First 100 days

"You're in Charge, now what" contains its own version of an 8-point plan:

Prepare yourself during the countdown
Align expectations
Shape your management team
Craft your strategic agenda
Start transforming culture
Manage your boss
Communicate
Avoid common pitfalls

Beyond the plan itself, the most valuable thing about this book is the advice of prominent CEOs who ran the full spectrum of success and failure - from Gerstner to Nasser.

As GE's current CEO Jeff Immelt says:

"Leadership is an intense journey into yourself, particularly if you want to go all the way. It's how far you're going to go, how fast you're going to learn, how muhc you can improve. You never get the top job because of what you know. It's about how fast you can learn and how much you can adapt."

Posted by Editor at 9:09 AM | Permalink

One of the key challenges of the first 100 days is to listen, and to be seen to be listening.
One way to do this is to ask the same questions of all your internal stakeholders.

This conveys a sense of consistency, of rigour, and of fairness...

Writing in CIO magazine, Sam Aruti quotes Carole Hymovitz quoting Kevin Sharer... who asked all his key staff the the following 5 questions when he walked in as CEO of Amgen:

1. “What do you want to keep?�
2. “What do you want to change?�
3. “What do you want me to do?�
4. “What are you afraid I’ll do?�
5. “What else do you want to ask me?�

Just as your first 100 days is a changce for you to inject fresh energy into a business....so it will be a chance for your team to push their agendas and frustrations. If carefully managed, this can be a good thing.

Any new executive will be subject to misled by internal factions...but you can help control the signals you get
with structured questioning...

Posted by Editor at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The quantitative findings that underpinned the First 100 Days research reveal an optimistic and enthusiastic generation of female marketers...building effective teams through empathy and communications skills.

They're team-sensitive: 64 per cent of male marketers concentrate on ‘getting the team right’ compared to 76 per cent of their female counterparts who focus on team management as a priority

They're empathetic: 68 per cent of male respondents believe they can successfully translate customer needs into business targets. 88 per cent of female marketing directors are confident and more optimistic about communicating customer needs.

They take responsibility: 48 per cent of male respondents blame unrealistic targets set by the CEO as the main cause of marketing failure, compared to just 36 per cent of female marketers showing that women are less likely to pass blame if plans go wrong

They're proud to be in marketing: 54 per cent of male respondents feel that the marketing function is highly regarded in business sectors outside FMCG compared to 84 per cent of female marketing directors who are more optimistic about the perception of marketing

They're positive about skill levels: A quarter of male marketers think today’s marketers do not have the skills of their predecessors. Only four percent of women felt the same way, showing more faith in the current generation of marketers

Posted by Editor at 2:55 PM | Permalink