you as either accessible or remote.”

Watkins highlights the significance of personal actions early in a leadership transition, which can shape the narrative that surrounds you within the organization. The literary terms of “hero” and “villain” create a simple binary regarding how a leader is seen, thereby attempting to convince the reader to choose the “heroic” actions. This underscores the importance of building relationships at all levels within the organization.

“No matter how charismatic you are as a leader; you cannot hope to do much if your organization is fundamentally out of alignment. You will feel as if you’re pushing a boulder uphill every day.”

Watkins emphasizes the critical role of organizational alignment in a leader's success. He suggests that even the most charismatic leader will struggle to make a significant impact if the organization's fundamental structure and processes are not aligned with their goals. The metaphor of “pushing a boulder uphill” alludes to the Greek myth of Sisyphus, conveying the immense challenges faced when working in a misaligned environment.

“The temptation is great for newly appointed leaders to make rapid, visible changes to strategies or structures, whether or not these elements are the right areas for focus. Often, leaders feel self-imposed pressure to put their stamp on the organization and seek to make changes before they really understand the business; it’s ready, shoot, aim. Once again, the action imperative creates a sure recipe for disaster.”

Watkins cautions against the impulse to make hasty and visible changes as a new leader, emphasizing the need for a deep understanding of the organization before implementing any alterations. He highlights the “ready, shoot, aim” approach, which uses humor in scrambling the convention of “ready, aim, shoot” to signify taking action before proper assessment. This insight underscores the importance of informed and strategic decision-making.

“The most important decisions you make in your first 90 days will probably be about people. If you succeed in creating a high performance team, you can exert tremendous leverage in value creation. If not, you will face severe difficulties, for no leader can hope to achieve much alone. Bad early personnel choices will almost certainly haunt you.”

Watkins underscores the critical role of people-based decisions during a leadership transition. He emphasizes The Significance of Building a High-Performing Team to achieve success, as a new leader's effectiveness largely depends on their team's performance. The point that “no leader can hope to achieve much alone” underscores the book’s wider lessons about leadership being about the collective rather than the individual.

“Having the right people on the team is essential, but it’s not enough. To achieve your agreed-to priorities and secure early wins, you need to define how each team member can best support those key goals.”

Watkins’s points underscore the importance of aligning individual contributions with overarching objectives. He uses didactic language of “you need” to emphasize these ideas and prompt the reader to take action. By clarifying and optimizing each team member's role, a leader can ensure that the team collectively works towards shared goals efficiently and effectively, which plays a critical role in successful leadership transition.

“Discipline yourself to invest in building up ‘relationship bank accounts’ with people you anticipate needing to work with later. Think hard about whether there are people you haven’t met who are likely to be critical to your success.”

Watkins emphasizes the importance of investing time and effort in building positive relationships with key individuals. He introduces the concept of “relationship bank accounts,” using another financial metaphor—similar to “break-even”—to simplify the concept of networking and suggest its transactional nature. He argues that by thinking ahead and identifying “pivotal” individuals, leaders can establish a foundation of trust and collaboration, making the transition smoother and more successful.

“Keep in mind, too, that success in winning over adversaries can have a powerful, symbolic impact. ‘The enemy who is converted to the ally’ is a powerful story that will resonate with others in the organization. (Another example is the story of redemption—for example, helping a person who has been marginalized or labeled as ineffective prove himself.)”

Watkins highlights the strategic significance of turning adversaries into allies during a leadership transition. He uses warlike language of “enemy” and “ally” to heighten the stakes of relationship-building and elevate the significance of an organization leader. The “story of redemption” is less rousing and therefore placed in parentheses to separate it from the militarism of converting enemies to allies.

“If you fail to establish solid boundaries defining what you are willing and not willing to do, the people around you—bosses, peers, and direct reports—will take whatever you have to give. The more you give, the less they will respect you and the more they will ask of you—another vicious cycle.”

Watkins emphasizes the importance of setting clear boundaries in a new leadership role to avoid falling into a vicious cycle of over commitment and diminishing respect. As leaders become increasingly accommodating, their perceived value diminishes, and demands on them intensify. Watkins uses the dashes in the sentence to illustrate such boundaries typographically; the “bosses, peers, and direct reports” are physically separated from the leader within the sentence.

“No leader, no matter how capable and energetic, can do it all. You need a network of trusted advisers within and outside the organization with whom to talk through what you’re experiencing. Your network is an indispensable resource that can help you avoid becoming isolated and losing perspective.”

Watkins underscores the importance of building a network of trusted advisers to navigate the complexities of a new leadership role. His use of the second person “you” in this sentence forms a direct address that creates a sense of the author being part of this network “outside the organization,” aiming to engage the reader with his advice.

“Whether the focus is on risk management, performance improvement, change implementation, or all three, companies have a big stake in accelerating transitions at every level—internally and externally, individually and organizationally. This means that they should manage leadership-transition acceleration as they would any critical business process—by putting in place the right framework, tools, and systems to accelerate everyone.”

Watkins emphasizes that organizations should prioritize and manage leadership transitions as a critical business process. He uses the rhetorical device of tripling twice in this section—”risk management, performance improvement, change implementation” and “framework, tools, and systems”—to make the advice memorable and concise.