The previous CEO left a funded list. You have a title and a board that wants momentum. Their list still has the budget. Yours does not. Kill two inherited initiatives this month before you fund a new one.
I will not hide that behind a new operating model.
Two firms in one building
It is week three. The leadership team still reports against slides written before you arrived. The CFO can fund one more programme if something else dies. Nobody has killed anything.
A newly appointed CEO of a US mid-market firm, or a UK one in the same range, often adds. They launch a Reset, a transformation, an AI workstream. The old list stays. Cash does not grow to match.
The firm you inherited is still executing the last agenda. Your new fund is an overlay until you take something off.
Three things are usually true. The pack names more initiatives than the firm can finish. Two or three of them have owners but no outcome. One of them is working and should keep the money.
How to kill without theatre
I grade each inherited initiative A to D on one page. X is blue: unknown, work to do. If it does not apply, omit it.
A: useful work is still moving, cash return is clear, keep it. D: reporting activity, no outcome, still drawing budget. Kill it or freeze it in writing.
Do not run a 400-row portfolio review. Do not relaunch the same work under a new name. Do not fund your first programme until two Ds are off the list or explicitly parked with a date.
Name the kill in the room. The board hears that as control, not as delay.
What week three is for
Write the one-page grade. Pick two to kill or freeze. Say which one keeps the money.
Then fund your first item, if it still earns after that cut.
Days 61 to 90 of a Reset are for the plan. Days 1 to 30 are for the gap. The kill sits between those: before you spend as if the slate were clean.
What to do
Kill two inherited initiatives before you fund a new one.
Say yes to a one-page A to D grade and two named cuts. Say no to a new programme stacked on the last CEO’s list.
The board will ask for momentum. Give them capacity first.
Request a private briefing
The 90-Day CEO Reset starts with the grade, not the pack.