Conventional wisdom says that leaders need skin in the game. If you don’t work full time, can you really call yourself a leader at all?
It makes sense. A full-time leader has more time to lead than an exec who clocks on for 10 hours, 20 hours, four days a week.
But as is the case with many established beliefs, recent research has started to challenge the idea of ‘skin in the game’.
And startups may be the major winners.
40 hours: an arbitrary number
Why do full-timers work 40 hours? The answer can be traced back to the mid-1800s.
The Industrial Revolution wasn’t a happy time for the working class. A typical week consisted of six days of labour at 10-16 hours apiece.
The eight-hour day/40-hour week movement simply fought for a slice of common sense. But ultimately the numbers were largely arbitrary, built on a day made up of eight hours of work, eight hours of play and eight hours of sleep.
In recent years scientists have crunched the data. They’ve been surprised by what they’ve found.
The four-day work week
The four day work week gives workers a long weekend every weekend. What does this do to productivity? According to the world’s largest trial, rather good things:
- Participating businesses reported an average revenue increase of 35% versus similar periods in previous years.
- 95% said they would/were likely to continue with the four-day work week after the trial concluded.
It makes intuitive sense. Are you ever more productive on Friday than Monday? Do you get more done in the last half of the day than you do in the first?
And the benefits of a punchier schedule apply as much to the leaders of startups as any worker. Enter the fractional leader
A punchier approach to leadership
Fractional leaders take on full-time leadership responsibilities, but work on a part-time basis, under an employment agreement more closely aligned with that of a contractor.
Fractional leaders are ultra-efficient, often compressing a week’s worth of thinking, talking and decision-making into 1-3 days.
They’re committed, because they work within a small, specialised, reputation-based professional ecosystem where bad results lose them business.
Fractional leaders know which side of their bread is buttered. Success is predicated on building long-term relationships with a number of clients. If a fractional leader delivers results, they get to enjoy the freedom granted by this form of work.
On the startup side, they work less so you pay less. You’ll also enjoy an objective perspective and honest feedback. If business booms, you can scale the leader’s involvement as required.
Check out our deep dive into fractional pros and cons (we’re fair and balanced) here.
Redefining commitment
At Shepherd we’re committed to debunking the skin in the game myth. We don’t measure commitment in hours, and you shouldn’t either. We measure it in efficiency, productivity and results.
We firmly believe that fractional workers form the future of startup leadership. The research backs us up.
We supply startups with the fractional leadership they need to drive significant, sustainable growth.
You get a talented, knowledgeable and experienced C-suite executive, for the precise amount of hours you choose. Our execs won’t waste a single one.
If you’re ready to grow, we’re ready to help.
