Fractional Leadership: What, Why, How?

Plus: #ReimaginingSafety, and why I still say #DefundThePolice

Fractional Leadership: What I do (and want to do)

So far 2023 has been my year of taking care of some personal matters and trying to get a clearer picture of my next stage creatively and professionally (and hopefully those two overlap a lot). One thing I’ve been wrestling with is that I think the kind of company I can help the most and which might even desperately need to leverage the experience of someone like me, is the kind of company that is probably too early-stage to comfortably take on the full freight of my full-time value. i.e. I’m expensive.

More and more I’ve been referring to what I have on offer as “fractional” leadership. I think in many cases I could lead the kind of targeted strategic initiatives and complete the kind of focused key deliverables a start-up needs at half- or even quarter-time. You might ask, how is this different from just consulting? Which I’ve done a lot of since leaving the company that acquired BlogHer. It is different, and there are two resources that explain the difference very well.

The first highly articulate explanation comes from, no surprise, my #forevercofounder, Jory Des Jardins, in the form of an interview she did on the topic. Check it out here.

And really I could have written her closing line; it resonates so directly:

“At this stage in my career, I no longer identify as a title at a company but as a unique and growing set of experiences, and an accompanying network, that can be applied to aligned companies.” -Jory Des Jardins

The second source is a site I just learned about, Fractionals United. They have a simple chart that gives some really good guidelines about how to implement a fractional leader in your organization, if not the why.

Source: Fractionals United

What do you think of this concept? Does it make sense to you, and does the difference between consulting and fractional leadership seem like semantics or is it a big lightbulb moment for you? And as always, let me know if you want to talk about MY fractional leadership!

What else is going on?

Reimagining Safety: Why I still say #DefundThePolice

If ever there was a triggering and provcative political belief that I hold strongly, it’s support of the #DefundThePolice movement.

Arguing with fellow progressives about a slogan is endlessly exhausting, because it’s based on those of us in the debate knowing exactly what the slogan represents, but debating whether or not some mythical other people are smart enough to understand. If we conserved our energy for simply having that conversation with these mythical other people, we’d probably get a lot farther.

Case in point: Last weekend I went and saw a screening of the new documentary, Reimagining Safety, by Matthew Solomon. I’ll be honest, it was a lazy, warm Saturday afternoon, and I had thought I was going to see a short film. When I heard it was a full-length documentary I was a little worried about whether I would stay alert and engaged. I shouldn’t have worried. It was utterly compelling and perfectly explained the rationale behind the movement to shift funding from policing, and especially the militarization of our police forces, to other social services and fundamental human needs…education, healthcare, housing, and so on.

The “talking heads” in the movie are a diverse and dynamic bunch that explore the issues from many perspectives, and with the kind of data-based storytelling that I believe can move mountains. One of the movie’s closing moments (and my favorite moment) is contributed by Dr. El Jones. She pushes back on the idea that defunding the police is a radical idea, offering that what’s actually radical is how we have steadily defunded mental health services, defunded public education, defunded the arts, defunded youth outreach, and more. While many of us haven’t uttered a pepp about it. We somehow expect that an increasingly carceral society is what will keep “the rest of us” safe, instead of investing in addressing the root causes, which would keep all of us safe.

Anyway, after seeing this movie I brought it up with my mom. She is super liberal, always has been, and super upset about a lot of things going on in this country, including inequity in our “justice” system. And yet, her gut reaction was that she was against defunding the police. It took me about 10 minutes talking to her about this movie and all the issues it raised, and what the proposed policies are behind the slogan and, presto!, she got it and was on board. It’s not actually hard.

The fact is that our media landscape and our political landscape are riddled with fear-mongering messaging that belies the data and the fetishization of law enforcement as an unquestionable good (just look at the primetime domination of TV series about it, i.e. “copaganda”). I have to do a part 2 on this, I think!

Meanwhile, I would love to hear your thoughts, respectfully of course, and whether you’re having conversations about this topic in your circles?

The Op-Ed Page podcast

Episode 89 is a wide-ranging conversation with June Johnson, founder of Collective High, and now offering Weed Doula services. You’ll hear some very candid conversation about cannabis, and how it has changed over the years. And yes, I talk about my own lived experience of this change in the product. This is not the cannabis from my college days, let’s just say that. So that’s fun. What’s less fun is the contrast between the people becoming cannabis moguls (and how some policy-making, even in states that are fully legalized like California, favors certain kinds of interests) and the people who are to this day sitting in prison for cannabis use that is 100% legal today (and in fact has been for a while). The social and ethical and cultural concerns around this industry are many, so mindful consumerism is on all of us.

#3MinuteStory

The TikTok video I’m sharing in this issue is neither a #3MinuteBookReview nor #3MinuteAdvice; it’s a #3MinuteStory about a scary experience I had on the NYC subway. In the wake of the murder of Jordan Neely, it reminded me of many of these stories. I have been uncomfortable or scared or even worse on the subway many times. I could go on and on about this…and also about how feelings aren’t data, especially in a fear-saturated media landscape (see above). And about the kind of chaos that will really be scary if we decide subway vigilantism is acceptable. But what this video focused on is statement that even if you make me feel scared or uncomfortable, that is not and can not and should not be a capital offense that results in an immediate death penalty. Check it out below.

@elisacp#3MinuteStorytime: That time a guy scared me on the subway. But unlike #JordanNeely, he lived. Also, to be clear, my guy was actually wielding something that could be used as a weapon, whereas Jordan wasn’t. Somehow we need to walk back this sentiment that you’re entitled to KILL someone if they scare you!!!

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Until next time, please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on any or all of the above. This is basically my blog now! And as always, I appreciate a share of this newsletter or my podcast.

If I can help you break through the things that are keeping you stuck (or if you are intrigued by the idea of securing my fractional leadership for your initative), set up your first introductory 30-minute consult for free by booking it in my Calendly. And you can always check out my new LinkedIn Learning Course, Telling Stories That Stick, a 57-minute course on crafting your stories for different audiences (media, investors, prospects, hiring managers) and making sure those stories stick…and convey exactly what you hope to convey.