If there’s one thing I’ve learned about integration projects, it’s that every one eventually leads to the same predicament: to ERP or not to ERP, that is the question.
It starts focused. An inventory tracker. A marketing dashboard. Something specific and contained.
Then the requirements get mapped out and the scope grows. More data sources. More connections. More automation.
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The Fractional Executive Market Has a Problem
A fractional CMO or COO is a senior executive who works with a company part-time, typically on a retainer, providing C-suite thinking and leadership without the cost or commitment of a full-time hire. The model works because experience, not hours, is the scarce resource.
That premise is now under pressure.
As a fractional
Most founder/CEOs facing a major business problem think about hiring in one way: find a full-time executive to solve it.
That instinct makes sense. Big problem, dedicated person, full-time focus. But in practice, hiring a full-time COO or CMO is a long, expensive, slow process. By the time a new executive is making real impact, your business has been waiting
Two Founders Can Hire the Same Fractional Executive. One Gets Results. The Other Gets an Expensive Mistake.
I’ve sat on both sides of this story enough times to know it’s not about talent.
Same resume. Same hours per week. Same hourly rate. Wildly different outcomes.
In one engagement, I rebuilt an entire operations function in four months, getting the team
There are some business challenges that can’t be solved using the usual playbook
When running a business not every problem is hard because it’s complicated. Some are hard because of what kind of problem they are.
Here’s what I mean. Certain challenges have a specific profile. They might require someone to lead a team, not just advise one. The work
The leaders winning right now aren’t the ones who predicted every disruption.They’re the ones who accepted that disruption was the new normal and built systems and mindsets that can repeatedly identify, assess and mitigate them.What makes this moment genuinely difficult isn’t a single disruption. It’s that the underlying forces most businesses count on being stable, or at least slow-moving, are
The best founders I know never fully let go. Here’s why that’s OK.
You built your company by staying close to everything, every decision, every hire, every client relationship, every expense and invoice. That focus and dedication didn’t make you a control freak. It made you a
The Meeting Everyone Hates Might Be Your Most Powerful Business Tool
When someone schedules yet another recurring meeting, at best most people’s first instinct is to groan. At worst they see it as a sign of bureaucracy that’s going to slow everything down and eliminate creativity and initiative, at best it’s taking time away from ‘real work.’ Routines are seen
This morning’s jobs report just changed the conversation.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released February’s numbers today, and they weren’t pretty. The U.S. economy shed 92,000 jobs last month, a stunning miss against economist expectations of adding 50,000. The unemployment rate climbed to 4.4%. December was quietly revised from a gain to a
Every CEO/owner will tell you they want to hire the best people.
A-players. Top talent. The best of the best.
And yet, when I walk into many small and mid-market companies as a Fractional CMO or COO and look at who the CEO/owner has surrounded themselves with, it’s often B, C,