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Hi All

Podcast Synopsis - Business Week, Climbing the Ladder, the first 100 days (Sept 14, 2006). BW Executive Editor John A. Byrne interviews Jim Citron, Senior Director at Spencer Stuart about getting a jump-start in a new leadership position.

The first thing Jim talks about is Listen and Learn, don’t tell and dictate – this does not mean you can’t have opinions but go slowly. Next, he talks about under promising and over delivering.

Jim tells a great story about Kevin Sharer, who went from COO to CEO of Amgen (the huge biotech company www.amgen.com). When he took over, Kevin asked his top 100 execs to meet with him based on these five questions:

1 - Tell me the 3 most important things about Amgen that we need to preserve and why?
2 - Tell me the 3 most important things about Amgen that we need to change and why?
3 - What is the thing you hope I do most as CEO?
4 - What is the thing you are most concerned that I might do as CEO?
5 - What advice do you have for me?

After he filled a few dozen legal pads, Sharer synthesized everything and responded to everyone, telling them what he did, what he heard and what he will do about it. He found that even the people who did not agree with everything he wanted to do had better buy in.

Now most of us won't have 100 top execs, but we will have many internal and external clients. I think you can put in your own titles and do a pretty serious swot of expectations and deliverables and changes needed.

Hope you find this interesting and helpful.

*RNTT