Quote
“The actions you take during your first few months in a new role will largely determine whether you succeed or fail.”— Michael D. Watkins, in The First 90 Days (2003) · The First 90 Days →
Why it was said
Michael Watkins opens The First 90 Days with this premise, drawn from studying leaders in transition. It is the reason he treats the start of a role as a distinct problem with its own playbook.
What it actually means
A new role is judged early, by people who have less information than they will later and who form their view anyway. Watkins's point is not that the first months are hard but that they are disproportionate: the same effort spent in month two moves more than it will in month twelve, because that is when the relationships, the diagnosis and the first visible win are set. The sentence turns the transition from something to survive into something to plan.
How to use it
- 1Write a ninety-day plan for a new role: learn first, then choose the one early win, then build the alliances.
- 2Meet every stakeholder in the first month and ask what success looks like from where they sit.