New Leader's Journal Introduction

The new leader's journal tracks the experience of a fictional executive leading up to and through his first 100-days in a new job.

As of this writing, May-28-2011, our fictional executive is in the final stages of interviewing.  We expect him to get an offer the second week in June, leading up to a July 1 start.  (And since we're making this up, we've got a far greater chance of being right than people in the real world would be.)  Given that, the new leader's journal should start in earnest on June 17.


The New Leader’s Journal is a fictional exercise illustrating the prescriptions and tools in the 3rd edition of The New Leader’s 100-Day Action Plan.  Click here to request an executive summary.  Click here to pre-order/order a copy.

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A rugged expedition vehicle drives along a long, empty road toward lush mountains under a dramatic sky.
Deliberately Stupid Executive Onboarding

Every executive walking into a new role is, for a while, stupid. Not incapable. Not unqualified. Stupid in the specific, unavoidable sense that they do not yet know what they…

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Succeeding Your Own Boss

There's a version of executive onboarding that almost never gets written about, probably because it looks so easy from the outside. Whether it’s the CFO succeeding the CEO, or the…

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Functional Leader Onboarding: Converge Before You Evolve

The fastest way for a new functional or operational leader to fail is to start changing the team before becoming part of it. The better sequence is simpler and harder: converge first,…

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Integration Leadership Isn’t a Detail. It’s the Deal.

KKR's $5.7 billion agreement to acquire Integer Holdings closed a strategic review that started back in April. The medtech manufacturer's board ran the process. Advisors ran the numbers. Lawyers ran…

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In M&A Integration, Culture Isn’t the Soft Part. It’s the Job.

Private equity has been on a buying spree. Bolt-on acquisitions, platform builds, roll-ups across logistics, healthcare, professional services, and beyond. Deal teams have gotten faster and more disciplined about diligence,…

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The First 100 Days Don’t Start on Day One. They Start Now.

When Infosys named Ashiss Kumar Dash as CEO-designate in July 2026, the announcement came alongside news that the company had lost a major European client - one of several large…

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