Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
Summary:
Whether challenged with taking on a startup, turning a business around, or inheriting a high-performing unit, a new leader's success or failure is determined within the first 90 days on the job.
In this hands-on guide, Michael Watkins, a noted expert on leadership transitions, offers proven strategies for moving successfully into a new role at any point in one's career. The First 90 Days provides a framework for transition acceleration that will help leaders diagnose their situations, craft winning transition strategies, and take charge quickly.
Practical examples illustrate how to learn about new organizations, build teams, create coalitions, secure early wins, and lay the foundation for longer-term success. In addition, Watkins provides strategies for avoiding the most common pitfalls new leaders encounter, and shows how individuals can protect themselves-emotionally as well as professionally-during what is often an intense and vulnerable period.
Concise and actionable, this is the survival guide no new leader should be without.
"Few companies develop a systematic 'on-boarding' process for their new leaders, even though this is a critical function with major organizational implications. Michael Watkins's The First 90 Days provides a powerful framework and strategies that will enable new leaders to take charge quickly. It is an invaluable tool for that most vulnerable time-the transition."
"Every job-private- or public-sector, civilian or military-has its breakeven point, and everyone can accelerate their learning. Read this book at least twice: once before your next transition-before getting caught up in the whirl and blur of new faces, names, acronyms, and issues; then read it again after you've settled in, and consider how to accelerate transitions for your next new boss and for those who come to work for you."
-Colonel Eli Alford, U.S. Army
"Watkins provides an excellent road map, telling us what all new leaders need to know and do to accelerate their learning and success in a new role. The First 90 Days should be incorporated into every company's leadership development strategy, so that anyone making a transition in an organization can get up to speed quicker and smarter."
-Suzanne M. Danielle, Director of Global Leadership Development, Aventis
"Michael Watkins has nailed a huge corporate problem and provided the solution in one fell swoop. The pressure on new leaders to hit the ground running has never been greater, and the likelihood and cost of failure is escalating. Watkins's timing with The First 90 Days is impeccable."
-Gordon Curtis, Principal, Curtis Consulting
"The First 90 Days is a must-read for entrepreneurs. Anyone who's been the CEO of a start-up or early-stage company knows that you go through many 90-day leadership transitions in the course of a company's formative years. In this groundbreaking book, Michael Watkins provides crucial insights, as well as a toolkit of techniques, to enable you to accelerate through these transitions successfully."
-Mike Kinkead, President and CEO, timeBLASTER Corporation, serial entrepreneur, and Cofounder and Trustee, Massachusetts Software Council
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
Good book aimed at managers and leaders, but various parts can also be applied to all new employees.
Customer Rating:
This was a fairly good business book to read. My one main reason for removing one star is that it tends to focus too much on concepts without providing enough concrete real-world examples, anecdotes, and practical advice that I felt like I could take into the workplace. A book like this should help stimulate my "what-if" thought processes and make me want to try applying more actionable ideas to my own situation. Instead, it tends to iterate too much around conceptual notions of managing and leadership. But at various points in most of the chapters, I also found information that would be relevant to all employees who are either starting a new job at a new company or transitioning to a new position at their existing company. Regardless of whether you are starting a new work role as either a leader/manager or non-management employee, the first 90 days at a new job or position is often crucial in determining how you will fare further down the road.
Reading This is Like Watching Paint Dry
Customer Rating:
My mama always says, "you never get a second chance to make a first impression". This is something that every new leader should keep in mind on their first days on the job. Watkins has a strong premise - recognize that the first 90 days in a new job are critical. You must fast track your learning curve, fit into the corporate structure, create a few coalitions, build a team, achieve alignment and negotiate success. Hmm, that stuff sounds really familiar - been there done that - in many other business/leadership books.
This book falls short by using every buzzword in the current system and failing to capture the full attention of the reader. Neither does it offer practical solutions to avoid the pitfalls of negative transitions. The majority of this information can be obtained by the companies Human Resources Director or good co-worker. Reading this book is like watching paint dry - if it's your weekend project the excitement may be there for the first wall but after that you might as well have someone else come in finish the job (just how I felt about reading this book).
I can't get through it
Customer Rating:
This is a formulaic manual for what to do if you get a management type position. Basically, do this, then this, ect. It is extremely dry. I thought it might be of benefit to me even though I already have been in my job almost two years. Wrong. This is a book to read before you start a new management position. It is for corporate management settings, and maybe industrial management, but certainly not retail management. I thought it did have some very good suggestions about interviewing those around you, above, besides and below you, in order to make the greatest impact. In fact, after reading it, I am fairly certain my new boss read it because he pretty much followed the formula to a tee. For most people this book is not going to be relevant, but for the upper echelons of the corporate world, it is likely worthwhile for them to read.
The perfect book for these economic times...
Customer Rating:
With many americans starting new jobs (if they are lucky enough to find one), this is the perfect resource to prepare yourself to start that new job successfully and create a foundation for future growth.
The book is aimed at higher-level positions, but the skills apply to any person who would be in a leadership or managerial role.
The book is a relatively quick read and excellent resource.
Good, but a dime a dozen
Customer Rating:
I appreciate what Michael Watkins has done here. He's written something that's pretty informative and insightful. However, I'm not sure if what he's really presented is anything truly original or truly relevant to any company's CEO. Each CEO has his or her unique style and the reaction presented by his workers will be a unique reaction as well. If you're an up-and-coming CEO, go ahead and buy it, but whether this is a unique product should really be left to the reader.
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