‘Fractional’ is a term that’s being tossed around quite a bit lately.

Almost as if it’s a brand new concept.

Just to try to clear it up, ‘fractional’ simply means ‘a subset’.

A subset of time. A subset of scope. A subset of responsibilities.

And once you understand that, you realize that essentially all consulting is fractional.

You’re brought in to do a very specific thing, over a specific duration.

What’s novel as of late is the emergence of fractional executives — roles we’ve always assumed to be permanent, in-house, and full-time.

But be careful - just because the terms of the engagement might be fractional (part-time, narrowed scope)...

Doesn’t mean the qualifications for the engagement are fractional.

You’ll still need to have the relevant expertise to get the gig.

💡

-Wes

P.S. A couple slides from a talk I gave today on the topic: