Fractionals United Blog

In Academia, it's easy to pin down experts by their title (Professor, Lecturer, Chief Scientist...) and there are specific milestones (undergraduate, masters, doctorate degree...) which define an individual's level of expertise within their field.  But in Business, things aren't nearly as clear-cut.   It's easy to say that we're usually operating more on art than science—but when you look a little deeper, the truth is that all Founders and CEOs rely deeply on measurable, tested theory from a small group of experts in their inner circle whose experience can guide a company to grow and thrive—or if poorly executed, can cause it to go under.  Whether these experts sit directly on their Board, in their Executive Team, or adjunct as Advisors or Fractional Leaders, business owners have always known that when they bring in someone they trust to steer, it's important to know exactly which kind of business "potholes" that person has seen before, to ensure they ...

Now that "fractional" is more popular and in the news, it is important to understand what the difference between that and consulting is. I was recently part of an Operator's Guild panel on just this topic, and as part of our presentation deck, created the below table to highlight the differences between all the types of non-traditional leadership roles: To put it simply, there is no difference between a fractional CXO and their full-time counterpart except that the fractional will be part-time and therefore have other work, whether other fractional or consulting work. I personally do a combination of fractional COO work and workflow consulting. And fractional is always a leadership role, although not necessarily executive level, and needs to be synonymous with that.  Another way to look at the difference between fractionals and consultants is through two more lenses: what are they hired for and what their focus has to be. Consultants are hired for their skills; they may ...