The Fractional Executive Boom Is Real. Most Companies Still Hire Wrong.
Fractional CMO and COO hiring is surging. Here are five tests to tell a real executive from a part-time consultant, and when fractional is the right call.
How to Compete on Value Without Becoming a Discount Brand
Shoppers want value, but discounting erodes margin and brand strength. A fractional CMO explains six ways consumer brands can compete on value without becoming a discount brand, with lessons from Wegmans and Applebee’s.
AI Changed the CMO Job Description. For Most Growing Brands, It’s Now a Fractional Role.
AI lets executives do far more work in far fewer hours. A fractional CEO and CMO explains how that changes the CMO job description and why, for most growing consumer brands, a fractional CMO is now enough.
More Layers, More Handoffs, More Overhead: How Complexity Takes Over a Company, and the Executive a Simpler One Needs
Kroger and Albertsons say complexity slowed them down. A fractional CEO explains how complexity gets out of hand, how AI makes simpler organizations possible, and why they need hands-on executives.
Built to Be Bought: What Thorne’s $3.8B Sale and SpikedAde’s Earnout Reveal About What Acquirers Pay For
P&G paid $3.8B for Thorne. Constellation put most of SpikedAde’s price in an earnout. A fractional CEO explains the seven things acquirers pay for and how to get your brand ready.
The Founder-to-Operator Handoff: What Olipop’s New CEO Teaches Every Growing Brand
Olipop just named its first non-founder CEO. A fractional CEO and COO explains the seven signs a founder-led brand needs an operator, and how to make the handoff work.
The Hardest Part of Being a Fractional Executive Isn’t the Work. It’s Getting the Team to Trust You.
The biggest challenge I face every time I’m brought in as a fractional CMO or COO isn’t setting goals or hitting milestones. It’s getting the company’s team to trust me.
The best founders I know never fully let go. Here’s why that’s OK.
Everyone tells founders to step back, trust the team, and get out of their own way — and they’re all wrong. When you’re not fully engaged, things go off the rails, and quickly.
Why Leaders Build Weak Teams and Don’t Know It
Every CEO says they want to hire the best people. So why do so many end up surrounded by people who agree too quickly, execute too quietly, and never push back? The answer is more uncomfortable than most leaders want to admit.