Companies & Industries  AIG: A Big Early Loss for Obama  The
bonus fiasco constitutes a strike, especially because it
happened at the beginning of his tenure, says Harvard Business
blogger Michael Watkins  Posted on The Leading Edge: March 19,
2009 2:19 PM  The most fundamental guiding principle for making
successful transitions is to secure early wins. Early wins are
essential because they build the new leader's credibility and
create the perception that momentum is building in positive
directions. Wins translate into significant deposits in new
leaders' political bank accounts; capital on which they can draw
to make needed changes happen.  Failure to get early wins is
therefore not a good thing. Far worse for newly appointed
leaders, however, is incurring significant early losses. Worst
of all are errors that make new leaders look simultaneously
incompetent (for letting something bad happen in the first
place) and powerless (to do much about it once it has happened,
beyond expressing outrage).  The AIG bonu