The First 90 Days (And Why the Real Work Happens in the Second 90)
There's a common expectation in turnaround work: fix everything in the first 90 days.
Cut costs immediately. Restructure the organization. Make the hard decisions early. Show the board you're taking action.
Here's the problem: that timeline is often too aggressive to be realistic or even healthy for the organization. The biggest strategic changes don't land in the first 90 days. They land in the second 90 days, after you've done the stakeholder work that makes them stick.
What the First 90 Days Are Actually For
The first 90 days are about creating clarity and control, not finishing all the major cuts.
Here's what that typically looks like:
Identifying the strategic and structural cuts that will be needed. Not necessarily executing them all immediately. Diagnose the situation fully and understand what needs to change and why.
Freezing non-essential spending. New policies, new approval processes, new checks and balances. Stop the bleeding while you build the longer-term plan. This is tactical control, not strategic restructuring.
Beginning the stakeholder process. Making the case for change. Sharing data. Starting to reduce fear and anxiety before asking people to sign off on painful decisions.
The first 90 days are diagnostic and stabilizing. You're creating the foundation for change, not executing all of it.
Why Strategic Cuts Happen in the Second 90 Days
Strategic, structural cuts require real buy-in from key stakeholders. That takes more than a few weeks.
You need to move stakeholders through the emotional curve: denial, anger, bargaining, and acceptance. Not just present a spreadsheet.
You need to work through the fear of "pissing off a few loud people." Help boards and staff distinguish between vocal resistance and what the broader organization actually needs.
Because of that, many of the biggest moves appropriately fall into the second 90 days once people have had enough time, communication, and process to commit.
This isn't about being slow or avoiding hard decisions. It's about making changes that actually stick because stakeholders understand and support them.
The "What-If" Trap
Here's a reliable sign of trouble in any change process:
You have a solid policy that will work for the vast majority of situations. Then stakeholders respond with a flurry of "what if" scenarios.
"What if someone has this specific situation?" "What if this edge case happens?" "What if we need to make an exception?"
Some of those what-ifs are legitimate. But they are exceptions. You don't redesign the entire rule set around outliers.
I find this back-and-forth dialogue to be the biggest time suck in organizational change. Is it necessary? Maybe—but you have to push through it.
Here's the framing I use:
The core policy should be built for the meat of the bell curve, where most cases live.
True edge cases are managed as exceptions: document them, define escalation paths, and handle them through discretionary judgment rather than rewriting the policy every time someone imagines a corner case.
That framing lets you hold firm on the main policy while still showing that unusual cases will be handled thoughtfully instead of letting hypothetical outliers paralyze needed change.
The Two-Phase Framework
First 90 Days: Diagnose, Stabilize, Align
Listen and learn (reality over assumptions)
Freeze non-essential spending (tactical control)
Identify needed strategic changes (diagnosis)
Begin stakeholder communication (build the case)
Reduce fear and anxiety (emotional groundwork)
Second 90 Days: Execute with Buy-In
Implement strategic and structural cuts
Make personnel decisions
Launch new initiatives
Restructure programs or operations
Execute with stakeholder support (changes that stick)
The difference between turnarounds that succeed and those that fail often comes down to this sequencing. Move too fast and you'll face resistance, reversals, or departures of key people who never bought in. Move deliberately and you build the foundation for sustainable change.
What This Means for You
If you're leading change in your organization — whether a full turnaround, a leadership transition, or a strategic shift — resist the pressure to do everything in the first 90 days.
Use that time to create clarity and control. Diagnose fully. Build stakeholder alignment. Stop the immediate bleeding.
Then execute the strategic changes in the second 90 days, with the support and understanding you've built.
That's how change sticks.