Advertise on podcast: The Future is Fractional Podcast

Mike Fedorov is Chief Operating Officer and Co-CEO at Applied AI Labs. In this episode of the Future is Fractional Podcast, he'll explain how the real constraint on senior expertise usually isn't the expertise itself, but rather coordination. Mike believes in what he calls a Fractional Operating System — an approach that keeps senior human judgment at the center, while AI handles the coordination and specialist work around it. We'll dig into why the traditional model breaks down, what this looks like in practice across different functional areas, and what it means for the economics of expertise when one expert can support far more capacity without rebuilding a traditional team around themselves. If you are interested in connecting with Mike, you can find him on LinkedIn at the link below: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikefedorov/ If you would like to learn more about Mike's business, Applied AI Labs, you can find a link to their website here: https://aalc.ai/

Today's guest brings a background you don't often see paired together — law and sales leadership. David Bienstock trained as a lawyer before building a career in sales and revenue leadership, including over a decade (from 2005 to 2015) in sales leadership roles at Thomson Reuters. Since then, David's continued that work as a sales leader, executive coach, and consultant, bringing a legal lens to deals, negotiation, and risk that most sales leaders never develop. In this episode we talk about how David's legal training shaped his approach to sales leadership, what that decade at Thomson Reuters taught him, and how he thinks about fractional and interim sales leadership today. You can connect with David on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbienstock/ You can learn more about David's company, Benchmark, here: https://www.benchmark.guru/

Dilya Abushayeva is founder and CEO of Mavuus, a company she started with her sister after more than fifteen years working in marketing. Today, Mavuus centers on two things: a community built specifically for CMOs, and a consulting practice helping tech companies sharpen their marketing strategy. Dilya has great perspective on where fractional work fits alongside consulting, why marketing leaders need a dedicated peer community, and what most companies still get wrong about how they think about marketing budgets and headcount. In this episode we get into how Mavuus evolved into what it is today, and where Dilya sees the future of marketing leadership headed. Learn more about Mavuus at https://www.mavuus.com/ Connect with Dilya on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/dilyaabushayeva/

Today's guest brings a perspective we haven't covered yet on this show — fractional HR leadership, paired with a founder story that started with a personal frustration most of us know all too well. Brian Znamirowski is a Fractional CHRO who's spent his career helping companies build stronger people functions without a full-time hire. But Brian is also the Founder of Fractional Healthcare, a company born out of his own experience with broken health coverage. As a fractional executive he's had first hand experience with expensive marketplace plans, limited options, and spouse coverage that just didn't make sense. He switched his own family's coverage and ended up saving about six thousand dollars a year, and now he's helping other independent professionals do the same. We'll talk about fractional HR leadership, what's really broken about healthcare for independent workers, and where he sees this all headed. You can find Brian and Fractional Healthcare on LinkedIn at the links below: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianznamirowski/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/fractional-healthcare/ A link to the study referenced in this episode can be found below: https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/new-study-business-owners-slimmer-more-active-healthier-than-employees.html

Rich Rudzinski spent over a decade building Tragic Media into a full-fledged software consulting firm — and then made the call to shut it down and start something new: Apollo Fractional, where he now brings product and technology leadership to companies who need serious expertise without a full-time hire.  Rich has great perspective on what actually separates fractional work from agency work — and where freelance fits into that picture, if it fits at all. We'll get into how he decides what an engagement really needs, what changed in his approach after years of running an agency, and where he thinks fractional product and tech leadership is headed next.  Apollo Fractional: https://apollofractional.com/ Rich Rudzinski on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richrudz/

Robin Ayoub is someone who has spent over three decades at the intersection of technology, business development, and executive leadership. He has led global sales organizations, served as VP Sales and General Manager at Lionbridge, is past President of the Canadian Language Industry Association, and is now the Founder and CEO of N49Networks — where he works as a Fractional CRO, helping entrepreneurs and growing businesses turn strategic potential into measurable results.  Robin is also the host of the Localization Fireside Chat, a podcast with over 200 episodes featuring some of the sharpest minds in business, AI, and global growth.  In this episode, we're getting into what fractional revenue leadership really looks like from the inside — what it takes, who it's right for, and why this model is becoming one of the most powerful tools available to founders and CEOs.

A practical playbook for hitting the ground running in a new fractional engagement — earning trust without full-time tenure, navigating existing team dynamics, and delivering early wins.

In this special episode, Driele takes the helm and is joined by Julie Perez for a candid conversation about business development, mindset, and what nobody in Big Law ever warned you about. Julie is a lawyer turned business strategist with over 15 years of experience in Legal Tech, SaaS, and AI. As Managing Partner of The Oceanside Collective, she advises law firms and businesses on go-to-market strategy, AI adoption, and new business development. Having worked on both sides of the industry: as a practicing lawyer and later selling to lawyers, she brings a rare and refreshingly honest perspective on what it actually takes to grow in the legal space. In this episode, Julie and Driele explore the real barriers behind business development, why excellent legal work alone is no longer enough, and what lawyers can start doing today to take more ownership of their growth. To connect with Julie and learn more about her work, visit www.theoceansidecollective.com and www.linkedin.com/company/the-oceanside-collective.com

Rajah Lehal is a technology expert and founder of multiple legal tech companies including Clausehound and Cobalt AI.  Rajah always had a deep interest in technology and even worked in information systems and technology roles before becoming a lawyer.  He’s carried his love for technology into his legal career and is always ahead of the curve with respect to using technology in a way that creates value for his clients.

Since 2018, executive roles mentioning fractional work have increased more than 3x.  And yet, despite that growth, there are still a lot of misconceptions about what it actually means to be a fractional leader.  In this episode, Matt Belbeck breaks down the 5 biggest myths about working as a fractional leader, and what the reality actually looks like.

In this week's episode, Bindu Cudjoe shares insights from her impressive legal career, including what it takes to build trust and influence in both full-time and fractional roles.  Bindu is an accomplished lawyer and business leader with over 25 years of experience across legal, compliance, governance and operations.  She’s been Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Inclusion Officer at major Canadian financial institutions – not to mention a law firm partner prior to that. She was recently appointed General Counsel, Canadian Banking at TD Bank where she now guides the company’s Canadian personal and commercial banking businesses. A special thanks to Bindu for taking the time to speak with us.  We hope you enjoy the episode!

As fractional roles become more mainstream, it is difficult to deny that they're here to stay. But what does the future of fractional leadership really look like? In this episode we explore 10 predictions about the future of fractional work.

This podcast episode explores what most companies are looking for when they're considering a fractional resource and when it makes the most sense for companies to be thinking fractional. It also explores how fractional concepts have existed and worked successfully for many years outside of the professional services space. Melissa Simpson shares insights on the benefits of engaging fractional leaders, triggers that create environments ripe for fractional talent, the effectiveness of fractional expertise in uncertain markets, and parallels between real estate ownership and access to fractional decision making.

If you're thinking about taking the leap into fractional work, this is an episode you won't want to miss. A legal operations professional, Driele Malgueiro works at the intersection of fractional recruitment, engagement and experience design. Driele is focused on providing positive experiences for fractional lawyers and takes inspiration from Disney's "guestology" principles when designing processes and frameworks for engaging her team.

Steve Monk is an engineer, a lawyer, and an entrepreneur.  Early in his career, Steve worked in Big Law and quickly realized that it wasn't the life for him. He recalls a time when he received an important call from family at 2am one night, but couldn't take it, not because he was asleep like most people, but because he was in a meeting.  Steve's commitment to helping lawyers live better lives is evident in his role as Founder and CEO of CEO Law where he's focused on building solutions and infrastructure that are better for both fractional lawyers and the clients they support.