Fractional Resources

A friend recently recommended I join Fractionals United, suggesting it had an active Slack community and was a great place for peer assistance and referrals.

I’ve run into this group before, but always dropped out when faced with their application questions:

Prior to becoming a fractional leader, how many years did you spend managing teams in your primary area of expertise (e.g., Operations, Finance, Marketing)?

Before starting your fractional or consulting work, what was your most senior job title as a full-time employee?

In your most senior leadership role, how many full-time employees reported directly to you (not including contractors or indirect reports)?

This time, my friend referred me directly, bypassing those questions.

The result? Immediate rejection:

“It does not look like they are a senior leader with team leadership experience, both of which are requirements to join. If they actually do have this experience, please have them update their LinkedIn profile to reflect this.”

Surprise! Not. Executive Presence strikes again.

When I shared this with my CTO peer group - folks I’ve been meeting with for about five years - they were shocked. “What?!” Their reaction confirmed what I suspected: this narrow definition of leadership isn’t just personally frustrating; it’s fundamentally misaligned with how many successful tech leaders view their profession.

Perhaps they should call themselves “Managers United” instead.

But here’s the real issue: this group isn’t actually about fractionals at all. On their website, they define fractional work in surprisingly narrow terms:

“Fractionals are part-time senior leadership roles. It’s different than regular consulting since they’re a part of the team; and different than regular part-time work since it’s a leadership role.”

They even emphasize “Fractional C-Suite positions” as their focus.

But that completely misses what fractional work actually is!

Fractionals almost always work independently. While some partner up or create agencies-of-fractionals, the vast majority are soloists. We’ve intentionally stepped away from traditional employment to forge our own paths, under our own leadership.

The essence of fractional work is simply applying specialized expertise to fill gaps in a client’s team. Sometimes that “fraction” relates to time, but often clients already handle various aspects of the role you fill—you’re there to provide experience and expertise where needed.

The irony here is striking. This narrow view of leadership isn’t just personally frustrating - it fundamentally misunderstands both fractional work and modern leadership itself.

I’ve built businesses—but apparently they don’t count because they weren’t VC-funded growth entities? Because we stayed small? Because some closed? I’ve led teams as a consultant, advisor, and employee—but rarely was leadership part of my title. I simply did the work, which often involved leadership from behind (like Niven’s Puppeteers, where the “Hindmost” leads from the rear). I’ve even held Director roles.

This gatekeeping reminds me powerfully of something my friend and former colleague Cheryl (Porro) Johnson shared about “executive presence.” She quoted an article describing how the push to acquire that “special je ne sais quoi of executive presence is actually a trap. Not only does the fuzzy definition allow racial and gender biases and stereotypes to perpetuate and be enforced, it puts women and people of color in the tricky position of hiding their authentic selves in order to fit into a leadership box filled with white men in suits.”

While I can’t claim to have experienced the specific challenges women and people of color face, as a long-haired southern (identifying) man who has spent decades delivering value without ever acquiring that mystical ‘Executive Presence,’ I deeply resonate with the fundamental problem: arbitrary gates that keep talented people from contributing their unique perspectives.

Apparently, 33+ years of this experience doesn’t qualify me as a “senior leader.”

The benefits of diverse perspectives are lost when we insist everyone fit into the same narrow mold. Want to know what really makes fractional work valuable? It’s not about fitting traditional leadership definitions - it’s about bringing exactly what each client needs, in exactly the way they need it.

A true fractional community should help its members do exactly this—leverage their existing skills rather than forcing them to fit some arbitrary mold of what “leadership” looks like.

Looking for a different kind of fractional community? One that focuses on real growth and peer support, not arbitrary gates? Check out my fractional coaching community, or explore more free resources and communities.