A newly appointed CEO should come into this position with a clear understanding of the short-to long-term mandate, e.g., growth, turnaround, and culture.

1. Introductions and Garnering Information: As an incoming CEO, meetings should be arranged to introduce themselves personally and professionally, highlighting vision and critical mandates. From here, essential listening is crucial to learn about the company and its culture. Meetings should be held first with direct reports at the Executive level, followed by next-tier Executives and Department Heads. Assemblies should follow these meetings with large groups of employees in a town hall format where possible. Identification of key influencers at all levels and getting to know them is highly recommended.
2. Deep Discovery: From the introductory meetings, more detailed discussions should be arranged with smaller groups of each of the following: direct reports and other executives, department heads, along with influencers, to get a deeper understanding of some of the vital information garnered in the introductory meetings.
3. Evaluation: Review mandate and draft strategies against insights from meetings. Revise strategy as necessary, frame actions with defined priorities and deliverables in timeline buckets. Identification of a few challenges or opportunities for quick, small wins helps build momentum, confidence, and acceptance.
4. Refinement: Discuss new draft plans with the key stakeholders for feedback and buy-in. Finalize plans with KPIs along with a monitoring/evaluation type framework.
5. Approval: Meet with the Board for agreement and sign-off at the end of the first 90-day period.