Incoming operators lose the first quarter when they inherit a title and not a map of what is actually theirs.
The courtesy period is real. People smile. They send the pack. They tell you the culture is “open.” Then you discover that hiring is “shared,” pricing is “with finance,” and the one thing everyone agrees is yours is the thing no one wants. The honeymoon is not a gift. It is a countdown. If you have not written down who decides what by the time the courtesy ends, you will spend the next year negotiating in corridors.
I sit with people who have just taken a finance or chief-operating seat. The week has to match the job. That starts with decision rights, not with a transformation slide. Chief Executives books that kind of transition work one-to-one.
Write the map while they still want you to succeed
Three questions belong in the first fortnight, not the first quarter:
- Which decisions can I take without a conversation?
- Which decisions require a named partner — chair, CEO, CFO, CHRO — and what does “require” mean in practice?
- Which decisions look like mine and are, in fact, already taken?
The third list is the dangerous one. Incoming operators often inherit a strategy that was sold in the search process and cannot be moved. If that is the case, say so early. A seat you cannot steer is not a promotion. It is a costume.
“Require” is where courtesy hides. Does it mean a conversation, a veto, or a signature? If two people give different answers, you do not have a map. You have a future argument. Write the three answers on one page. Take the conflicts to the CEO while the room still wants you to succeed.
Three incoming seats I see most often
A new CFO who “owns the numbers” but not pricing. Commercial still sets the list. The CEO still signs exceptions. The board still wants a margin story. If you do not name that overlap in week two, you will be blamed for a P&L you cannot steer. The first no may be about a steering group that is really a pricing committee — see the first no in a new C-suite seat.
A COO who inherited “the machine.” The machine is a calendar of rituals built for the last occupant. Decision rights and what to stop when you inherit a team that already works are the same job. Do not start with people. Start with which decisions the rituals are pretending to take.
A founder-CEO who has just hired a “real” C-suite. The founder still decides in Slack at 11pm. The new seat looks senior and is, in fact, a briefing function. Name that before you build a hundred-day plan on the interview story. If the founder is still the operating system, the calendar will tell you — the calendar is the strategy.
Do not spend the goodwill on theatre
A hundred-day plan that ignores the map is theatre. So is “alignment” that cannot name a stop. If the ELT smiles and then runs three plans, you are not early — you are already late. Alignment usually means someone has gone quiet.
The goodwill of the first weeks is for writing the ugly list, not for listening tours that change nothing. Use it.
A takeaway you can keep
| If this is true | Do this before week six | Do not do this |
|---|---|---|
| Two people think they own pricing | Put the conflict on one page and take it to the CEO | “Align in the next offsite” |
| The chair still runs a function | Name the overlap in writing | Win it in the corridor |
| The pack and the interview story disagree | Ask which document is live | Build a hundred-day plan on the story |
| “Shared” is the word for every hard call | Define shared as conversation, veto, or signature | Leave it as a feeling |
This is role-transition work — stakeholders, decision rights, and what to stop. It is not outplacement and it is not a search brief. If you are about to take a seat, look at who is available to book. Fees and fit are agreed in writing.
Enquire to book a coach before the courtesy period writes your job for you.