The Right Way to Lead in Your First 90 Days

Jan 9, 2026

Gian Peroni, an engineering leader at Nav with a knack for org design, dives into the essential first 90 days of leadership. He emphasizes treating this phase as active triage rather than passive observation, armed with hypotheses for improvement. Gian explains the importance of clear communication during organizational changes to avoid panic, and shares a unique interview tactic to gauge a company's collaborative culture. With managers as the front lines of change, he stresses setting transparent expectations to build trust and clarity.

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INSIGHT

First 90 Days Are Triage Not Passive

New leaders rarely just 'listen and learn'; they treat the first 90 days as triage.
You arrive with hypotheses and must test or tee up changes once conditions allow.

INSIGHT

Structure Mirrors A Leader's Worldview

Organizational structure reflects a leader's worldview about how work should be done.
Reorgs are often the visible expression of aligning structure to a leader's beliefs.

INSIGHT

Change Bandwidth Is Limited

People can only absorb a limited amount of change before they tune out.
Humility and empathy about change pace prevents it from feeling like chaos.

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New leaders face a choice fast. Do you adapt to the organization you inherit, or reshape it around the way you lead?

In this conversation, Amir sits down with Gian Perrone, engineering leader at Nav, to unpack how org design really works in the first 30 to 120 days, and how to drive change without spiking anxiety or losing trust.

You will hear how Gian treats leadership as triage, why “listen and learn” is rarely passive, and what separates a thoughtful reorg from one that feels chaotic.

Key takeaways

Leaders almost always arrive with hypotheses, the real work is testing them without rushing to force a playbook

A reorg is not automatically bad, perception turns negative when the why is unclear and people feel unsafe

Over communicating helps, but thinking out loud too often can create noise, a structured comms plan keeps change steady

A simple way to spot a collaborative culture is to disagree in the interview and see how they respond

Managers are the front line in change, set clear expectations so teams hear a consistent story about what is changing and why

Timestamped highlights

00:01 What Nav does, and the real question behind org design for new leaders

01:59 Why “first 90 days” is usually triage, not passive observation

04:14 The reorg stopwatch, and why structure reflects your worldview

08:36 How to communicate change without destabilizing teams

12:54 A practical interview move to test whether a company truly collaborates

17:03 The manager layer, how Gian sets expectations so change lands well

A line worth repeating

“If you arrive and something is on fire, you are going to fix it.”

A few practical moves worth stealing

When you are new, write down your hypotheses early, then use real signals to confirm or kill them

Float a change as a real idea first, gather feedback, then come back with details before you finalize

Create a simple comms map of who hears what, when, and from whom, then follow it

Be matter of fact about changes, teams often mirror the tone you set

Call to action

If this episode helped you think more clearly about leadership and org design, follow the show and share it with one operator who is navigating change right now.