Richard Hall
At the end of this book, you will understand that the people you meet in these first 60 days, and how you start your relationship with them, will shape your future career. In addition, you will be able to apply discipline and focus to making this honeymoon really fruitful.
Nothing beats ‘new improved’, a breakthrough, anything, but especially the thrill of a new job. My main aim? To help you turn that thrill into a brilliant fast success – and to be thrilled by the whole learning process.
Well, congratulations! Wow! It is a new job. It is a big job. You have all the thrill of anticipation… but… but… When you start this new job as leader or as a senior executive, you will want to create the right impression and set your agenda for change. They did not hire you to do this job and just stand there and look good.
They want a new mind, one opening up new opportunities and, in those critical first 60 days, you can nail it or you can blow it.
Here is how to nail it. 60 days – that is 600 Game of Thrones episodes or 300 two-hour meetings or three blocks of four working weeks, allowing you to conduct:
Oh, and one other thing. In those 60 days, you will also have to do the day job. What I call ‘learn and earn’. The former is what you need to do to create the future, the latter is what you must do now to lead your team through the present.
Yes, busy times. Good luck!
A new job needs a sense of refreshment and insight. You will probably never have asked so many questions or met so many new people who will be eyeing you and trying to work out what you are like. This is a time to dream. To wonder what could really be achieved. But, you still have to hit those budget numbers. Sales are no respecter of your being new. And there is a distinction between being promoted from within and hired from the outside, but you still need to ask the same questions. How can you make things work better?
If you are an internal appointment, make sure you change perceptions of yourself, so you are seen as your own person and a new/bigger version of you, not the same old with a crown.
Those questions you need to ask are the ones we should all be asking anyway but, as the turmoil of day-to-day work intensifies, and the lament ‘I’m so busy I can’t think’ grows more poignant, they do not get asked enough.
So, welcome to being that new broom or that recycled brush. Welcome, and time to do things.
It is time for change; time for new energy. In other words: question time.
There are three things driving our agenda:
Are you asking enough questions? Assess whether you are a question machine. If not, you are not doing your new job.
Get people you meet to disclose their most positive dreams for the future. Get them to imagine what the best could be like. You will be inspired as will they.
Whenever you can, travel to see people – yes, a physical meeting. Seeing the whites of their eyes. Meet people because you will learn more from them when you do.
This is the plan that you start to sell to the key stakeholders prior to making a brilliant presentation about it.
The greatest change you will make to your business is to insist on simplifying things. It worked for Apple. Start by cutting out jargon and acronyms. Then, radically reduce the number of approval points in a business.
The process of learning and moving towards a new and better way of running the business – your way – must be accompanied by the pragmatic reality of running the business as it is – sales, marketing, HR issues, legal issues, cash management, the P&L and performance. You are an architect, for sure, but you are also a judge, surgeon, fireman and counsellor.
There are three keys here:
New is a strange place. New school, new house, new friends, new car… the word new is full of excitement and danger. The unknown is a bit stressful, but the process of learning rapidly is very invigorating in its own right. Here is how to maximise that invigoration and minimise stress.
The key needs are all there.
Make sure you are clear about what the job is or what the company thinks the job is.
The first 60-day phase is one of discovery, planting seeds, establishing some rules, asserting your authority nicely, but firmly and clearly.
Prepare to be very tired. You are on a rapid learning curve.
When not working, make time for:
But avoid being over-entertained (that is a nice way of saying do not eat and drink too much).
The worst thing is for you to get knackered. Do not underestimate the intensity of the new role. When not working, sleep, relax and read something that is not work-related.
You are going to smile a lot, listen a lot and talk quite a lot, too.
Even if you want to go alone into an office and read documents (you can do that late at night can’t you?), you know – don’t you? – that it is the people whom you meet and how you bond with and inspire them that will determine your success.
Being a boss is a different role (if you have not done it before). It is lonely and it is challenging.
It will be surprising if it does not change the way you think.
Here are some housekeeping tips that will make the job work better:
Imagine are on Mastermind. Your specialist subject is your new company. You need to know everything: products, margins, people, history, successes, failures, P&L, etc.
So, it follows that the only thing in business that really makes a difference is how the people work together. Be a people person. Spend your time working with, working on and understanding this key asset.
First of all, stay calm. Your demeanour at the outset will shape your whole relationship with your people, so look and sound confident. Focus on keeping the top and bottom line numbers on track. Do not overpromise. Stay and look calm and confident. The key challenge is in covering a lot of new ground fast and looking in control. But you can do it. Impress and have fun, too.
New executives and, especially, new leaders are vulnerable to being misunderstood during this brief window of exposure. You represent a threat, an opportunity and a challenge to people. They will not know quite what to make of you. Most of all, you stand for uncertainty.
Do not try and please everyone. They will be testing you and just being nice to them will not work effectively by itself for you or them. Show them you are engaged. Focus on being seen there in order to fix things. Look very, very interested.
Look as though you love it! (That is a good start.)
You have to make a decision. You are busy. Take your time. Do not rush. Stay calm. Look at the data. Consult. Listen to others. Do not dither but be thorough and then decide.
Exude feel-good optimism. It is amazing how good it is for those around you. If you have the can-do attitude of a natural problem solver, you will get a lot more out of others.
People are all different. One size does not fit all. There are a lot of TIPs here. Not all will work for you but choose, say, ten that seem right and useful and apply them. Above all, remember everyone is looking at you to see what you are like and what you are likely to do. If nothing else, look confident, interested and as though you are really enjoying yourself.
So, here we get to the heart of it – the essential tools and techniques of having a great 60-day start. Never assume that this will be easy. But your task is to make it seem as though it is no problem for you.
However much you are struggling, conceal this and never let anyone say, ‘I don’t think they’re up to it’ and have any real basis of truth for saying this about you. Of course you will be up to it.
Just act, in the meantime, as though you know you are up to it now. It was Lord Denning – a well-known judge – who was advised early in his career: ‘People pay us for our certainties not for our doubts.’ Look certain not unsure.
Make sure you are seen as being fast – that is, fast in the speed at which you move, talk, think and react. But do not strive for unnecessary speed in deciding on a course of action. Be seen as thorough and painstaking but also show you are the sort of person who thrives on change and crisis.
Avoid looking uncertain (even if you are feeling confused). Those who hired you were voting for confidence, progress and change – so do not disappoint those expectations.
By the way, expect there to be a crisis soon after you join. How do I know? Just that there always is. Always.
Look at the crises at Tesco that Dave Lewis found he was facing, but admire the macho way he grasped a lot of nasty nettles. Be clear (like he was) that you are there to fix it, calmly – using all the resources of your team’s brilliance and experience. Lead, do not just do. The worst thing you can do is create a perception of being a leave-it-to-me leader – a perpetual action person, as opposed to a strategic thinker.
Every second of these early days is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn. (But write it down, so you remember.) Quite soon, you will be the best informed person in the business.
Milk the honeymoon – it is your chance to learn and, even, sometimes to get people to be revealingly indiscreet (this will, of course, never be you). Create a major event at the end of 60 days to celebrate with your team, thank them for their support and share with them some inspiring, positive thinking about the future. Set yourself milestones that you are going to achieve – one milestone every two weeks. That is six milestones to be set in stone. And, finally, do not expect time off or an easy ride. This is the most intensive it will get in the job – as it should be – and, as the Beatles used to sing, it will feel like – ‘Eight Days a Week.’ Good luck!
Set a very clear and simple timetable on day one, which comprises:
You must plan these first 60 days carefully. Make it easy – split it into three 20-day blocks. Alongside these exploratory blocks of activity you will also be called on to do some ‘day work’. Do it smilingly, uncomplainingly, but delegate when you can. Your task is threefold:
Be perceived as setting unreasonably high standards. Do not let anyone think you are a pushover or that less than world-class is good enough.
The energy in a company and the speed at which it can react is what distinguishes winners from losers. Now here is the challenge.
Do not be the headless chicken rushing from place to place, always late and always flustered. In 60 days, convince your people there are three things they must be – faster, simpler and more self-confident.
But faster means measured speed; this is a half marathon, not a sprint; simpler means less process, less paper, easier to do (anyone who says they have lots of initiatives is not focussing on simplicity); self-confidence is not arrogance.
It is about showing the certainty that, by doing things right, you can all win and that nothing is impossible.
Busy – of course you are. You will be concealing it well because the adrenalin is kicking in. But the chances are in what is a much bigger job more people will want some of your time, more issues will come up and more interruptions will fill your life.
In the worst situation of lapsing into multitasking, you will come to the end of a day having been so busy that you cannot think and will be exhausted.
But, in fact, you will not have thought much and you will not have achieved much, either.
So, spend 100 per cent of your attention on each thing you do and then move on to the next thing.
A CEO once said to me that their job was to keep a lot of plates spinning. Do not become a neurotic juggler like they were. It never works.
Psychologists have shown that the great thing about a crisis (like Dunkirk) is it motivates, focuses and bonds a team. Dr Johnson (he wrote the first Dictionary) said:
‘The prospect of imminent execution concentrates the mind wonderfully.’
Yes. Awaiting execution would be a crisis. In the USA, companies like GE got smart at asking how a competitor would most damage them. They expected it would be e-commerce, so they set up a division within each division called destroyyourowncompany.com. Thereby, they created a great defence mechanism against prospective attack.
Get your own team in crisis mode to see how they and you would deal with the totally unexpected.
Selfies are fashionable right now, but you know what? They really work in capturing spontaneity. The best and most relaxed shots are done like this. Be unashamed in capturing the feel and look of the places and people you visit. You are not an automaton, nor are they. So, capture the humanity of the new role.
Prove you are a people-person.
I clasp my Moleskine wherever I go. I like the paper, the size, the feel of it. And I love being able to refer back and see every stray comment I make. However good a memory you have, you will not be able to retain everything. Great notes repay you when you read them over each week. Technology is not always the answer. A tablet is a less useful tool for doodling thoughts.
Be a copious note-taker and a copious thank-you-note sender. When someone gives you golden insights, write a note to say, ‘Thanks – I learnt so much from you.’
Your boss is likely to have been the key in appointing you, although, in the current complexities of business, it is possible you will be in a matrix organisation with two or three bosses and a number of non-executive directors and important shareholders to keep happy.
Even if you are not quite that far up the greasy pole, you will have a significant number of opinionated, experienced and vocal people to meet and explain yourself to.
Do not be frustrated by this. Give it time. Prepare carefully. Be charming and be careful. Do not get nudged into a corner to give special attention to a pet project of theirs. Be discreet. Listen to what they say, which often will throw light on why things are as they are and what mistakes your predecessor made or was blamed for.
Remember that your boss and their opinion of you is critical to your life, whether that always seems fair or not.
You cannot do it all. Indeed, your success will be determined by how well you get others to do things. You must build a team you trust, respect and believe has the talent to do what you are going to ask it to do.
In some cases I know of, a new boss has pretty well cleared out all his old, inherited team; in others, I know by listening, conferring and spending time with them that a disengaged top-team has become a top-performing one.
The decisions you make about your team are much like those that a top football coach has to make. It is hard not to be or feel personal, but do not.
This is a game of human chess. Think very hard about moving the pieces into the right position or you will live to regret getting it wrong. Here is where being empathetic, calm and helpful will pay long-term dividends.
You have 60 days to shuffle, prune, promote and hire your top team. On day 10, assess your options and, every 10 days thereafter, reassess and see how many of those actions that you know are needed you have actually made.
That is just good manners. They are your partners, not just your suppliers. Make sure they understand this distinction. Make sure you get their support. Besides which, they will be a brilliant source of information about you and your market. Ask them to think creatively about how they can help to improve your business.
Without your customers you do not have a business. Get appointments in your diary early on with your top six to ten customers. Be very clear that this is not a time for you to negotiate terms or discuss the relationship in detail, but for you to inform yourself about your business with the help of your most important partners. In my experience, they will enjoy and appreciate the chance for them to talk whilst you listen.
Spend a lot of time talking to customers. They will be the first to tell you what is right and wrong. Too few leaders in business spend enough time with them.
Meetings are not my favourite way of spending my time. This is, mostly, because they are, generally, so badly run and longwinded. (I particularly like the observation about Bill Clinton who apparently loved meetings so much he tried to avoid finishing them.) So, why do meetings go wrong?
There are five reasons:
Get everyone relaxed enough to make a useful contribution. If meetings are not there to make you all work more successfully together, why have them?
You have 60 days or 12 working weeks, so how about six milestones? This will force you to have covered six key must do’s in your learning process – for example:
But you will have to put up with one reality of life, which is this. The more senior you are, the more stuff that you have to handle will be messy.
Just as you are settling down to have a cosy chat with your boss, a crisis with a major customer blows up. Have that cosy chat with your boss, but let your person with the customer say that you are available to have their undivided attention in one hour – and be on time.
Sometimes you will be distracted, but be honest with yourself about how it is really going. Every week, ask yourself, ‘How am I doing in relation to these milestones?’
Do not underestimate the importance of getting everyone together to applaud success. Google has a three-line whip on stopping work at 5 pm on Friday and getting everyone together for a beer, a speech or two and a welcome to any new member of staff. In their European HQ in Zurich, their BBQ is the biggest and most celebratory I have ever seen. There are burgers for billions.
Shortly after you arrive is a good opportunity for a relaxed getting-to-know-you session and, again, at the end of your first 60 days, when you can talk through the simple insights and visions of the future (if you are ready to do this – but do not do it, if you are not ready).
Poor Horta Osório. He is the CEO of Lloyds and seems to have done a pretty good job. But, shortly after he started, he had to take time off, as he had a breakdown through overwork. Whatever else you do, look after your health, reserves and energy.
Without exercise, fresh air, a decent diet and plenty of soothing sleep, you will snap. Think of yourself as being a beautifully crafted Swiss watch. Do not overwind yourself.
There is so much to do. You need a blend of intelligence, curiosity, pragmatism and ambition to succeed. This is a world of high hopes and first impressions. Your biggest dangers will be trying to do too much and missing out on sleep, exercise and good food. This first 60 days is a half marathon, the whole marathon follows.
A word on success – so much of success in business is based around three things:
The next bit is in ‘very small typeface’ because it is often the unspoken truth:
A lot of the things above are horseshit. Because, in truth, it is how you are perceived as doing, not always how you are actually doing that matters. This whole book is to help you be perceived as being better and doing better. No. I am not a cynic, just a realist. Do a great job. Learn. Lead. But, above all, polish the impression that you give people.
Back again. Six things to measure your success during this period are:
1. Have you reached all those milestones? I would be astonished if you had – met all of them that is – but, overall, are you on course? Are you scoring 70 per cent or better? And, most important of all, are you an honest self-assessor? That, most of all, will be your biggest asset in the future
2. Have you met everyone and understood what, why and how they do what they do? The biggest thrill you will have will be in meeting so many interesting people. They will (mostly) want to engage with you, sell you their ideas and their dreams. Your success will be in how well you have got them to open up, confide in you and be excited about the prospects for the business. As a leader, you will succeed through your people, not despite your people. These early meetings will be inspiring and exhausting. They will also be telling – are you able to get the best out of people? Your leader’s journey starts here.
3. Is your boss happy with you? Are they onside and supportive of your broad plans?
Welcome to realpolitik – the pragmatic, not the idealistic, world of management. To do what you want to do, you must have the support of your boss. Do not risk guessing their mood. Get close. Impress them. Keep them involved. But never smother them. Practise brevity.
4. Have you made a real impact and has the impression you have left been positive? I have talked about the importance of the perception people have and their first impressions. Psychologists like Daniel Kahneman who wrote Thinking, Fast and Slow show how it is our unconscious mind, not our rational mind, that does most of the thinking. Initially, we come to a series of intuitive judgements or biases. That is why the first impressions we make matter so much. So:
5. Do you have a one-page simple strategy, vision of success, strategic action plan that is workable and likely to meet the needs of the business in the medium term? No, obviously not on day one you do not but, if it is not your ambition to create this during the first 60 days, it should be. The problem most businesses have, and which most executives compound, is over-complication. There is a perverse intellectual urge we have to say ‘It isn’t as simple as that’. Often it is. Think about the following:
6. Are you fit and ready to make things happen? It was all going so well, but the leader’s energy levels declined, they put on weight and, frankly, could not stand the stress. What an epitaph; do not let that be you. Watch three things:
No, you do not need a nurse to look after you, but you may need a relentless bully in your mind making sure you look after yourself and spend those 60 days feeling great.
Here, in summary, are the top ten things you should do during your first 60 days, the things that, if you did nothing else, would be most useful and helpful.
These 60 days are really important. They are your chance to begin to make a mark and, most of all, to learn a huge amount very fast. So, work hard, write it all down, smile and have fun. And, of course, succeed.
Do you understand what these first 60 days can give you and do you know how to get the most out of them? This is your chance now to revise.
3.129.194.106