Right from the Start: Taking Charge in a New Leadership Role (Hardcover)

by Dan Ciampa (Author), Michael Watkins (Author) "Andy arrived at his office earlier than usual that fateful Monday morning..." (more)
Key Phrases: securing early wins, successor syndrome, supportive coalitions, Human Resources, President Truman, Compensation Committee (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
According to Dan Ciampa and Michael Watkins, 64 percent of executives hired form the outside won't make it in their new jobs. While executives from within the ranks know the challenges, culture, and politics of a company, newcomers face a corporate minefield. Right from the Start is Ciampa and Watkins's survival manual for leaders taking starting work at a new company. "Leadership is never easy," they write. "This is never truer than when a new leader enters an organization from the outside and must change its culture in fundamental ways." Through interviews with dozens of corporate leaders who have succeeded or failed in such transitions, the authors provide a strategy for getting it right from the outset.

Ciampa, an independent consultant, and Watkins, a Harvard Business School associate professor, advise three key missions for new leaders: Create momentum; master the ability to learn, convey a vision, and build coalitions; and know and manage yourself well. A fast start is especially crucial. In fact, they say, the most important period starts with the recruitment or interview process and runs through the first six months in a new role. Right from the Start provides plenty of real-life examples of successes and failures, in everything from building coalitions to changing corporate culture. The stories tend to suffer sometimes because the executives remain anonymous. Nonetheless, the book is instructive for business people assuming new management roles. --Dan Ring

Review
"An ordered approach to new leadership assignments that holds value for anyone at the executive level." -- Training, August 1999

"Offers practical advice and inspiration for new managers to help them get off on the right foot and make the most of their new positions." -- Computerworld, August 23, 1999

"This book can help the recently promoted cope with those frightening career moments that arise as soon as you get what you're after." -- BookPage, July 1999

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 316 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business School Press; 1 edition (July 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875847501
• ISBN-13: 978-0875847504
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #350,619 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A 'must read' for any leader entering a new organization, August 24, 1999

By A Customer

I found Right from the Start an extremely well researched and comprehensive set of tools which will greatly benefit any senior executive entering a new organization. It is the only book I have read which so clearly outlines the management pitfalls awaiting any new leader in his first few weeks on the job. I find it hard to imagine how even the most talented and experienced manager could not benefit from such a practical and common sense approach to the challenging task of taking over the leadership reins of a new organization, regardless of its size. As a venture capitalist and LBO investor, I plan to give copies to anybody entering the executive suites of all the companies in which my money is invested.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dealing with leadership succession, December 6, 1999

By	Bill Godfrey (Mt Stuart, TAS Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Here is a book on leadership that has found a gap in the coverage of the plethora of leadership texts that beset us. It is concerned specifically with the transition between leaders, whether to an anointed internal successor or to an outsider. The coverage of both the issues and suggested solutions is thorough, systematic and clear and is based on extensive conversations with people in the situation of taking up a senior leadership role. It is also relatively unsurprising. My only - minor - criticism is that the book is unnecessarily long, largely because it includes a great deal of material that is common to all stages and situations of leadership rather than sticking to the specifics of the transition situation.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great gift for a friend strarting a new job at a new company, April 12, 2000

By	DrewFromNY "drewfromny" (New York, New York USA) - See all my reviews

I bought this book for a friend who was leaving one investment bank to head up a group at another bank. After reading the book, he told me that the situations described and issues discussed were dead on correct. He had thought that the challenges he faced were unique, but amazingly this book had illustrated the many common issues facing managers in a new company and gave useful guidance in how to deal with them. Oddly, he said that he couldn't put the book down--praise usually reserved for a thriller. Evidently, it applies when a book can improve your life as well.