Today marks thirty days in my new role. This is the first milestone in my onboarding journey and marks the end of my initial learning period. How did I do?

What I accomplished: I completed three structured conversations with each of my direct reports, covering their functional areas, the organization’s challenges and opportunities, and their professional development goals (This is a framework suggested by Michael Watkins in his book The First 90 Days). I held an all-staff retreat. I reviewed nearly all of the background documents I identified as essential reading. And I have spoken with most of the board members and key internal stakeholders, using the same set of diagnostic questions about challenges and opportunities across all of those conversations.

What I did not accomplish: I did not get to external stakeholders. That was a deliberate choice. Two major organizational commitments are bearing down, a board meeting and our annual summit, and I made a judgment call to focus internally first and push external conversations into the next thirty days. It is a trade-off I am comfortable with, but it is still a gap.

What I am doing with what I have learned: I have a set of observations that I am beginning to organize into themes. I will share those observations with the board at the upcoming board meeting. What I am not doing yet is recommending action. That comes later.

There is pressure, in any new leadership role, to articulate a vision quickly. I understand where that pressure comes from. There is a perception that a leader must lead by making grand declarations. But unless you are walking into a turnaround situation, moving too fast carries real risk. Announcing a direction before you understand the culture is how leaders make decisions that do not stick. I would rather go slow to go well.

The next thirty days will look different. The summit gives me a chance to meet a much wider range of members and to test the hypotheses I am developing from my internal conversations. External meetings will follow. By the sixty to ninety day mark, I expect to be ready to work with the board and the team to move from observations to action.

Thirty days in. The learning is not finished. It is just shifting.