The First 90 Days: Critical success factors for new leaders at all levelsMichael Watkins (Harvard Business School Press, Sept. 18, 2003)Reviewed by admin Mon 24 Nov 08 Bob's Rating: As a keen student of new manager behaviour always on the lookout for new ideas, I picked up “The First 90 Days” with great anticipation. Michael Watkins sets out to provide new managers (he calls them “leaders”) with a 90 day plan for taking over in a new role. There’s lots to recommend this book. There’s also lots to question. In “The First 90 Days”, the author stresses the importance of building momentum during the critical transition phase from new manager to successful manager. A 90 day acceleration plan is suggested that includes 10 transition challenges ranging from “promote yourself” through “score early wins”, to “expedite everyone”. One needs to look further than the title of these challenges as they are often more than what they seem. For example, “promote yourself” has more to do with changing your perspective to fit the new role rather than self-promotion. I particularly liked some of the practical tips included in this book, such as the “Problem Preferences Assessment” which enables the new manager to quickly select the most appropriate and rewarding problem areas to address. Also a suggestion to write yourself a letter as if you had been in the role for three years describing what others said about your success in the role, is a nice way to set a broad vision for the new manager. Chapter 5 “Negotiate Success”, which is all about managing your boss through the 90 day plan, is worth the price of this book alone. I have three areas of criticism. Firstly, whilst the book has a fantastic array of suggestions, strategies, tips etc, I feel it would take more than 90 days to implement them all, let alone do the work that is required in the role. As such, it would make a great text for students of management, but could overwhelm the new manager looking for some quick or directed advice. Secondly, although the author stresses otherwise, the book seems more suited to upper level roles than first line supervisors. For example, Chapter 6 “Achieve Alignment”, looks at quite a sophisticated process of crafting strategy, assessing coherence, assessing adequacy and modifying strategy. Finally, I’d like to see more positive case studies to illustrate rather than the “what went wrong” scenarios provided in a number of chapters. Although in real life, we often learn more from our mistakes, in a teaching role (such as this book) it is far more effective for the reader if he or she can see what works and implement this, rather than what doesn’t. I would recommend this book as an excellent text for management students and a resource for management teachers/educators. If you’re a new manager reading “The First 90 Days”, then go straight to the practical “How to” areas, otherwise your 90 days will be up before you finish reading. |
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