EDITOR ’ S QUESTION

As we move into a new year and reflect on 2024 it ’ s clear the business context continues to be turbulent and in constant flux . The global megatrends of Digital Transformation , automation , advance of AI , climate change , geopolitical instability and social and demographic changes are not abating , instead they are increasing .

It ’ s not going to be good enough anymore for businesses to have static , rigid and bloated organisational structures which can ’ t flex , change tack , respond quickly to change and which lack the cutting-edge skills needed to test and experiment for the future .

Developing agile talent strategies which make businesses nimble , adaptable and innovative in partnership with technology will be key to competitive advantage and growth and should be top of the list for 2025 .

But how do organisations do this ? How do they access the critical skills they need to supplement their loyal employee base ?

This is where the fractional C-suite comes in . This is a practical , alternative vision of the future of work for senior executives that is starting to gain significant interest and is being adopted by businesses globally . It disrupts and challenges the traditional full time employment model providing firms with access to the functional , emotional and collective intelligence they need to grow by moving positions from the ‘ pay-roll ’ to an ‘ access-role ’. Operating across the traditional C-suite disciplines of finance , marketing , people , technology and so on , these top calibre individuals with extensive knowledge and experience have left corporate to gain more flexibility , variety and control over their lives . They have chosen to leave this life for good , become self-employed and work with a portfolio of growing entrepreneurial businesses or larger organisations , each on a flexible fractional basis , for example one day per week or two days a month .

In this way , entrepreneurial organisations who don ’ t want , don ’ t need and can ’ t afford full time CXOs will be able to access much-needed fractional CXO skills to scale on a flexible basis .

Full time and employed larger corporate CXOs will also engage with non-threatening fractional CXOs to complete specialist tasks and projects of a part time nature – things on their to do list they don ’ t have the time or skills for . These fractional CXOs are ‘ another one of me ’ and bring dynamic access to wide and deep pools of C-suite skills on-demand .

Importantly , the very nature of being fractional means these CXOs get far more exposure than employed staff to the latest challenges , trends , tools and perspectives and accumulate up-todate knowledge and insights ,

As technology and automation adoption increase , we will see the start of traditional full time roles unbundling into a combination of work and tasks performed flexibly by humans augmented with automation . Fractional leadership meets this trend head-on by providing flexible access to the skills and know-how organisations need to innovate and grow . x www . intelligentcxo . com

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