In your first 90 days in a new executive role, the highest-leverage move is not to fix things. It’s to slow down and listen. Meet one-on-one with every person on your team, get out of the corporate office to talk with business unit leaders and visit the locations you now support, then prioritize what you learn and stack small wins that build political capital before you take on the big, painful changes.
It finally happened. You landed the role you’ve been working toward for years… that VP title, maybe even the C-level seat. You’ve got ninety days to get your arms around everything, and the clock is already running.
If you haven’t landed the role yet, moving from director to VP covers what has to change before the title comes. This piece picks up the day after.
Here’s where I watch so many people go sideways.
The Biggest First 90 Days Mistake New Executives Make
They walk in ready to prove their value. They’ve been sitting on a list of things they wanted to fix for years, and now they finally have the authority to flip the table over and fix all of it. The instinct feels right, but it’s almost always wrong.
Take a breath.
Start With a Listening Tour, Not a To-Do List
The better move in those first ninety days is to slow all the way down and start having real conversations with every single person on your team, one by one. You sit down with each of them and you ask, “What are you seeing? What are the challenges you’ve been dealing with?” Then you actually listen, and you take notes. Just be careful not to influence them by sharing your own thoughts too soon.
Get Out of the Ivory Tower and Into the Business
Once you’ve started piecing together what’s happening inside your team, you step outside of it. You go meet the business unit leaders. You visit the locations you’re now responsible for supporting. I know that sounds obvious, yet you’d be shocked how many new executives never do it.
Far too many leaders get caught up in this idea that they’re supposed to sit in the ivory tower at corporate, staring at spreadsheets and slide decks and feeling important. That’s not how any of this works. The only real way to understand what’s going on is to get out into the business and have conversations with the people living it every day.
You sit down with the district managers and the business unit leaders and you ask, “Joe, I know technology has been a struggle in the past. What’s frustrating you right now?” Then you have that same conversation with Kevin, and with Jacob, and with everyone else.
These conversations only land if you can read a room and connect fast. If that’s a skill you’re still building, learning to work the room breaks down how I went from introvert to comfortable in almost any room.
Why the First 90 Days Feel Overwhelming
When you factor in the travel required, this part takes more time than you’d like. You might end up doing a tour where every week you’re in a different region, sitting down with as many people as you can. It’s going to feel overwhelming at first, and I promise you that’s part of the process.
Something interesting happens the more you do this. The more time you spend and the more notes you take, the more it starts to play out like focusing the lens on a camera. Gradually, the priorities come into focus.
There’s a very real chance your predecessor wasn’t doing any of this, so the moment you walk in and start listening, you begin building a reputation as the leader who actually wants to solve people’s problems. You will get inundated with problems… things people have been sitting on for a very long time.
Prioritize, Then Stack Small Wins to Build Political Capital
That’s when you lean on your peers, your personal board of advisors, and maybe even a coach or mentor if you have one. You have to start wrapping your head around all of it and prioritizing.
Some things will be obvious. When they are, they get your time and energy. That obvious priority might be a twelve-month initiative though, and you can’t wait a year to show up. This is where the small wins matter.
Sometimes it’s just changing a workflow in an application, and you’ve made someone’s life easier. Sometimes you realize that a ten-thousand-dollar module could save a hundred hours a year, and it’s an easy yes. Those small wins start stacking up, and they build political capital. They build trust and rapport.
That political capital matters, because eventually you’re going to make the big change… the painful one that some people won’t like. If you’ve already come in and built goodwill by supporting them and lifting them up, they’re going to be far more open to walking through that hard change with you.
How to Handle Board Pressure in Your First 90 Days
Now, you might be feeling pressure from senior leadership or the board to fix things fast. This is where you need the strength to push back and say, “I need a little time. We only get one shot at this, and I have to make sure we do it right.”
When you stand your ground and you can explain why, most leaders will respect it. They’d rather you spend three months listening and learning than watch you shoot from the hip and blow something up.
That pushback is its own skill, and it gets harder when you flat out disagree with the call being made above you. I broke that down in executing when you’ve been overruled.
Your First 90 Days Set the Tone for Everything After
When you step into that new role, congratulations. You’ve made it, and that’s worth celebrating. Just resist the temptation to go full speed and try to change the world overnight.
Slow down, listen, absorb, and prioritize. Have the conversations with the people who actually know what’s going on, then make the right decision and move forward.
If you’re stepping into a new role right now, or watching someone on your team make that leap, this is exactly the kind of work I do every day. From my base in Houston, I coach executives across North America through these transitions. Book a discovery call and let’s map out your first ninety days: Discovery Call with Sean Barnes.
About the Author
Sean Barnes is the founder of Wolf Executives, a Houston-based executive coaching and leadership development firm. Over roughly two decades of progressive leadership across IT, HR, ESG, safety, and transportation, he guided organizations through 48 acquisitions and integrations and two IPOs. Today he speaks at 40 to 50 events a year across North America as a keynote speaker and conference chair, and coaches directors and senior leaders working toward VP-level roles and beyond.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should you do in your first 90 days in a new executive role?
Spend the first 90 days listening and learning rather than fixing. Meet one-on-one with every person on your team, get out of the corporate office to talk with business unit leaders and visit the locations you support, take notes, then prioritize what you find. Rack up a few small wins to build trust before you take on the larger, more disruptive changes.
What is the biggest mistake new executives make in the first 90 days?
The most common mistake is walking in and immediately trying to prove your value by fixing everything at once. The instinct feels right, but moving fast before you understand the business damages trust and creates problems that are hard to undo.
Should you make big changes in your first 90 days?
Usually not right away. Big, painful changes land far better once you’ve built political capital by listening, solving smaller problems, and earning goodwill. Move too early and you’ll meet resistance you could have avoided.
How do you build credibility as a newly promoted leader?
You build credibility by listening first, genuinely wanting to solve people’s problems, and delivering small, visible wins early. That reputation is often the opposite of what your predecessor did, which makes it stand out even faster.
How do you handle pressure to deliver results quickly in a new role?
Push back professionally. Explain that you only get one shot at getting it right and that three months of listening and learning protects the business better than shooting from the hip. Most senior leaders and boards will respect a leader who refuses to move recklessly.
