Author
Michael D. Watkins
The professor who made the first ninety days in a new role a discipline with its own playbook.
1 book on BookYol
The story and the impact
Michael Watkins is a professor of leadership and organisational change at IMD in Switzerland and previously taught at Harvard Business School, where his research focused on how leaders take charge in new roles.
The First 90 Days, published in 2003 and updated in 2013, turned that research into a transition playbook, learn before acting, diagnose the situation, secure early wins, negotiate success with your boss, and became a standard text for executives changing jobs.
He co-founded Genesis Advisers, a firm that works with leaders and organisations on transitions, and has written several further books on leadership and negotiation.
The signature
Watkins writes as a researcher with a checklist: situation types, traps, a schedule for the first weeks. His signature is the claim that the transition is the leader's period of greatest vulnerability, and that what got you promoted is the most likely thing to sink you.