First 90 Days

Therman Trotman doesn’t want a leader’s first 90 days to look like a parade of meetings, inbox chaos, and forgotten good intentions.

Our continuing series of articles on the first 90 days of leadership generally explores what happens after a leader takes the helm—when the work of observation, relationship building, and cultural alignment begins.

“Your first ninety days actually start before you arrive.” That’s the foundation of Anil Prahlad’s approach to new leadership roles—and it reframes how we think about executive transitions.

When we talk about setting the tone in the first 90 days, few leaders I’ve ever met got it more right than my very first boss—Grover Martin. It was 1984.