Fractional or interim executive

When the change needs a seat, I take it: Chief Digital Officer, Chief Transformation Officer, Chief Product Officer or General Manager of a business line, reporting to the CEO, for one to four quarters, with the authority to run the change and the accountability for the result.

Who it is for

• CEOs who need the transformation run, not advised
• Companies between leaders, where the change cannot wait for the search
• Private-equity portfolio companies with a value-creation plan and no one to execute it

1. Diagnostic (Two to four weeks)

The same diagnostic every engagement starts with, so the seat begins with a number and a first domain rather than a listening tour.

Deliverable: The mandate, agreed with the CEO.

2. Take the seat (First quarter)

Stop what is not working, stand up the first durable teams, set the controllable metrics, and start the proof in one domain.

Deliverable: The operating model running in one part of the company, with results in the P&L.

3. Scale and hand over (Quarters two to four)

Expand what proved out, build the permanent leadership bench, and sequence the hand-over.

Deliverable: A permanent owner in the seat and a company that does not need me.

How the seat works

It is a real executive seat with a real mandate, not an advisor with a badge, which means I own the organization, the roadmap and usually the P&L for the part of the business the change lives in. I build the leadership bench, the operating model and the first durable teams, and I train the permanent owner, who in my experience is often already inside the company and simply not positioned to do it.

The measure of success

That the company no longer needs the seat, and every interim role I have taken has ended that way: six months at Munchkin, six months at goop and six months at WebMD Health Services, each with the strategy built, the teams running and the owner in place.

What it has looked like

First Chief Digital Officer at Southern Glazer's, building the digital organization from nothing to 350 people across more than twenty durable teams. Interim Chief Digital Officer at Munchkin and at goop, interim Chief Product Officer at WebMD Health Services, and Chief Digital Officer and GM of direct-to-consumer at Dollar Shave Club, with the P&L.

Proof

• Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits: Identified first-year savings, $40MM+ (Projected savings from the portfolio audit and SAFe restructuring (~$21MM, ~$16MM and ~$4MM in three passes); $40MM was the shared CDO and CIO key result. Gross, before the cost of the new internal teams.)
• Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits: Digital organization built, 350 people, 20+ durable teams (Resourcing moved from 70% external to 80% internal.)
• Munchkin: Munchkin.com sales, first full month after the strategy, +61-65% year over year (April 2023 versus April 2022, from the weekly KPI dashboard and invoiced-sales reports; the plan was to double the business by year end.)
• Dollar Shave Club: Full Service members: average order value and lifetime value, +150% AOV, +40% LTV (Members who engaged with Full Service in the first pass; day-30 box AOV ran about 4x Classic.)