• Time pressures and intense learning curve;

• Risk of being overwhelmed with immediate "firefighting" and task-driven priorities, distracting attention from establishing the right strategic priorities;

• Need to build new networks and forge new stakeholder relationships;

• Dealing with legacy issues from their predecessor;

• Challenges of inheriting a team and having to make tough personnel decisions;

• For external hires, a lack of experience of the company culture may lead to inadvertent gaffes and early political blunders - all of which can take time to recover from;

• Getting the balance right between moving too fast and moving too slow.

Source: First100