Summary

The first 90 days are the foundation that you have to build for a successful start to your CIO career. These first three months will go in a flash, and if you don’t plan this well, you will be diminishing your chances of success. It is easy to be distracted by events that occur and then require your attention. For your new CIO role, it is likely that the prior incumbent may have vacated the role already, and there is some extended clean-up required. Yes, this is frustrating, as you don’t get credit for doing this, but it is necessary to set the tone of what you expect from your team.

In my CIO 90-day plans, there were other events that occurred that were not listed specifically in the plan. This will always happen, and you can’t control everything, but you must try to keep to several key focus areas in your plan. Let me reinforce that your 90-day plan has to be detailed and it has to be shared. It is the start of your journey, and it will also allow...