What does a new CEO's first 90 days look like with a coach?

How are six sessions spread across 90 days?

Dave's quarterly cycle is six 60-minute sessions, held every other week, virtual or in person. The first session happens when the engagement is signed, whether that is before the CEO's start date or some weeks in. Six sessions every other week fill about one quarter from that point.

What decisions come up for a new CEO?

Early decisions tend to be personnel and positioning calls that the previous structure left open. Whether to keep or change a leadership team member is one. How to position the company to its customers and its board after a change at the top is another.

One nonprofit CEO walked into his first two sessions under mounting pressure from his board and his predecessor to announce one big plan for the organization. His instincts told him that was the wrong first move. He used his sessions with Dave to test that position until he trusted it, and then to commit to the decisions that followed from it. He told the board he would not announce a single plan in his first quarter. He would gather input from the organization's stakeholders first, and only then build a mid- and long-range vision and plan. In the meantime, he would act on two major personnel changes he had already identified and had not yet moved on. The sessions were where he sorted what had to happen now from what could wait, and how to hold the line on the difference.

Dave's work with a new leader is often separating the decision being demanded from the decisions the organization actually needs first. He has answered to ownership himself: as president of a private equity-owned company from 2018 to 2022, he made the hiring and expansion calls and took them to the ownership group.

Why would a new CEO use a coach and not just the board or a mentor?

Board members and mentors carry their own interests in the outcome. A new CEO can test an option in a consequence-free setting before it reaches the board or the team.

What happens in each session?

Each 60-minute session works on the decisions in front of the CEO that week. The session ends with what the CEO is doing next and why. The next session starts from what happened.

How does a new CEO start?

A 30-minute intro call with Dave is a fit check. If coaching suits the situation, Dave follows with a proposal shaped to the CEO and, where relevant, to the sponsoring organization.