Leadership2 min read
The first hundred days are a myth. The first eighteen months are not.
New leaders are told to move quickly. The evidence suggests the ones who last are the ones who learn slowly and act decisively, in that order.
By Avier Partners
The idea of the hundred-day plan has an enduring appeal. It promises a new leader a clear structure, a set of early wins, and a way to demonstrate momentum to a watching board.
It is also one of the most reliable ways to get a new appointment off to the wrong start.
Why speed is overrated
The pressure to act quickly comes from a good place. Boards appoint new leaders because something needs to change, and nobody wants to wait. But a leader who makes significant decisions in the first three months is almost always making them with incomplete information about the people, the politics and the real constraints of the organisation.
Some of those decisions will be right. Enough of them will be wrong to damage credibility at precisely the moment it is most fragile.
Learn slowly, then act decisively. The order matters more than the speed.
The eighteen-month arc
Look across leadership transitions that succeed over the long term and a different pattern emerges. The first six months are spent listening, building relationships and understanding how decisions really get made. The second six months are spent making a small number of significant, well-prepared changes. The final six months are about consolidating those changes and building the team that will deliver the next phase.
This is why we stay close to every executive we place for eighteen months rather than ninety days. It is also why we encourage boards to set expectations accordingly, and to resist the temptation to judge a new leader by what they have changed in their first quarter.
What boards can do
The single most useful thing a board can do for a new leader is to be explicit about time. Agree, at the point of appointment, what success looks like at six, twelve and eighteen months. Make clear which early decisions are expected and which can wait. And give the new leader a trusted non-executive to talk to candidly, outside the formal rhythm of board meetings.
What new leaders can do
For the leader, the discipline is harder. It means resisting the urge to prove oneself through action, and instead earning authority through understanding. The most effective new leaders spend their first months asking questions, visiting operations, and meeting people several layers below the executive team.
When they do act, the organisation is ready. That is worth far more than a hundred-day plan.
