The conventional 90-day onboarding plan, where new leaders spend the first month on a "listening tour," is no longer viable. Today's tech environment demands that leaders build trust, make decisions, and show tangible outcomes within their first 30 days—shifting from observation to immediate action and impact.
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A new CEO’s first few months are best spent gathering unfiltered information directly from employees and customers across the business. Avoid the trap of sitting in an office listening to prepared presentations. Instead, actively listen in the field, then act decisively based on those firsthand insights.
Rushing to implement a new strategy in a CPO role can be catastrophic. A structured 90-day plan prioritizes understanding nuance first. Spend the first 30 days on customer and team interviews, the next 30 drafting and aligning on strategy, and only begin executing changes in the final 30 days.
When starting a new partnerships role, resist the pressure to show immediate results. Spend the first 90 days on a listening tour with internal teams and external partners to identify systemic patterns and root causes, rather than applying superficial 'Band-Aid' solutions.
In your first 90 days, resist the urge to be the expert. Instead, conduct a "listening tour" by treating the organization as a product you're researching. Ask questions to understand how work gets done, what success looks like, and what challenges exist at a systemic level.
Firms invest heavily in sourcing candidates but fail at onboarding. The crucial first 90 days, when an executive is most vulnerable, are often neglected, treating the hire as a 'done deal' instead of the beginning of a critical integration phase.
The first six months are critical for a senior hire who has skills but lacks internal network and company knowledge. New leaders must prioritize finding a supportive manager and shipping a small project quickly to learn the organizational mechanics, rather than assuming their experience is enough.
When you're hired into a leadership role, it's because the company needs something fixed. Conduct a "listening tour" specifically to understand the underlying issues. This reveals your true mandate, which is often a need for more innovation and faster speed to market.
Instead of tackling a massive six-month project, new PMs should focus on low-lift, high-impact wins. Shipping quickly builds trust and credibility with stakeholders much faster than aiming for perfection on a long-term initiative, which can leave a new PM 'walking on eggshells' until launch.
A new hire's first project was planning a major event happening in three months. This trial-by-fire approach is an effective onboarding method, forcing rapid learning of company systems, team dynamics, and external vendor management, which quickly and effectively integrates the new person into the team.
Pendo's CPO argues that the first 90 days are a critical window for a new leader. You were hired to change things, so you must assess and act quickly on team or strategy adjustments. Delaying beyond this window leads to paralysis, as "no decision is also a decision."
