Michael Watkins has spent the past two decades working with leaders, both corporate and public, as they transition to new roles, negotiate the future of their organizations, and craft their legacy as leaders. A recognized expert in his field, he ranked among Thinkers50’s top fifty management influencers globally in 2019. He is the best-selling author of The First 90 Days, Updated and Expanded: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter, the globally acknowledged handbook for leadership and career transitions, which recently earned the accolade of Amazon’s Top 100 Leadership Books. He is Professor of Leadership and Organizational Change at the IMD Business School in Switzerland and previously served on the faculty at INSEAD and Harvard University, where he earned his PhD in Decision Sciences.
The Corona Virus is presenting virtually all organizations with unforeseen challenges. Is your organization ready to meet them? Here are 7 questions to ask: 1) Are you ready to shift to “war-fighting mode”? Decentralized organizations – which operate well in normal times – often prove to be woefully in adequate in times of crisis. Why? Because […]
Innovation, according to the economist Joseph Schumpeter, is all about “creative destruction.” He was referring to the process through which new innovations (the creative part) displace established ways of doing things (the destruction part) and his work helped lay the foundation for the now-common idea of disruptive innovation. However, there is another way in which destruction […]
While there is universal agreement that organizational culture plays a crucial role in shaping organizations, there is little consensus on what it actually is, never mind how it influences performance and, crucially, how leaders can change it. This is a problem, because without a clear understanding of culture, we cannot hope to discern its connections […]
In his recent article for the US Chamber of Commerce, Genesis Cofounder Michael Watkins talks about the importance of effectively integrating a new hire into a leadership team to avoid destabilizing that team at potentially significant cost to the business. He outlines seven ways you can support new leadership team members to minimize and mitigate any […]
Posted by Michael Watkins My research shows that leaders who derail or under-perform in their new roles often fall into common traps in their first ninety days. Have you fallen into any of these traps? Have you seen others do so? Trap #1: Not adapting to the new culture Leaders who move between companies (or even […]
Leaders taking new roles often inherit teams that they must assess, reshape, align, and accelerate. Frequently, leaders stumble when it comes to building their teams. The result may be a significant delay in achieving key objectives, or outright derailment. These are some of the characteristic traps into which new leaders fall when taking over teams: […]
