You're about to sign off on another C-suite hire. The brief is locked. The search firm is circling. Your board wants movement.
Here's what you're really committing to: that $250K executive actually costs closer to $400K once you add superannuation, bonuses, equity, leave entitlements, and all the other perks. That's before recruitment fees, onboarding costs, and the months it takes them to truly hit their stride.
And if they're not the right fit? You're looking at a painful, expensive exit that can set your company back 12-18 months.
As a Chief People Officer, you know this story intimately. The strategic thinker who couldn't execute. The industry veteran whose vision didn't align with your reality. The perfect-on-paper hire who just couldn't gel with your team.
The stakes are high. The pressure is real. And increasingly, smart CPOs are asking: isn't there a better way?
When getting it wrong costs everything
Executive mis-hires don't just drain budgets – they derail organisations.
When a C-level leader isn't the right fit, the damage ripples outward. Team morale suffers. Strategic initiatives stall. Your best people start fielding calls from recruiters. Board confidence erodes. And by the time you've identified the problem, course-corrected, and found a replacement, you're potentially two years behind.
The traditional full-time hiring model offers no safety net. Once you've made the commitment, you're locked in. And at the leadership level, being locked in with the wrong person is catastrophically expensive.
Beyond the resume: the diagnostic question
Here's what keeps coming up in conversations with founders and CPOs: the problem often isn't finding the right person. It's knowing whether you're solving the right problem.
You think you need a Chief Revenue Officer. But do you actually need to overhaul your entire go-to-market strategy? You're convinced a Chief Product Officer will solve your innovation challenges. But is the real issue a disconnect between product and engineering?
Traditional hiring forces you to commit before you've properly diagnosed the problem. You're writing prescriptions before you've completed the examination.
What if you could bring in senior leadership expertise specifically to run the diagnostic? To help you understand whether that C-suite role you're planning to fill is actually the solution you need? To roadmap your hiring strategy based on actual organisational needs rather than assumptions?
The try-before-you-commit model
This is where fractional leadership becomes more than just a hiring alternative – it's a strategic de-risking tool.
Fractional leaders let you test three critical questions simultaneously:
Is this the right role? A fractional executive can help you determine whether you actually need a full-time CMO, or whether your real gap is in growth marketing execution. Diagnose the problem before you commit to the solution.
Is this the right person? Work with someone for three to six months before deciding whether to scale their involvement or transition them into a permanent role. You'll learn more about their leadership style, cultural fit, and actual impact than any interview process could reveal.
Is this the right time? Sometimes the issue isn't the role or the person – it's timing. Fractional leadership lets you bring in senior expertise when you need it, scale it as required, and transition to full-time when the business is genuinely ready.
A smarter approach to strategic hiring
The fractional model isn't about replacing full-time executives. It's about de-risking the path to finding the right ones.
Think of it as a strategic bridge. You bring in a fractional CFO who works three days a week for six months. They help you:
- Diagnose your actual financial leadership needs
- Build the systems and processes a full-time CFO will inherit
- Define what 'right' looks like for your specific context
- Potentially transition into the full-time role themselves if there's mutual fit
You've just transformed a $400K gamble into a $120K discovery process that dramatically increases your odds of long-term success.
The advantage of optionality
This approach gives you something invaluable: options.
You're no longer forced to choose between making a premature commitment or leaving a critical gap unfilled. You can bring in senior leadership expertise to solve immediate problems while simultaneously de-risking your longer-term hiring strategy.
You can present your board with a more sophisticated narrative than "we need to hire a CRO." Instead: "We're bringing in a fractional CRO to diagnose our revenue challenges and roadmap our go-to-market leadership needs over the next quarter. Based on their assessment, we'll determine whether to scale their involvement, transition them to full-time, or use their insights to inform a different hiring strategy."
That's the difference between gambling and strategic planning.
Rewriting the executive hiring playbook
The future of executive hiring isn't about eliminating risk – it's about managing it intelligently.
Smart CPOs are already rewriting the playbook. They're using fractional leadership not just as an alternative to full-time hiring, but as a strategic tool for de-risking high-stakes decisions and gaining clarity before making major commitments.
They're running diagnostics before writing prescriptions. They're testing assumptions before locking in solutions. And they're building more resilient organisations in the process.
The question isn't whether you can afford to try fractional leadership. It's whether you can afford not to.
Shepherd: De-risking executive hiring for forward-thinking organisations
We connect growing businesses with 450+ vetted fractional leaders from world-class tech companies. Former Directors and C-suite executives who can help you diagnose problems, test solutions, and build the leadership capability your organisation actually needs.
Ready to take a smarter approach to executive hiring?