Here is a brief excerpt from an article written by Carolyn Dewar, Thomas Dohrmann, Drew Erdmann, Ryan Harper, and Kunal Modi for the McKinsey Quarterly, published by McKinsey & Company. To read the complete article, check out other resources, learn more about the firm, obtain subscription information, and register to receive email alerts, please click here.

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While the scale of managing an entire country differs in a number of ways from managing a company, there are lessons the next US president can glean from the CEO transition period.

On January 20, 2017, the next president of the United States will become chief executive officer of some of the most powerful institutions in the world, including the White House, 15 executive departments, the US military, and numerous other federal agencies.

While not all lessons from the private sector are transferable to the public sector, and many successful business leaders find their skills challenged in the unique government environment, there are nevertheless lessons for this transition period that CEOs can offer the next president and other new senior leaders entering the government.

Here are a dozen such lessons, drawn from McKinsey’s work with public- and private-sector leaders globally and discussions with current and former CEOs of iconic companies who have undergone similar transitions. These lessons are broadly applicable to leaders transitioning into senior roles in the government, regardless of professional background.

Establish your agenda—an overarching aspiration and a limited set of priorities

Get a clear lay of the land

Understanding an organization’s context is vital, particularly in government institutions where so much of the staff is nonpolitical and has been there for many years and so many of the external stakeholders (for example, Congress, state and local governments, the press, and voters) have a say in what you do. In order to grasp the full picture, learn the expectations of the important constituencies and what experiences various institutions or departments have recently been through. Even incoming leaders who are insiders, with past experience in the organization, or possess deep expertise in a particular issue will benefit from assessing anew their operational landscape. In doing so, deliberately challenging any biases that the new leaders may have inherited—such as ideas about who might be your allies or adversaries—is important. After all, as the saying goes, “politics makes strange bedfellows.” Time and again, government leaders have stumbled because they did not take the time to reflect on and understand their institutions’ issues and stakeholders. Understanding the past is often the best way to diagnose the present to ensure future success.

Start with your vision of where you want to end up

Decide what you are trying to accomplish for the American people and what key themes you want to emphasize before setting your agenda. The transition period is the time to refine the goals set during the campaign and then ruthlessly prioritize those that will define your tenure. The former CEO of Juniper Networks, Kevin Johnson, once remarked that this approach does not require that “you translate your point of view into a new strategy on day one,” but that you should develop and prioritize a basic list of your long-term goals fairly quickly. A 2015 survey of executives highlighted that they considered the most important transition activity to be creating a shared vision and aligning their organization around this strategic direction. Then, once you have defined your guiding vision and prioritized your goals, assess the big initiatives and resources required to deliver on each of them. In particular, you should consider sunsetting any inherited projects that are outside the purview of your priorities to free up resources and sharpen the organization’s focus.

Focus on the next three years, not just the first 100 days

From the start, striking a balance between near-term and long-term impact is important. The media will make you feel like your success is determined in a sprint over the first 100 days. Inevitably, you will hear invocations of Franklin Roosevelt’s first 100 days, when he pushed through the legislative agenda that defined the New Deal. You will want to score a few quick wins that signal your priorities and demonstrate your ability to achieve them. As Convergys CEO Andrea Ayers has noted, it is important to stay focused on what matters and for “your early wins [to] tie back to your major goals. The former has to be connected to the latter.” While a cabinet secretary’s tenure is typically shorter than a CEO’s, you need to prepare for more than just the first 100 days. Indeed, trying to do too much in the first 100 days will not allow the organization sufficient time for buy-in and may lead you and the organization to feel like you are spinning your wheels.

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Here is a direct link to the complete article.

Carolyn Dewar is a partner based in McKinsey’s San Francisco office, where Kunal Modi is a consultant; Thomas Dohrmann is a senior partner in the Washington, DC, office, where Drew Erdmann is a partner and Ryan Harper is a consultant.