You're in Charge, Now What?: The 8 Point Plan

by Thomas J. Neff and James M. Citrin

Book Overview

When you start a new job, you are in a "temporary state of incompetence," faced with having to do the most when you know the least. Tom Neff and Jim Citrin, two of the world's experts on leadership... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400048664
• ISBN13: 9781400048663
• Release Date: March 2007
• Publisher: Crown Currency
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

You're in charge. Now what?

This is a very good book for new or current managers at any level who need to come into a new position or have a re-starting point if already in position. The book is filled with examples on how to structure your first few months of planning meetings and promoting buy in.

Useful handbook for the new leader

The immediate task for CEOs who land a dream job is making sure it doesn't turn into a nightmare. Authors Thomas J. Neff and James M. Citrin provide a marvelous "executive how-to kit" that draws on their extensive management and consulting experience. They explain everything you need to know about getting off to an excellent start now that you're ensconced in the corner office. While the book is targeted to CEOs, it applies to anyone stepping up to a higher level of leadership. Taking over a new role often means enduring what AOL's Jon Miller describes as a "temporary state of incompetence." Even if your promotion becomes a trial by fire, we believe this book will help you direct the flames and propel your organization to new heights of achievement.

May not be the newest, but I found it the most useful

I bought two books on the first 100 days--this one and "The First 90 Days" by Michael Watkins. I found this book the most useful, and it quickly and immediately inspired me to prepare a succinct 100 day plan broken down into 10 day blocks, for a new $2 billion a year agency. Hence, I completely disagree with those that trash this book and recommend "The First 90 Days" instead of this book. I do find both books useful--read this one first, then cherry pick from Watkins. Sure, anyone can cook a meal with the same ingredients, and sure, there are a number of books on this topic. For me, this book has exactly the right combination of white space, font size, lay-out, progressive structure, and inspiring snippets (including the all-important advocacy for having an in-house revolutionary). I recommend this book be read in conjunction with Robert Buckman's "Creating a Knowledge-Driven Organization," Margaret Wheatley's "Leadership and the New Science" (which Buckman told me inspired his own work), and Clayton Christensen's "The Innovator's Solution" (or you can just read my short summative reviews of those three books).

Important meta messages

It is important to also look beyond the 8 points of this book to its overall meta messages: *Today, the CEO on-board process is a relative manageable and predictable process *During this process a variety of individuals have specific roles and objectives to ensure the CEO's success *There are specific, transferable skills and experiences to get in preparation for the CEO job *More Boards then ever are flexing their newly acquired, legislative muscles. This has resulted in a tremendous amount of CEOs firings. A more cost effective solution would be for Boards to prevent these firings by providing the CEO adequate pre- and on-boarding support. It is correct that, in their most summarized form, these eight points have been written about in literature since centuries. Yet, messages such as these are worth repeating two hundred fifty million times (that is approximately how much it has cost to replace seven top CEO in the last three months) as long as this keeps occurring: *New CEOs make unnecessary mistakes *Boards fire CEOs they only hired a year ago for mistakes which could have been prevented with adequate guidance and counsel *Boards react ("Well, we needed to fire him/her because of mistakes") instead of plan and execute pre-emptive solutions

The Definitive Guide for How to Start New Leadership Roles

You're in Charge-Now What? is a fun read and the magic elixr for anyone about to start a new job; The are clear and entertaining anecdotes about real business leaders, such as Jeff Imelt CEO of GE, Paul Pressler CEO of the Gap, Bob Nardelli CEO of Home Depot, Patricia Russo CEO of Lucent, Ed Zander CEO of Motorola, and Larry Summers President of Harvard University among many more. The advice is wrapped up in a compelling 8 point plan for the first 100 days culminating with the top traps to avoid in starting a new position. When you need advice on how to hit the ground running, this is the perfect book for you.