Your First 100 Days In a New Executive Job: Powerful First Steps On The Path to Greatness

I would highly recommend this book.Robert Hargrove is the kind of writer that Pablo Neruda once described "The books that help you most are those which make you think the most, a great book that comes from a great thinker is a ship of thought, deep freighted with truth and beauty."I am deeply grateful of this book as it became my thinking partner during my first 100 days in my current new job. The way the book is written and structured, it almost take you step by step, open the doors and provides insightful and very practical advice on how to establish yourself day one and “Porte Ta place” – “Take your seat at the table”. It cuts quickly to the core, brings lights into the things that have the most value and if applied can make all the difference in the first 100 days.

The book has great advice. In taking a new role supporting an executive, I wanted to know more of how executives think and operate. This book gave me some great ideas in preparing for future career moves into leadership.

The opening excerpt of Chapter 8 of the book, YOUR FIRST 100 DAYS IN A NEW EXECUTIVE JOB by Robert Hargrove, really sums up what this book is all about;-Every year thousands of managers make transitions into new jobs. The actions that they and other new managers take during their first few months have a big impact on their success or failure. From 1999 to 2006, the average tenure of departing chief executive officers in the United States dropped from 10 years to about 8 years. Although some CEOs stay over three years, a lot of them find that their duty in the corner office is surprisingly short. In 2006, for instance, about forty percent of CEOs who lost jobs had lasted an average of just 1.8 years, according to a study by the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Survival for the lower half of this group was only eight months.-They were ushered out the door because they appeared unable to improve the business's performance. Nobody these days gets much time to show what he or she can do. So within the first 100 days at most, incoming CEOs and general managers must zero in on ways to increase market share, overtake competitors, and impact profitability - whatever the key tasks may be.If you are taking on a new leadership role, whether in business, politics, sports or the military, this jewel of a book will provide you with essential information to make your transition successful. You will learn how to structure goals for what the author calls your "impossible future" while simultaneously performing your "day job" and putting quick wins under your belt to set the tone for your new position.The first 100 days at a new position can be overwhelming. Not only are you trying to set yourself for being successful and extremely productive in your new position, you also have learn the culture, evaluate your team and determine your priorities. One of the best take-aways of this book is Executive Time Management covered in chapter 9. The author implements Stephen Covey's 4 Quadrants of time management as well as breaking down what is "important" into 4 quadrants of Executive Time Management. Another Covey essential habit discussed here is beginning with the end in mind and working your way back to find where to start.I highly recommend this book to anyone taking over a new executive level position, be it in politics, sports or business. This will really assist you to make your first 100 a success and put you on track to really make a difference.

Political bias taints what is otherwise a fairly good book. It was very distracting, especially towards the beginning. The author should have stuck to the purpose of the book. There are also what seem to be some self-congratulatory statements made in certain sections that I felt were unneeded.That said, there are some good points and methodologies covered, which I am using right now in my first 100 days as a new executive.

I don't read a lot of "coaching" or "self help" books but this was a great read and had a ton of useful info. In fact, I dog-ear-ed so many pages, I may have to re-read the whole book!

Some useful information, with a split political and business focus. Occasional grammatical and spelling errors do not detract significantly from the content.

This is a book to be read before, during and even after being a manager! It's just very good. It guides you through several aspect many managers comes across with and most of the time they don't know the way out!

I have re-read this book several times in my career. Each time it has reminded me of the myriad challenges that lie ahead. Equally important, the mental, operational, and political success strategies it contains are invaluable. It’s got a permanent place on my reference bookshelf.