A Glimpse Into The First 90 Days as a New CEO

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How to approach the first 90 days as a new CEO, including what to do and what not to do, is also among the most frequently asked questions that I’ve received over the past 14 years. For this reason, I thought it would be helpful to interview 3 CEOs, each at different stages of their leadership journeys, and ask each of them the same 3 questions:

(1) Their general approach to the first 90 days
(2) What worked (and what they’d be sure to do again)
(3) What didn’t work (and what they’d definitely not do again)

I think you’ll find their answers to be highly instructive, particularly the themes that seemed to be consistent across all 3 of their stories. Today I was joined by John O’Brien, CEO of Echo Point Books & Media, Matt Fiedelholtz, co-CEO of Stage 2 Data, and Ethan Walz, co-CEO of Allied Electric.

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A Glimpse Into The First 90 Days as a New CEO In The Trenches


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Episode Summary with Timestamps

  • 03:23: John O’Brien, CEO of Echo Point Books and Media
  • 36:01: Matt Fiedelholtz, co-CEO, Stage2Data
  • 55:53: Ethan Walz, co-CEO, Allied Electric

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