Sherpa Alliance

When you walk into assuming some new kind of responsibility on day 1, that’s when you get to display what I call  your “clean-sheet-ability” – the ability to inherit a clean-sheet of responsibility for a situation and start linking and accumulating thoughts, questions, decisions and actions from moment one – in the first few hours, days, weeks, months and quarters.  It’s a journey and it’s very telling, as there is nowhere to hide.

It’s like some other journeys we can think of:

• A fire crew arriving at a burning building
• A patient being wheeled into an ER room
• A jet fighter pilot heading into a dog-fight

These are very dynamic, high-stakes, situations in which the outcomes are going to be real clear, real fast - there is nowhere to hide.  How we link and accumulate our thinking, questions, decisions and actions from the first few moments, the first few seconds, the first few minutes will determine how the journey unfolds.  Success demands that we navigate a middle road between wanting to be slow, methodical and analytical (avoiding bureaucracy and analysis paralysis) and wanting to be fast, improvising and intuitive (avoiding recklessness) – too much of one and not enough of the other is prone to failure – it’s about Mastering the Challenge of the “and”.  It really comes down to our Executive Intelligence, Intuition and Resilience.

That’s why there is a such a focus, intrigue and almost mystique regarding the first 100 days of a new President, for instance – because we know that his/her Executive Intelligence, Intuition and Resilience will be on display, transparently, for all to see – there is nowhere to hide.  We know we will get a measure of the man/woman, by what they do or don’t do, say or don’t say and how well they navigate the challenge of the “and”.  We get a sense of confidence, credibility, trust and belief that a brighter future is possible.

It’s the same in business.  The first 100 days of inheriting any new situation (a turnaround situation, a promotion, an acquisition etc) are so telling.  As entrepreneurs, executives and CEOs, we have an inescapable responsibility for the profitability and growth of our business with only so much financial runway with which to work.  No matter what our situation, role or business, there is always a runway of some description, which may not be primarily financial – it may be to do with confidence, credibility, trust and belief, which may be the currencies we are dealing in.

What about the next 100 days?  There is nothing less telling about the next 100 days compared to the first 100 days.  And the next 100 days after that, and after that?  Indeed, the next 100 days are the first 100 days of the rest of your life.  My point?  Every 100 days can be just as telling as the last and indeed the first, if you choose to make it so.

Take a clean-sheet approach.  Imagine you had just inherited a clean-sheet of responsibility for your situation and it is moment one, of hour one, of day one, of the next 100 days.  What would you do differently?:

• To link and accumulate thinking, questions, decisions and action, putting your Executive Intelligence, Intuition and Resilience on full display?
• To extend your financial runway and change the flight-trajectory of the profitability and growth of your business?
• To extend your runway of confidence, credibility, trust and belief in the eyes and guts of your stakeholders (including yourself of course) that a brighter future is possible?

Take a 3 Days, 3 Weeks, 3 Months approach to brewing up a breakthrough (Week 18 Tip: 3 Days, 3 Weeks, 3 Months) over the next 100 days.  That even allows you a 10% contingency:

• 3 Months = 365/4 = 91.25 days
• X 1.1 for 10% contingency = 100.375 days.
• The extra 0.375 of a day X a 12 hour day = 4.5 hours
• Use that 4.5 hours to take the morning off on the 101st day, you deserve it!

Allowing a 10% contingency when tackling breakthroughs is fine!

Make the next 3 Days, 3 Weeks, 3 Months telling in the journey of your team, organization and business.  Take a clean-sheet approach.  Begin brewing up a breakthrough with your organizational agility, assessing your opportunities and creating traction with a 90 day plan (Opportunity Assessment & 90 Day Plan).  Now is a good time to be Making Friends with Organizational Agility.  That’s what our work is about.