My First 90 Days: Do You Know the Difference Between Gossiping and Gaining Info?

In this series, professionals share how they rocked — or didn't! — the all-important first 90 days on the job. Follow the stories here and write your own (please include the hashtag #First90 in the body of your post).

My first 90 days at Royal Caribbean transpired before the 1988 Presidential election. I had lived my whole life in the north until I joined the company. Plus I had worked very hard as a young lawyer in New York and in business school in France. So for my first 28 days in South Florida, I thought (mostly) to myself: “What am I doing in Miami where it’s warm all the time, and I’ve finished all my work by 5 p.m. every day?”

Then on the 29th day, Carnival Cruise Lines announced they were going to buy Royal Caribbean and all hell broke loose. The rest of the first 90 days — plus 19 more – remain the most frenetic of my career (they didn’t buy us). Between the passage of time and the reality of those bizarre days and nights, I don’t have anything useful to recommend from first 90 days except “expect the unexpected.”

On the other hand, I have witnessed a very large number of other people’s first 90 days at Royal Caribbean over the last 26+ years (that’s 90 days 107 times!) and I have some observations to make about this. Please bear in mind that the cruise business is a very complicated business, which even people who like to say “Wow, those ships are like floating cities!” underestimate. So there is only so much one can digest in 90 days. Here are eight observations for your consideration.

• You have one chance to make a good first impression, so focus on what your supervisor expects from you and get on it right away.
• Every day during the first 90 days is a business day whether you are in the office or not — you should be reading and discussing as much about the business as you can digest.
• Learn the lingo of the business. I don’t know if other industries have as many acronyms as the cruise industry does, but the faster you master them the more knowledgeable you will sound.
• Make sure you know the competencies your company values. For example, at Royal Caribbean we evaluate our employees across up to nine competencies depending on the position. This should not come as a surprise to you at your first appraisal.
• Start networking, not gossiping. Your colleagues are going to tell you all kind of things about other colleagues. Introduce yourself to your colleagues, and form your own impressions. Keep those impressions to yourself and don’t worry, your colleagues will be too busy telling you their own opinions to realize you are not giving them yours.

• Keep networking. This is not something that is for the first 90 days. It never ends. If you are going be successful at the company, it will be in part because really busy people with scarce time choose to help you instead of helping someone else.
• Ask lots of questions. Being new gives you a license to do so. Plus people love to talk about themselves and how important their work is. Take advantage. You will learn facts and history about the company. More importantly, you will begin to glean the company culture.
• Begin to identify mentors. The first 90 days are probably too soon to actually engage someone to be your mentor, but they’re not too soon to begin to evaluate whom you might like to have as a mentor. Find out which upper-level executives people aspire to emulate and introduce yourself to them. Look for connections (you’re a runner too?) and build on them.

Good luck to all the newbies!