WHY I became a Fractional Executive two-decades ago.

Before I tell you why I became a fractional executive, let me first define what a fractional executive actually is. A fractional executive is a seasoned business leader who joins a company on a part-time or contract basis to provide high-level strategic leadership without the full-time cost or commitment of a traditional executive hire. These roles, such as fractional COO, CFO, CMO, or CRO, are particularly valuable for startups, growth-stage companies, and small to mid-sized businesses that need executive expertise but aren’t yet ready to bring someone on full-time.

Rather than working 40 hours a week, a fractional executive typically engages for a set number of days or hours per week or month, depending on the company’s needs. Despite the limited time, they operate at a senior level, driving critical initiatives, setting strategy, leading teams, and solving specific challenges. This might include stabilizing operations, implementing financial discipline, building scalable processes, or leading a turnaround effort.

Fractional executives are often brought in during periods of rapid growth, restructuring, or leadership transition. They offer a unique combination of flexibility and impact—bringing the kind of experience that typically takes decades to acquire, but in a scalable, cost-effective way. For many companies, a fractional executive is the bridge between where they are today and where they want to go, delivering results without long-term overhead.

Now for my personal WHY I became a fractional executive, it’s because I saw a pattern that was too common to ignore: startups and growth-stage companies with great ideas and passionate founders were failing, not because of a lack of effort, but because of a lack of focus, vision, and financial discipline. Over the past two decades, I’ve built a career around fixing broken companies, streamlining operations, rebuilding leadership accountability, and creating clarity where chaos once ruled.

What drives me is helping founders get out of the weeds and back to what they do best, innovating and leading, while I bring the structure, strategy, and operational rigor needed to stabilize and scale. Being a fractional executive allows me to bring this expertise to multiple companies at critical inflection points, creating real impact without the overhead of a full-time hire. I step in, align the team, fix what’s broken, and put the business on a path to sustainable growth, so the company can thrive long after I step out.

I’ve held a wide range of fractional C-suite roles, including Chief Operating Officer, Chief Sales Officer, Chief of Staff, and Chief Executive Officer, and bring deep operational, financial, and strategic expertise to every engagement. As a trusted advisor to private equity and venture capital firms, I’ve led due diligence efforts, conducted in-depth financial analysis, and implemented scalable systems that consistently drive profitability. My sales methodologies are built to increase productivity, efficiency, accountability, and top-line revenue, and I’ve broken sales records at every company I’ve worked with. One constant throughout my career: I reduce customer attrition and deliver measurable, lasting results.

As a Fractional Executive, I address the following areas of a business:

People, Culture & Hot Buttons

At the core of every company are its people. The most successful business owners understand that while they may hire employees to work for them, true leadership means working for those employees, supporting, empowering, and guiding them toward success. It all begins with understanding what truly drives each individual on your team.

That’s why I developed the “Hot Button” system, an actionable framework for uncovering the personal and professional needs of every employee, including leadership and ownership. Through confidential, company-wide surveys, I help uncover the “unknown unknowns”, the critical insights that often go unnoticed but directly impact performance, engagement, and retention. Without this knowledge, true success remains out of reach.

While many companies focus on hiring for “cultural fit,” this can be a double-edged sword. I believe strongly in aligning hires with your organization’s core values. However, hiring people just because they “fit the mold” can lead to a workforce that lacks diversity of thought, what I call a herd of followers, not leaders. Real innovation comes from building a team of individuals who complement your culture, not replicate it.

What many business owners and sales professionals fail to realize is that success lies in knowing your own numbers. Not just company-wide metrics, but the individualized activity metrics that reflect your unique skill set, conversion rates, and process. Every business has its own benchmarks. Every salesperson has their own ratios.

So let me ask you this: How can a business owner build an accurate financial forecast, or a salesperson hit their quota, if neither knows what actions are required each day to get there?

Success doesn’t come from luck. It comes from clarity, consistency, and daily execution. Otherwise, you’re just another blind squirrel hoping to stumble on a nut.

And then there’s your culture. One of the first things I do during any engagement is ask your team: “If you were CEO tomorrow, what’s the first thing you would change?” The answers are almost always revealing, and often surprising. For owners, it’s one of the most valuable insights they’ll ever receive.

So let me ask: Are you ready to hear what your team really thinks?