Virginie Glaenzer wraps a panel on fractional executives, who bring high-level expertise without internal politics. Solid foundational processes save time and money upfront. A fractional CMO works best when the CEO treats it as an alliance focused on market share and brand differentiation.
Chapters
So I want to thank everyone for this insightful conversation. As we come to the end of the hour, I'd like to finish this discussion the way it began with another tour de table. The intention for this discussion is to help each of us become the self-authoring leader of our own lives through meaningful actions. Let's pass the mic and share any reflections that have emerged from our conversation or any last thoughts that you feel was left unsaid that you'd like to leave us with. First of all, I truly enjoyed this conversation. I definitely want to listen to it again. It will be on our podcast as well as on the YouTube channel because there was a lot of good nuggets, and I— we're gonna write a blog post also for those who like to to, to write. From what I'm hearing as I reflect on this conversation and what I'm seeing in the market, it's clear to me that the way that we are building organizations and hiring people is profoundly changing. I mean, there's no doubt about that. And it has accelerated since post-COVID. Fractional executives are clearly not consultants, but they're really the next generation or the new generation of executive management. They actually allow businesses to tap into skills and experiences that they previously would not have been able to retain, which is an amazing opportunity. But it also empowers the full-time teams with someone who is not playing politics and instead someone who's focusing on transferring their experience, as we talked about, to the team through new processes and also excellence. So that's, that's what I'm taking away from that conversation.
I think, you know, hearing everybody talk about how important foundation is in different capacities, that's really stuck with me. I heard all of us have a united front on that and taking the time to do it. I would say, you know, I've worked with a lot of clients in freelance capacities, short-term capacities where I'm asking them questions about, some of the things that they have in place. And sometimes there's one piece that I'm looking for to do my job well and not every piece I could use. And so when I come in as a fractional executive, that's something that I'm very intentional about addressing right at the outset. I want to make sure we take the time at the beginning to set these pieces so that when people come in, they are prepared, they have what they need to do their best work for you. Because that saves them time and money in the long run. I think sometimes the budgets, the initial time commitment, that upfront investment can feel daunting. But we've all seen the payoff that comes from taking that time to be intentional in the beginning. And so I appreciated that everybody said something in that vein.
I agree also. Yes, I think that was interesting that we all mirrored the foundation aspect, Sami. I think it's something important to consider in this new age of the way we work, how we work, where we work, and also the kinds of work we do. We know that all jobs are tech jobs now, and that's only going to increase. And we don't know what machine learning and AI are going to have as a long-term impact upon development teams, but we do know that The piece that those tools can't answer for as of yet, and hopefully it's a little bit down the road, is real human innovation and creativity. So it's more important now than ever for companies to think about unlocking the full potential of their teams. And that's really what we're about when we come in as an outside fractional leadership capacity. We can bring that And it's something that's, I think, to be more and more needed as we move forward.
I think that the fractional CMO role is really most effective when the CEO really sees this relationship as an alliance in order to hit their goals. That's kind of what I kind of go into these relationships with the mindset of I'm here to help you win. I'm here to help you gain market share. I'm here to help you determine your brand differentiation. And I'm here to make sure that any gaps that are present, I can help you fill. And then really test, learn, and iterate because marketing is never one and done. Marketing is always responsive to the ebbs and flows of the trends in the market. And as we know, we're having a lot of trends and a lot of changes. So I would say anyone who interviews a fractional should always kind of bear in mind that we're all here to respond to the marketplace in the best way that we can with the end goal of helping the client win.
Fantastic. I like that last thought. We're here, we're all here to help clients and, and the like. Thank you so much. So thank you again for spending time on this fantastic and fascinating discussion. And then for those who are watching this video or listening to the podcast, please like it and share it with other people. Um, and then finally, for all the business owners looking to reach their next phase of growth with a fractional executive woman, go to acornoak.net, fill out our inquiry form, and you'll receive, uh, the profile of 3 amazing fractional executives. So thank you so much. For being here.
