Breaking the Mold: Unleashing the Potential of Fractional Leadership with Ben Wolf

Seek Go Create - The Leadership Journey for Christian Entrepreneurs, Faith-Based Leaders, Spiritual Growth, Purpose-Driven Success, Innovative Leadership, Kingdom Business, Entrepreneurial Mindset, Christian Business Practices, Leadership Development, Imp

Does this sound familiar? You've been told that in order to achieve flexibility in your leadership roles, you need to hire full-time executives who may not be the right fit for your business. But instead of experiencing increased effectiveness, you find yourself struggling to adapt to changing market dynamics and feeling stuck in a rigid leadership structure. The pain of not achieving the desired results and lacking the flexibility you need is holding you back from reaching your true potential. It's time to explore the untapped potential of fractional executives and discover a new approach to leadership that brings both flexibility and success.

"Being too nice can rob us of our mission and dreams for ourselves, our loved ones, and our businesses. It's time to be bold and unapologetically chase our aspirations." - Ben Wolf

Access all show and episode resources HERE

About Our Guest:

Ben Wolf, the founder of Wolf's Edge, is a leading expert in fractional executive leadership. With a background in corporate restructuring and bankruptcy law, Ben found himself drawn to the world of startups and the challenges they face in scaling their businesses. Through his own experiences and learning from others, Ben developed a deep understanding of the need for experienced executives to guide business owners through the complexities of growth. This led him to create Wolf's Edge, a firm specializing in providing fractional COOs to businesses across America. Ben's expertise and passion for helping entrepreneurs achieve their dreams have made him a sought-after speaker and author. His groundbreaking book, Fractional Leadership: Landing Executive Talent You Thought Was Out of Reach, has become an Amazon bestseller, further solidifying his reputation as a thought leader in the industry. With his wealth of knowledge and practical insights, Ben is making a significant impact in the world of business, leadership, and growth.

Reasons to Listen:

• Discover the benefits that fractional leadership can bring to your business and how it can help you achieve greater success.
• Unlock the flexibility and adaptability of fractional executives and learn how they can bring a unique perspective to your leadership team.
• Understand the importance of intentional living and how it can transform your personal and professional life.
• Embrace change as an opportunity for personal growth and learn strategies to navigate through times of uncertainty.
• Find your passion and purpose in life and discover how pursuing them can bring fulfillment and success to your business and beyond.

Episode Resources & Action Steps:

• Visit the website of Wolf's Edge to learn more about their fractional COO services.
• Purchase Ben Wolf's book, Fractional Leadership: Landing Executive Talent You Thought Was Out of Reach, on Amazon.
• Contact Wolf's Edge to inquire about their fractional COO services and discuss how they can support your business.

Resources for Leaders from Tim Winders & SGC:

🔹 Unlock Your Potential Today!

• 🎙 Coaching with Tim: Elevate your leadership and align your work with your faith. Learn More
• 📚 "Coach: A Story of Success Redefined": A transformative read that will challenge your views on success. Grab Your Copy
• 📝 Faith Driven Leader Quiz: Discover how well you're aligning faith and work with our quick quiz. Take the Quiz

Key Lessons:

1. Embrace challenges and adversity: The speaker suggests that challenges can lead to something good, like olive oil or wine. They emphasize the importance of not shying away from difficult situations but rather seeing them as opportunities for growth.

2. Follow your true calling: The speaker reflects on their career path and questions if they were created to do their current work. They encourage listeners to reflect on whether their current career aligns with their true calling and to not settle for mediocrity.

3. Don't compromise on your dreams: The speaker urges listeners to stop compromising on their dreams and to pursue their passions wholeheartedly. They highlight the importance of making an impact in the world and having bigger dreams for oneself, family, community, and customers.

4. Build a self-managing team: For business owners, it is essential to create a self-managing team that can operate without constant supervision. The speaker suggests bringing in an outside Chief Operating Officer (COO) to lead the leadership team and elevate the right people.

5. Utilize fractional executives: Fractional executives offer a cost-effective way for business owners to access specific expertise and fill gaps in their organizations. The speaker highlights the importance of hiring fractional leaders with prior experience in building businesses similar to yours.

6. Redefine success: The speaker shares their personal journey of redefining success after losing a job. They emphasize that success is not limited to following a specific career path but rather embracing the unique set of experiences and skills one possesses.

7. Focus on strengths: The speaker advises business owners to focus on their strengths and outsource tasks that are not within their expertise. They recommend hiring fractional leaders who can effectively handle specialized areas like sales, allowing the business owner to add more value to the business.

8. Cultivate a culture of growth: The speaker emphasizes the business owner's attitude and openness to growth and learning when building a successful culture. They highlight the importance of the business owner's commitment to making tough decisions and implementing necessary changes.

9. Understand the value of leadership: The speaker highlights the importance of recognizing when there is a lack of knowledge or experience within a team and outsourcing the role to a fractional executive. They emphasize that leadership should be valued for its expertise and vision, rather than just availability.

10. Learn from diverse examples: Being a fractional leader offers the advantage of working with various companies, people, leadership styles, and cultures. The speaker encourages fractional executives to embrace diversity, learn from each client, and continue to expand their knowledge and experience.

11. Fill gaps with fractional roles: The speaker suggests that understanding the concept of fractional roles can be beneficial not only for business owners but also for individuals interested in fractional roles or those already in them. They emphasize that fractional executives can provide value by filling gaps or replacing underperforming individuals in a business.

Overall, the key lessons from this episode revolve around embracing challenges, pursuing one's true calling, not compromising on dreams, building self-managing teams, utilizing fractional executives, and redefining success. The importance of focusing on strengths, cultivating a culture of growth, and understanding the value of leadership are also highlighted.

Episode Highlights:

00:00:00 - Introduction

Ben Wolf explains his role as a fractional Chief Operating Officer (COO) and how he helps business owners scale their businesses and achieve their goals.

00:03:19 - Journey to Fractional Leadership

Ben shares his background as a corporate restructuring and bankruptcy attorney in a Manhattan law firm. He then transitioned to working at a healthcare startup, where he gained experience in growing a business. This experience led him to realize the need for fractional executives who can provide guidance and leadership to businesses.

00:06:52 - Writing the First Book on Fractional Leadership

Ben discusses how he wrote the first book on the concept of fractional executives because he saw a gap in the market. The book aims to educate business owners on the benefits of fractional leadership and how it can help them access experienced executives at an affordable cost.

00:08:12 - Transition from Law to Startups

Ben explains his transition from being a lawyer to working in startups. After losing his job as a lawyer, he explored his strengths and applied for nonprofit executive director positions. Eventually, he found himself working in a healthcare startup and gaining valuable experience in scaling businesses.

00:10:38 - Becoming a Fractional COO

Ben shares his journey of becoming a fractional COO after leaving a unhealthy work environment. He decided to offer his services as a fractional executive and built his own firm. Ben emphasizes the importance of business development and networking in this role.

00:14:33 - Confidence in Starting a Startup

The guest reflects on his confidence level when starting a startup and emphasizes the importance of making a decision and committing to it. He believes that once you start something, confidence becomes irrelevant, and success becomes the only option.

00:15:22 - Overcoming Doubts in Building a Solo Practice

The guest shares his experience of building a solo fractional COO practice and acknowledges having doubts along the way. However, he emphasizes the importance of setting goals, hitting metrics, and acting confident, which ultimately led to success in his field.

00:17:03 - Unique Paths and Trusting Providence

The guest discusses the uniqueness of each individual's career path and advises his children and others to follow their own interests and strengths. He believes that there is some providence that will guide individuals to the right path for themselves, emphasizing the importance of trust and faith.

00:19:51 - Fractional Leadership and Unique Skill Sets

The guest explains that fractional leadership is similar to regular executive roles but fulfilled on a part-time basis. He highlights the advantage of being able to afford experienced professionals and discusses how different career paths can contribute to unique skill sets.

00:22:52 - Addressing Concerns about Fractional Leadership

The guest addresses a common concern about the effectiveness of fractional leaders not working full time. He attributes this concern to helicopter management and emphasizes the importance of addressing people and process issues to make fractional leadership successful.

00:29:12 - The Importance of a Culture Open to Fractional Leaders

Having a culture that is open to fractional leaders is crucial. The business owner needs to be open to growth and learning, willing to make hard decisions, and have a desire for a better way. Even if the rest of the organization is not initially on board, success can still be achieved with the right attitude from the business owner.

00:32:46 - Business Owners Realizing the Need for Help

Business owners may reach a point where they realize they don't have the knowledge or expertise within their team for a particular function. This could be in areas like sales, finance, or operations. Bringing in a fractional leader who has experience and expertise can save time and money and provide valuable insights and leadership.

00:34:25 - The Stages Leading to Considering a Fractional Leader

The stages leading to considering a fractional leader include recognizing that help is needed, trying various methods and experiments without success, and realizing that it's more efficient to focus on what you're great at and bring in someone with expertise in the specific area of need. This could be a fractional salesperson, CFO, or COO.

00:39:04 - Addressing the "Our Business is Different" Argument

When business owners claim that their business is different, it's important to address their concerns and explain how a fractional leader can bring expertise and adaptability to any unique situation. The key is finding a fractional leader who can understand and work with the specific needs and circumstances of the business.

00:43:19 - The Benefits of Fractional Leadership

Fractional leaders are attracted to the role because it offers more fun, flexibility, and money. They get to work with different companies, have more variety in their work, and make a major impact before moving on to the next challenge. The flexibility allows them to have more time for personal pursuits.

00:57:19 - Introduction

Tim Winders thanks the audience for joining and mentions that new episodes are released every Monday.

00:57:19 - Conclusion and Call to Action

Tim Winders concludes the episode by encouraging listeners to continue being true to themselves and their purpose in life.

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