Pressler felt many pressures, both from within the company and externally, to make changes fast, to be decisive, and to set bold visions. But he recognized that these were seductive traps. He did not allow himself to be portrayed as a savior, he most certainly did not attempt to be a know-it-all, and he made sure to keep open to the torrent of data and information that flows into any leader when they start a new role. He remains steadfast to his agenda of listening and learning, working with his management team, spending time on the sales floor and in the stockrooms at various company stores, and describing the discoveries, thoughts, and ideas to the management team and the company’s employees at large.

You cannot possibly have enough insight yet to craft a detailed plan or an in-depth strategy. But you should certainly have a clear idea of what you believe, the key issues that you are going to be focusing on, and some form of organizing framework for the key actions you will want to take.

With his approach, there was a constructive, always-moving-forward element to this discussion, with no looking back. So the headset was, we had to figure this out, we had to go forward, and it didn’t matter who had put the plan before.” - Jim McNerney.

Finding the right balance between creating a compelling picture of where you plan to lead the organization and not becoming prematurely locked into a plan of action is one of the most important ways to make the most of your first hundred days. Think not about developing your strategic plan but about crafting your strategic agenda.

That’s what turned the strategic agenda into the strategic plan that got presented to the board about a hundred fifty days after he started. I use the term plan a little loosely,” Tamke editorializes, “because that strategic plan was kind of heavy on tactical things that we were going to get done in the next year and a bit lighter on the strategic direction, with more of the blanks yet to be filled in. But they did get filled in during the course of the next year, through updates that Gary did with the organization.