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The New Boss
Book

The New Boss

How to Survive the First 100 Days

Peter Fischer
Kogan Page, 2007
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7

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Recommendation

Perhaps you’ve finally reached the number one spot after years of working in someone’s shadow. Maybe you’re the hot new M.B.A. on the fast track, or you’re the highly suspect replacement for a venerated predecessor. Whatever your situation is, taking over as the “new boss” is never easy. Expectations run high, you have a limited time to make a good impression and the competitive pressure is relentless. Peter Fischer identifies “seven building blocks of successful leadership transition” to help you find your way. He devotes a chapter to each step, including checklists, pitfalls, suggestions, questions and a summary. Part two of the book contains case studies that focus on different “new boss” situations. Fischer’s unembellished, straightforward style makes his concepts easy to understand and implement. Though his last building block, “Using Symbols and Rituals,” is his most original entry, it could have been more fulsome. If you’re about to move into a senior management position, getAbstract would add this book to your “must read” stack.

Summary

How to Start

In the current corporate world, ambitious executives often move up the ladder every two or three years. Each new post brings fresh challenges. Management often expects new managers to hit the ground running and turn around failing departments, implement innovative strategies or increase profitability. If you are the new boss, how can you navigate this minefield? The odds are not always in your favor. Perhaps the employees loved their old boss. Maybe management promoted you ahead of some now-resentful insider. Maybe your employees see you as an interloper. During the crucial transition period, usually 100 days, these people will scrutinize every move you make. To manage your transition, concentrate on developing essential relationships and a supportive network. Handle and disarm any covert rivals, acknowledge your predecessor, communicate goals, and develop reasonable expectations among your staff, peers and bosses. You need to be seen as visionary, inspiring, confident and credible. Your job is to create a structure using the “seven building blocks of successful leadership transition”:

  1. “Managing expectations.”
  2. “Building...

About the Author

Peter Fischer has worked with executives making the transition to new assignments for more than two decades. He is a consultant and an industrial psychologist.

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