When the New York Times quotes Ben Wolf, our founder, to explain the fractional executive leadership trend, we know the fractional executive model is gaining even more steam among business owners.
Why is Fractional Leadership Catching On?
As Ben explained in his bestselling first book on the fractional executive industry, small and midsize business owners typically engage with fractional executives when they hit a “ceiling,” or what Ben calls the Entrepreneurial Catch-22. That’s when they can’t scale without bringing on an experienced C-level leader, but they also can’t afford someone of that caliber until after their business has scaled.
Most entrepreneurs who survive the startup phase experience some variation of this. There is a solution: working with a fractional leader can help them break through that ceiling and escape the Entrepreneurial Catch-22.
Fractional Leadership means engaging with an experienced C-level executive who’s already scaled an organization like yours. By hiring a fractional leader and making them a part of your leadership team, owners fast-track their ability to break through the ceilings holding them back for a fraction of what it costs to hire someone like that full-time.
Why do so many founder-led businesses hit the ceiling again and again after passing through the startup phase? I believe it is usually because the people on the founding leadership team have never run a business that size before. And they certainly haven’t led a company as big as they want theirs to become.
The data backs this up. Contrary to the stereotype of entrepreneurs as experienced, savvy serial business starters, about 90 percent of startups are founded by people who never started a business before. If you’re feeling alone, like there’s something wrong with you because you don’t know how to solve the problems your business is facing now, you’re not. You’re just like 90 percent of the other small and midsize business owners out there.
To talk with one of our Fractional COOs to see how you can break through your ceiling, all of whom are executives who have owned or run companies, click here to email or book a call with a member of the Wolf’s Edge Integrators team.
