You're In Charge — Now What?

The Book

The first 100 days as a CEO — or in any leadership position — are critical for building long-term success.

No matter what your profession or how large your organization, you can expect to experience several first 100 days during your career. The average professional with 35 years of experience today has held six or seven different jobs.

Every shift in the work environment means a fresh start, a new responsibility and a different strategy, often calling on untested skills and untapped resources. A new leadership role means adjusting to different operating processes, management styles and work cultures.

The first 100 days in a new role offer both opportunity and risk. Your normal decisions, informal behavior, actions and reactions will be scrutinized by everyone from employees, customers, suppliers and shareholders to the media, the financial community and the board. Everything you say or do sends a message and establishes expectations.

Not long ago, chief executives could be fairly well assured that they could stay in their roles as long as they wanted, taking their time to make an impact. In today’s harsh environment, CEOs and other senior-level executives have less time to prove themselves and are under far greater scrutiny.

Performance counts more than ever, tenures are shortening, insiders no longer have an advantage and the time you have to prove yourself is short. How do you make certain that what you do in the first 100 days builds a strong enough foundation on which you can build long term success?

You're in Charge — Now What? authors Tom Neff and Jim Citrin have identified a series of eight clear steps for newly appointed leaders to follow and 10 traps to avoid.