Business Power: Taking Command 90 Minutes into the Job

Posted on by Jay Wren

Business Power: Taking Command 90 Minutes into the Job

I read a lot of articles about companies using 90 days to know whether a person will work out at a company.   I have never seen anything in business that supports this thinking.  Often companies place people in jobs where the company can not know how well a person will do for 6 months to a year.  In other cases, a company knows within a week that it has made a disastrous hiring mistake.

However, if a company has hired a fully qualified person at any level, that person can take command of responsibility within 90 minutes.   A fully qualified CEO should have no more difficulty taking command of a company than a qualified airline captain has in taking command of an airliner.

At any level of responsibility, the hiring company has responsibility for making information available to new hires.

At the “C” level, the board of directors has responsibility to give the new CEO the controls of command and the information to run those controls.

    1. A guide or person who can direct the new CEO to the resources necessary to take command
    2. The name, responsibility, and contact information of every necessary contact
    3. Access to any information to discover any other necessary information for operating the company
    4. The name and experience of each board member, company officer, and department head
    5. The financial status of the company
    6. The inventory for each product at the company
    7. The name of each person who manages a relationship with a supplier
    8. The contract terms of each supplier
    9. The marketing plan
    10. The financial plan
    11. The places  of distribution
    12. The places of potential distribution
    13. The contracts and terms for all clients
    14. The new products in design
    15. A summary of the legal status and activities
    16. The products in design and the schedule for these products

    A qualified CEO can begin to read through this information and know that there is other information for reference take control of the company in 90 minutes.  Companies have the burden of making sure that great hires have the power to succeed.