Your first 12 days as a leader

Congratulations! You’ve made it. You’ve just started that new job. What now?

As a new leader, we believe the first 12 days are essential to success. First impressions count. A lot. And so too those early wins. It’s an opportunity to gain confidence and increase your chance of success.

Here’s our Leadership Guide that will help in your first 12 days.

Locate your train set
Poor is where we start the journey
Get off the flipping fence
Start somewhere—anywhere
Get to first base—first
Think Moscow
Target what you (really) want
Create a visual factory
Make a plan, be flexible
Fix that faulty tap
MBWA with Dr Martin
Now Next and Later

Each lesson is explained full on the Learning Platform. A short tutorial video, detailed lesson and micro action awaits.

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Challenge yourself

See if you can spot each lesson on the graphic with 84 icons.

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Day 1 — Locate your train set

Excellence can’t happen in the attic. You need to be practicing and practising at all times. And without a train set, you’re stuck. What’s a train set? It’s any project, product or team you have agency over.

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Day 2 — Poor is where we start the journey

You’ve just heard your name announced—it’s the final call. You’re hot, flustered, and got minutes to spare. Everyone else has boarded. A failure to make this flight and you’ll be stranded.

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Day 3 — Get off the flipping fence

Just make a decision. All they wanted was a straight-forward answer to a straight-forward question. But you chose to sit on the fence. It didn’t help things. When it comes to poor performance, nothing fuels failure more than indecision.

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Day 4 — Start somewhere—anywhere

Like a rabbit in the headlights, you’ve gone from simple to overwhelm. And now you don’t know where to start. Procrastination is kicking in. The only way you’re going to improve is to do something (anything!).

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Day 5 — Get to first base—first

Perfectionists are guilty of waiting for the perfect ball. Visualising the home run, the podium, the medal. But never scoring. If only they could reach first base. Life would be so much different.

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Day 6 — Think Moscow

In more peaceful times, you plan to visit the Russian capital. So much to do, so little time, what will you see? The Kremlin, Red Square, Saint Basil’s Cathedral? If only you had a simple way to prioritise!

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Day 7 — Target what you (really) want

Say what you like about the Spice Girls—they defined an era. And reset expectations beyond the music industry. They influenced fashion, journalism, social trends, vocabulary, and a certain Man Utd footballer.

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Day 8 — Create a visual factory

You have a good idea what to expect—even before reaching the office. All the signs are there—the evidence. The metrics and the measures. Displayed for everyone to see. If only they would bother to look up!

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Day 9 — Make a plan, be flexible

You’ve put in the hours. You know exactly what needs to be done. So does your team. You’ve looked at the problem from every which way. And then something happens.

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Day 10 — Fix that leaky tap

Setbacks can occur when a minor problem becomes a bigger issue. Never fixed. Forever on your mind. It’s those seemingly small things that will grind you down—drip-by-drip—triggering trauma and testing your resolve.

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Day 11 — MBWA with Dr Martin

Put your boots on. We’re going for a walk. We’re going to have a chat about what’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable (aka the Thick Red Line). We’ll visit a few people. Check the pulse of the place. Follow up on a few outstanding actions.

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Day 12 — Now Next and Later

Working with colleagues in turbulent times is like dealing with school children in normal times. A constant chaos in the corridors. Distractions a plenty. And lots of repetition. I repeat, lots of repetition.

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