About a year ago, I met two executives within weeks of each other. Both had just been let go. Both were talented, experienced operations leaders with decades of results behind them. Both were standing at the same crossroads, asking the same question:
“What do I do now?”
One decided to build. The other decided to wait.
Fast forward to this week. I ran into both of them — one at a client meeting, the other at a networking event.
The one who decided to build? He told me something I won’t forget: “You promised me months off my journey. I can see now it’s been years.”
He’s in control of his schedule. He’s doing transformational work for clients who genuinely value what he brings. He’s negotiating compensation based on the impact he delivers, not a salary band someone else decided he fits into. He’s diversified — not dependent on one organization’s budget cycle or one boss’s opinion of his worth.
The other? Still networking. Still talking about how slow things are. Still looking for a W-2 operations role. Still waiting for someone to pick him.
Two talented leaders. Same starting line. Wildly different trajectories.
And I’ll be honest — it keeps me up at night.
The Part I Don’t Understand
Why would you — a leader with decades of experience and a track record of transformation — voluntarily hand the keys back to someone else?
Why would you limit your impact to one organization at a time, constrained by one role’s compensation ceiling, at the mercy of one company’s definition of “a good business decision” when it’s time to restructure?
Because that’s what a W-2 role is. It’s one engagement, with one set of rules you didn’t write, on a timeline you don’t control. And when it ends — and it will end — you’re right back at that same crossroads. Updating your resume. Telling the story of what you built for someone else. Starting from zero.
Fractional Is Not a Bridge. It’s the Destination.
Here’s what changes when you stop treating fractional as a pit stop and start treating it as your business:
You control the engagement. You define the scope, the schedule, and the terms. You show up as a strategic partner, not an employee hoping to survive the next reorg.
You negotiate based on impact. Not a salary band. Not “what the role pays.” You price your work based on the value of the transformation you deliver — because you understand the life cycle of the solution you provide.
You diversify your risk. Multiple clients means no single organization holds your financial future in their hands. One client ends? Your business continues.
You build something that’s yours. Not a legacy for someone else’s company that gets dismantled the minute a new VP walks in with “a different vision.”
The Life Cycle No One Talks About
Every employment engagement has a life cycle. Every single one. The question isn’t if it ends — it’s whether you saw it coming and built accordingly.
Fractional leaders who understand this don’t just survive between roles. They build practices that compound. Each engagement makes them sharper, more connected, more valuable. Their reputation grows. Their referral network deepens. Their pipeline fills because they’ve earned trust across multiple organizations, not just one.
The leaders who keep going back to W-2? They restart the cycle every time. New company, new culture, new politics, new proving ground. And every time they leave — or get asked to leave — they lose the relationships, the momentum, and the leverage they spent years building inside those walls.
So Which Saturday Do You Want?
The one where you wake up and check your schedule — the one you built — and head into work that matters, for clients who chose you?
Or the one where you scroll job boards, tweak your LinkedIn headline, and hope somebody calls?
I know which one I’d pick.
And if you’re standing at that crossroads right now, or treating fractional like a waiting room instead of a boardroom — it might be time to rethink the plan.
Freeway to Fractional is the playbook Mark Blackton and I wrote for leaders who are ready to stop waiting and start building. 👉 (insert link)
Because fractional is so much more than a bridge.
It’s the whole road.
— Breandan
Breandan Filbert is Managing Partner of SalezWorks and co-author of Freeway to Fractional. She helps fractional executives build referral-based revenue systems and take control of their professional destiny. Connect with her on LinkedIn or at SalezWorks.com.
