The standard model for a senior hire is a handover document, some introductions, and then ownership from week one. The alternative proposed here is that the new person shadows the incumbent for **thirty to sixty days before taking anything over** — observing all their meetings, one-to-ones and external calls — and only then assumes the role, after which the incumbent reverse-shadows them for two to four weeks. ### **What I'm thinking about** 1. **The argument comes from comparing two populations** – Chiefs of staff are young and inexperienced, shadow for months, and succeed at close to 100%. New executives are experienced, air-dropped into live fire on day one, and succeed at about 50%. The variable that differs is not talent. 2. **The question it poses** – "If you could wait 30-60 days and bring your new executive success rate from 50% to 100%, would you?" 3. **Treat the causal claim as plausible rather than proven** – The source is honest that this was written early: the practice began in 2021 and it was reporting a promising pattern, not a measured result. The base rates are real; the inference that shadowing closes the gap is the hypothesis being tested. 4. **The reverse-shadow has a rule** – Hold feedback until after each meeting rather than interrupting. You are watching them build their own flow, not correcting keystrokes. Continue "until you realize that they are performing better in the role than you were." 5. **There is a sensible limit** – Regina Gerbeaux's caveat: shadow for thirty days yes, observe company-specific context yes, but do not sit through mundane tasks. Do those yourself instead. ### **So what?** The general principle underneath is that **failure to perform is most often a failure of training or hiring** rather than of the person — which shifts where you look first when someone struggles. The same three-stage structure transfers any skill: you watch me do it several times and document what you see; I watch you do it and give feedback; then **you train your own backup**, which is the step that actually consolidates the learning, because explaining it forces you to understand what you were doing. Related: [[The Anti-Sell]] [[Areas of Responsibility]] [[I Intend To]] [[Team Growth x Product Market Fit]] [[Executive Operating System MOC]]