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

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.

You're in Charge, Now What?

This book is mostly targeted toward CEO level and executives. Some of the information is difficult to relate to, while one can find some tidbits of useful information. It does give insight into the pyche of the CEO and some of the thought processes they go through. It's not what I was hoping for as I was looking for something along the lines of a 1st level manager. This book caters to positions much higher than that. The narration is good.

Great tips

Although it might seem that the tips are only for CEOs, if you read between the lines and have a more wide view, you will find several great tips for middle managers that are starting new jobs or positions or why not..tips to correct mistakes in your actual job.
I really recommend it if you are about to take a new job or position and what to enter with the correct foot.

this is no panacea for your first day

however, the book does give insightful knowledge regarding how to prepare yourself in your new position. i wish i had read this book (was aware of it but did not get around to it) when i got promoted. still, any plan is only as good as the execution, and the book doesn't help you there. it's still up to you to act.

CEO focused

There are a few good guidelines that are of value for not making gross mistakes (such as overestimating your own abilities, or assuming you have the perfect plan from day one), but although the book claims to be applicable to all management (from middle managers to CEOs), 95% of the book is focused on the CEO level. I would recommend this for VP-level and above, or those that deal with boards on a regular basis.

Great Book

Great book when changing jobs from a lower position to a higher position. Great examples and good advice for the new job.

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.

Not for non-CEOs

The stories are wholly limited to Fortune 200 CEOs. Only small parallels are drawn for new managers or those promoted but not inheriting Pepsi Co. One has to draw their own connections. A higher rating would be given if less story time and more application time.

Great book on organization management.

Very detailed and organized book on advising organizational leaders and managers. Very much recommended to listen.

Great Leadership Book!

I enjoyed this book as it provided incredibly valuable information in growth, transformational and inspirational leadership. The steps taken mentioned in this book I believe are beneficial in any leadership role, especially when you want to make a difference, effective, and build a sustainable business or department. I feel new leaders should definitely read this book as well as it provides good insight and tips on being effective!

The audible performance was clear and easy to listen along. No negative commentary toward this!

Really useful, thought provoking book

Very digestible well structured book with lots of real world examples to draw upon. Practical advice which, if perhaps already known, is a helpful aide memoir for anyone starting a new leadership role

Insightful

This was a great listen. The examples cited were insightful and I really can't wait to put the strategies discussed into practice.