Your First 100 Days in a New Leadership Job

You Never Get a Second Chance to Make a Great First Impression

This 2026 Updated and Expanded Edition brings this classic playbook into the realities of an era defined by AI disruption, compressed business cycles, and near zero ramp time for new leaders.

It features fresh insights and examples from some of today’s most admired leaders, including Jensen Huang (NVIDIA), Satya Nadella (Microsoft), Brian Niccol (Starbucks), and Brian Chesky (Airbnb).

Whether you’re a newly appointed CEO, division president, or stepping into any high stakes leadership role, your first 100 days will be pivotal to your success or failure. In today’s environment where AI is reshaping industries, business cycles have accelerated, and boards expect immediate impact, the margin for error has never been smaller.

Your First 100 Days in a New Leadership Job gives you the proven framework that has helped hundreds of executives land strong and deliver results fast.

Robert Hargrove’s battle-tested system shows you how to:

► Get clear on your going-in mandate—align with your boss on what success looks like before they start keeping score
► Take symbolic action within 72 hours that signals who you are and how things will be different
► Declare an Impossible Future that unites warring tribes and gives your organization a North Star
► Build your A-team fast by getting the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off)
► Go for quick wins that create a virtuous circle of increasing credibility
► Master the political chessboard—because it’s all politics, whether you like it or not
► Deliver bottom-line results within 90 days that prove you were the right choice

Robert Hargrove’s first 100 day playbook has been forged from decades of coaching Fortune 500 CEOs and Silicon Valley founders through their highest stakes transitions. The examples are current. The pressure is real. And the system works.

Your first 100 days can make your career… or break it. This book ensures you don’t leave it to chance.

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Table of Contents

Preface: How This Book is Different

Introduction: Don’t Just Hit the Ground Running, But Sprinting as the Clock is Ticking From Day One

1. Prepare Yourself for the Journey Before It Starts Do Your Due Diligence—Like Sherlock Holmes, Find a Watson to Discuss It With

2. Get Clear On Your Going-In Mandate—How to Accurately Assess Your Situation and Create a Strategy to Match

3. Realize an Impossible Future and Keep Your Day Job—Make Your Job a Transformational Assignment

4. Drafting Your 100 Day Plan—Jump Start Your Impossible Future, Get Bottom Line Results Fast

5. Deal Proactively With Turnarounds and Crisis—Never Waste a Good Crisis

6. Build a Team of ‘A Players—Get Me The Best In The World!

7. Master the Political Chessboard and Culture—Look Both Ways, Don’t Get Hit By a Bus

8. Launch 90-Day Catalytic Breakthrough Projects—Build Confidence and Credibility Through Quick Wins

9. Executive Time Management—Focus on Making a Difference, Not the Important

10. Track Accomplishments—How Am I Doing? Focus on the Scoreboard