You're in Charge, Now What?

The 8 Point Plan

By: Thomas Neff, James Citrin

Narrated by: Eric Conger

Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Getting a new job or a big promotion is like building a house: You need to get the foundation right for both. With a job, the quick-drying cement is how well you do in your first hundred days, since they establish the foundation for long-term momentum and great performance.

Tom Neff and Jim Citrin are two of the world’s leading experts on leadership and career success. As key figures at Spencer Stuart (hailed by the Wall Street Journal as the number one brand name in executive search), they must understand the criteria for success when they recruit top executives for new leadership positions. Through compelling, first-hand stories you will hear from people such as Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of GE, on how his career has been a series of successive first hundred days. Larry Summers, president of Harvard University, talks candidly about what he could have done differently in his early days to avoid dissipating goodwill among the diverse constituencies important for his future success. Gary Kusin of Kinko’s shares the specifics of the hundred-day action plan he crafted for himself before he started his new job. Paul Pressler of Gap Inc. shows how he developed a general strategic agenda that established fundamental principles and goals, waiting to prepare a more detailed strategic plan until later in his tenure.

Tom Neff and Jim Citrin’s actionable eight-point plan will be the foundation for your success—whether you are moving to a new organization or being promoted—showing how to:

• Prepare yourself mentally, physically, and emotionally from the time you accept until the time you begin
• Manage others’ expectations of you—bosses, colleagues, and subordinates
• Shape and build the team that will work with you
• Learn the lay of the land and find out how things “really work around here”
• Communicate your story effectively to people inside and outside the organization
• Avoid the top ten traps that confront every new leader, such as disrespecting your predecessor, misreading the true sources of power in the organization, or succumbing to the “savior syndrome”

When you start a new job you are in what AOL’s Jon Miller calls a “temporary state of incompetence,” faced with having to do the most when you know the least. But with the eight-point plan of You’re in Charge—Now What? you’ll understand and be able to take action on the patterns that will build your success.

This is an Audible® audio exclusive!

©2005 Thomas Neff and James Citrin (P)2005 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

“When you really need to hit the ground running . . . Neff and Citrin offer the ultimate blueprint for success. A must-read for anyone entering into a leadership role at any level.” —Peter Chernin, president and COO, News Corporation

“Take it from someone who’s been there. You’re in Charge—Now What? asks all the right questions and tracks down all the right answers from people who ought to know.” —Dick Parsons, chairman and CEO, Time Warner

“You’re in Charge—Now What? may be the best ‘how-to’ leadership book I’ve ever read. It ranks right up there with Good to Great.” —George H. Conrades, chairman and CEO, Akamai Technologies

Bullseye! This is a Must Listen!

This audio book really hit a bullseye for me. Neff and Citrin articulate for new managers & executives the perceptions and expectations of your employees, your peers, and your higher-ups. The authors have clearly defined a strategy and path for navigating the "leader-scape" for the first 90-180 days. This is a must listen for anyone in management.

For CEO or so

What did you like best about You're in Charge, Now What?? What did you like least?

Good book, nice tips. I believe the main idea is to put all your efforts during the first 100 days in charge. However, the writter mentions that every manager could set several first 100days anytime.

Any additional comments?

It would be even better if this book has a wider focus not limiting to CEOs only. The writter tries to make it look applicable to all leader levels, but obviously it is not.

Solid, action-oriented advice

This is excellent business writing: on-point, pithy and with enough specific examples to bring their ideas to life. An extended marketing effort for Spencer Stuart? Quite possibly - but this is genuinely engaging stuff, and the authors clearly speak from experience. They do a particularly good job of broadening the scope of the message: how many of their readers/listeners will actually be CEOs? Probably not many. So they ensure there are clear learnings throughout for someone moving into a management role at any level. All this is presented in a digestible form which avoids the pitfalls of dumbing down to the lowest common denominator. Definitely worth a look.

Great book, great narration

Absolutely gripping narration makes book a pleasure to listen to. Nice inflection and not monotonous at all. The 6 hours or so didn't seem that long. Great advice by authors backed by solid research and credible interviews.

A clear list of to dos

This will let you know what you always had at the back of your mind. You could not discover it. Now you hear it. The challenge is to act on it. The book is not about this challenge. But it is still a good books as it does provide clear list of -to dos

Great principles for anyone in leadership

Although the examples and focus of this book are directed toward CEOs, the principles and insight apply to anyone in any leadership position. I also found it fascinating to hear about various CEOs with regard to their failures and successes as it applied to the principles the author wanted to highlight.

This is a book I will listen to multiple times in the coming years.

Love the Book ! - Hate the Chapters/Section Breaks

Would you consider the audio edition of You're in Charge, Now What? to be better than the print version?

Same content, but why aren't the section breaks aligned with the actual chapters in the written book? It is hard to find a spot that I want to listen to again.

Excellent resource

If you're entering into a leadership position then this book is for you. Definitely worth your time to thoroughly read this book.

Good listen...

Excellent listen for anyone who takes on a new management position. Lessons are centered on the CEO, but we all have boards and stakeholders to keep happy. Since there are a number of lists of important things to do and not do, I am seriously considering purchasing the hardcopy to use as a reference.

Insightful but repeated itself throughout!

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No, dragged out. It took 1 hour of material and dragged it on for hours!

Has You're in Charge, Now What? turned you off from other books in this genre?

No, still looking for management details this book did not offer.

What didn’t you like about Eric Conger’s performance?

Good advice regarding not changing things to fast just to do something. However this book lacked every detail regarding management the new manager wants to know.

Could you see You're in Charge, Now What? being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

No way.