When I step into an organization as interim CEO, everyone expects a plan on day one. I don’t bring one. I bring questions.
The first month is for listening. I meet the leadership team one by one. I sit in the meetings that already exist before I invent new ones. I read the board minutes and the budget, because those two documents tell you what an organization actually values, no matter what the website says.
What I steady first is always the same: payroll, cash, and communication. People can handle hard news. What they can’t handle is silence. So I tell the team what I know, what I don’t know yet, and when they’ll hear from me next. Then I keep that promise, every time.
What I leave alone, at least at first, is the org chart. Reorganizing in month one feels decisive, but it’s usually just noise. Most of the time the structure isn’t the problem. The problem is that nobody trusts the structure, and trust doesn’t come from a new diagram.
By day ninety you should have three things: a team that knows where it stands, a board that’s governing instead of managing, and a short list of decisions that only the next permanent leader should make. My job isn’t to make every call. It’s to make sure the right calls are still there to be made.