![By [Watkins Michae] First 90 Days Updated and Expanded](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/W/IMAGERENDERING_521856-T1/images/I/31GtpJnesgL._AC_UL160_SR160,160_.jpg)
I liked the focus on the first 90 days in a new managerial role: tips for building credibility quickly, and tips for embarking on fixing what needs fixing while preserving what needs preserving. I liked the idea of breaking the first 90 days into 30-day chunks, with subplans for each stage. I liked the STaRS model as a way to characterize the situation: Startups where the whole group is creating something new; Turnarounds where you've got a fixer-upper and they know it; Realignments where they need some course corrections but not everyone knows or agrees; and Sustaining success where they're doing well and need to maintain it and grow. It was a useful model for comparing the likely challenges, opportunities, and areas of focus. I liked the insight that the STaRS model can apply at multiple levels: from a single project to a divisional unit to the whole company.
One aspect of the STaRS model struck me as needing elaboration. Different STaRS situations were, in part, characterized by whether the people involved agreed on how well things were going and what direction to take. That seemed unrealistically oversimplified. There'll often be people who are on board and those who aren't. The question is who. Maybe senior management has a consensus, but your staff doesn't. Maybe your staff has a consenus, but it's not the same as management's, and then your key customers have yet another view. Sometimes you've got overall consensus in one group or another, but one or two key people within the group see the situation differently. With each of the four situations in the STaRS model, it should be important to know where you have agreement on status and directions, and where you don't.
The book had its weak spots. Sometimes, the advice was overly simplistic, to the point that it felt like padding. I should set realistic goals? I should ask good questions? No kidding, really? I wouldn't think that anyone in a new managerial role would consciously plan to set bad goals and ask bad questions. (Their goals and questions might turn out to be bad, but they didn't go into the situation wanting to do the job poorly.) Also, the author's advice sometimes strayed quite far from business. Talk to me about the different challenges facing startups and turnarounds, sure, but I don't think he's qualified to tell me how to maintain a work-life balance (Chapter 9).
I had hoped the checklists at the end of each chapter would offer practical steps toward creating and implementing a 90-day plan, including good tips on when to do various things. Instead, the checklist items were rather nebulous and non-directive. The "checklist" label was a misnomer, compared to what I normally expect from a checklist. With each new chapter, I spent less and less time reading the checklist.
The anecdotes that started each chapter didn't do anything for me. Every one of them fell into one of two forms: a) Jane Doe succeeded by doing what I'm about to tell you to do, or b) Jane Doe failed by not doing what I'm about to tell you to do. They felt like simplistic self-justification, not insightful explorations of the advice being offered.
I would have liked some summary comparisons, for later reference and reminder, of the different STaRS situations, and a summary structure for the elements of the 90-day plan. This is all stuff that was strewn throughout the book, but some reference summaries would have been helpful.
All in all, though, there was good advice in the book, especially in comparing different aspects of the STaRS model. The book is suitable for anyone in a new leadership role. I don't see why some people are saying this is for senior leadership only. A new front-line supervisor could benefit from a 90-day plan too.
The Kindle version worked pretty well. I saw that some older reviews of the Kindle version complained about badly formatted tables and so on. That appears to have been resolved. The tables and figures are intact. However, you can't resize them and they don't use your chosen text size, so you might find them hard to read. The table of contents was pretty good, covering the chapters and the front and end matter, but not the subsections within chapters.
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Top reviews from other countries
Kindle Customer
The first 90 days - critical success tratgeies for new leaders at all levels
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 25, 2009JJ WALRAVENS
Highly recommended from personal experience
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 25, 2009MGreviews
A must read for all new leaders
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 9, 2010
