Bill Canady challenges the standard advice for new PE-backed CEOs to spend 90 days listening. He argues 70% of these CEOs are replaced before exit, with the critical decision often made around month six in a room without them. His 100-day playbook uses four gates and four documents to move fast instead.
Every book written about taking a new job tells you the same thing. Spend the first 90 days listening. Don't change anything yet. Do a listening tour. If you're a private equity-backed CEO, that advice will cost you the seat. Because while you're listening, there's a clock running that you can't see. 70% of private equity-backed CEOs are replaced before their company exits. And the decision that ends most of them gets made around month 6 in a room you're typically not in. So I'm going to do the opposite of the listening tour. I'm going to walk you through exactly what I would do in the first 100 days if I took over a $200 million company on Monday morning. There's 4 gates, 4 documents, 100 days, and it works the same whether you took the seat last week or you've been sitting in it for 11 years.
