For executives · Your first 90 days

A new mandate.
A deliberate first 90 days.

A focused intelligence sprint for an incoming chief executive or C-suite leader: clarify the mandate, understand the people who shape it, and turn early decisions into credible progress.

Explore the 90-day sprintExplore your next role
A deliberate sequence90 days
  1. MandateWhat must change
  2. RelationshipsWho must align
  3. DecisionsWhat moves first
  4. DeliveryWhat evidence counts
Each decision rests on what you have learned.

For a new organisation, a larger remit, or a material change in direction.

Start with alignment

Agree the destination.
Before choosing the moves.

The appointment gives you a title. A shared mandate makes the expectations explicit. We turn your brief and the available evidence into the questions to settle with your chair or sponsor.

Your mandate briefTo agree, then revisit
The outcomeWhat must be different?
The business priorities, the measures of success and the commitments you inherit.
The choicesWhat can you decide?
Your decision rights, constraints and the trade-offs that require sponsor or board agreement.
The alignmentWho must agree?
The chair, sponsor and leadership team: their expectations, unresolved differences and review cadence.
Relationships with a purpose

Map the decisions.
Then plan the conversations.

Public filings, leadership statements and your approved context establish a starting point. We mark sources, separate hypotheses and record what you validate. Influence and motives remain questions until you have evidence.

  1. What must I understand before I change anything?
  2. Which decision is waiting for this role?
  3. What would credible progress look like to you?
Start with a decisionIllustrative map
Map the people around a decisionThe decision connects to the sponsor who defines success, peers who control dependencies, the team that delivers, and customers who experience the result.The decisionSponsor / boardDefines successPeersDependenciesYour teamDeliveryCustomersBusiness impact
The decision
Sponsor / board
Defines success
Peers
Dependencies
Your team
Delivery
Customers
Business impact
A working map you validate through real conversations.
Days 1–30 · Understand

Understand the business.
Then form your answer.

UnderstandCommitEstablish

We prepare the intelligence and listening sequence. You lead the conversations and challenge the assumptions. Each review sharpens what matters, what is missing and where judgement is still premature.

Day 30 checkpoint

A shared diagnosis and the priorities your sponsor is ready to support.

  1. Briefing book

    Strategy, performance, market context and inherited commitments, with sources and open questions.

  2. Listening agenda

    The people to hear from, the questions to test and the decisions those conversations must inform.

  3. Agreed diagnosis

    A revised mandate and a short priority list to validate with your sponsor or chair.

Days 31–60 · Commit

An early win must serve
the wider mandate.

In weeks five to eight, we test candidate moves against four criteria. You choose the priority and secure commitment. We turn the choice into a decision brief and delivery charter: owner, baseline, milestones and dependencies.

  1. Material

    Does it advance an agreed business priority?

  2. Supported

    Are the sponsor and affected owners aligned?

  3. Feasible

    Can the team deliver with the authority and resources available?

  4. Verifiable

    Will the baseline and evidence show what changed?

Day 60 checkpoint One credible early win underway, with the right people committed to delivering it.

Days 61–90 · Establish

Make progress visible.
Make the next quarter executable.

UnderstandCommitEstablish

The close of the sprint is a leadership review. We assemble the evidence, identify the gaps and help you explain the decisions. You agree the next commitments with the people accountable for them.

Day 90 checkpoint

A clear account of progress and a plan the organisation can continue to own.

  1. Progress record

    What changed, what the evidence supports and what remains unresolved.

  2. Board or sponsor memo

    The mandate, decisions taken, trade-offs and the support needed next.

  3. Next-quarter agenda

    Named owners, decision dates, dependencies and measures for the work ahead.

Discreet support. Clear responsibilities.

A small team behind you.
Your judgement in front.

We prepare.

Research public sources and material you are authorised to share. Maintain the source trail, decision map and open questions. Draft briefs and communications. Keep the 90-day plan current.

You lead.

Provide the mandate, validate the context and join a weekly decision review. Conduct the internal conversations. Decide the priorities, secure sponsorship and approve every communication.

Permission is explicit.

No internal outreach or contact on your behalf without your authorisation. Confidential material stays within the access and handling arrangements agreed at kickoff.

Your first 90 days

Start with
the mandate.

Bring the role, your start date and the expectations already on the table. The briefing establishes the decisions ahead and the intelligence you need to make them well.

Fixed 90-day sprint$5,000–$8,000
Book a transition briefing

At the end of the sprint

A validated mandate. A working stakeholder and decision map. An early-win charter. A record of progress. A next-quarter agenda.

Clarity you can act on.
Continuity your team can carry.
Return to the two relationship engines