The New Boss: How to Survive the First 100 Days

by Peter Fischer

Political observers have long attached a near-talismanic status to the first 100 days of a new administration.  For an executive taking the new role as a corporate leader, the first 100 days are no less consequential.

 

The New Boss is a guide for newly appointed senior managers to make a successful leadership transition.  Written by Peter Fischer, an industrial psychologist and psychotherapist, this book provides new bosses with tried and tested models and self-assessment techniques for managing expectations, building key relationships, and implementing change during the first three months in charge.  This book identifies all the problems a new boss is likely to face, shows how to deal with them, and allows the new boss to “hit the ground running.”

Genres: Leadership, Business, Management

175 pages, Hardcover

First published April 20, 2005

Reviews

[Ivo Stoykov · Rating 4 out of 5]

The New Boss: How to Survive the First 100 Days was for me a useful reading. The book is well organized with sample and clear explanations. Worth reading.

[Bob Selden · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the “New Boss”, author Peter Fischer sets out a transition plan for moving into a new management role – a senior management position. From the outset, he posits his seven building blocks of a successful leadership transition – Managing Expectations, Building Key Relationships, Analysing the Situation, Clarifying Objectives, Creating a Climate for Change, Initiating Changes and Using Symbols and Rituals. All of these are eminently practical and from Fischer’s perspective, quite applicable. The one that I found particularly useful and is seldom covered in books of this nature - Using Symbols and Rituals.

The book is in two parts. Part I outlines the seven building blocks and Part II has seven case studies. Some of the case studies are written in the present tense which enables the reader to consider what he or she would do in this situation. It also enables the author to outline the challenges and suggest ways to master them. This is a nice way of involving the reader in the topic.

The book is well set out with plenty of diagrams (to provide overview and structure), good checklists and simple analytical tools, plus many short vignettes to illustrate points. It is well written and the author is obviously very experienced in this field.

I thoroughly concur with Fischer’s seven building blocks. For me, the one that is still missing is one on “teams and groups”. As this book is written for senior managers, it would have been useful to have an explanation on leading and managing teams and/or groups. That aside, the book is another excellent addition to the management literature.

I would recommend the book for senior executives and CEOs moving into a new role. Although a novice manager would gain some insights from this book, it is really more suited to senior executives.

[Diosanubiz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es un buen libro que menciona varias técnicas además de que esperar en tu nuevo puesto. En general tiene una partes interesantes. Sobre como está escrito el libro: usa términos no muy complejos pero en la versión en español las letras se me hacen algo chicas y el tipo de fuente utilizado también hace algo difícil de leer.

[Samer Chidiac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Reference for anyone moving up in the career path or transitioning to a new company.

[dv · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book didn't really meet my expectations. It is clear and structured but it never gets to a deep analysis of the topics.