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AI can do incredible things. Microsoft's Copilot can create leadership decks in seconds while synthesizing the two leadership decks you forgot to read. Notebook LM can create custom podcasts from full books or articles. And ChatGPT… well, we all know ChatGPT.
But hype and promise often misalign, and AI is no exception. John Werner, an MIT Senior Fellow and Managing Director at Link Ventures, said, "sometimes the promotional language doesn't match the results that you see from a new advancement in IT. Experts talk about a "hype cycle" for new technologies that affect how they are perceived and how they are used, when they're brand new. AI is not immune, and it's undergoing its own hype cycle right now."
Amid all of this, you understand that you need AI (or at least a strategy for it), but how can you stand out from your competitors and bring your vision to fruition?
In this article, I'll show you how leading entrepreneurs and executives are leveraging fractional AI experts to bring their strategies to life.
Related: How to Effectively Integrate AI into Your Organizational Strategy
The problem: Companies don't know where to look for leadership-level AI talent
We all know that good leadership is crucial. A team without a strong leader is like a rowboat without a captain. Everyone may keep rowing but lack direction, adjustment and motivation. In business, poor leadership leads to wasted time, money and opportunities.
I've observed a similar issue with AI strategies. Instead of appointing a strong leader to manage, execute and cultivate AI success, companies often settle for the wrong talent or simply hold back. When this happens, it is common for claims of financial issues or simply not being the right person. When companies settle, they hire someone who falsely claims to be an expert in AI without checking if the individual has a background in computer science, deep learning, statistical modeling, or neural networks. More often than not, this results in stagnation and wasted resources. This can make those you hired in leadership positions lose trust in your company and doubt your faith in utilizing AI.
In the context of AI, both hesitation and settling are akin to algorithms without the right input data. No matter how impressive the presentation, strategy, or press release may seem, the desired outcomes are rarely achieved without the right data (much like strong leadership). The issue isn't a lack of talent or that talent is too expensive or difficult to find. The real problem is that companies are searching in the wrong places.
Related: The Future of Work: Solving Problems Through a Flexible Workforce
The solution: Fractional experts
There's a third strategy that bridges the gap between holding and settling: fractional AI experts. These executive-level independent freelancers can deliver the same results as top executives but at a fraction of the cost. Rather than committing full-time to a single company, fractional experts typically work with two to five clients, dedicating 10-30 hours per week to each.
The concept of fractional isn't new. The term "interim executive" is widely understood and is seeing high growth. According to a Business Talent Group report, "the need for interim leadership rose 116 percent year over year at all levels throughout organizations, with the demand for such help in the C-suite rising by 78 percent." The distinction between fractional and interim roles is often just a matter of terminology.
Fractional is one aspect of the flexible workforce, and what's unique about today's fractional experts is that they choose and plan to stay full-time fractional. Recent data makes this clear, as individuals choosing full-time independence have doubled since 2020. Amidst a trying 2023 and 2024, growth persisted to the point that 27.7 million Americans choose to be independent today, with a 5.5% higher compound annual growth rate of individuals deciding to be more independent than the general non-farm workforce.
Fractional executives can do everything that a full-time executive can. They can identify problem areas that are ideal for AI, create roadmaps, go to market and workback plans to go from ideation to product market fit. They can even build and manage large teams. The only thing fractional experts can't do is technically be solely employed by you. Oftentimes, this isn't necessary.
Related: 3 Reasons Your Small Business Needs Flexible Talent
Get started by finding a fractional platform
Where there's flexible talent, there's a talent platform to help you find, onboard, manage, pay and scale your flexible workforce. There are 29 fractional-focused platforms on Human Cloud's Industry Landscape. Toptal is a well-known developer platform, while Tribe.AI specializes specifically in AI.
Platforms can also focus on specific regions. For instance, Malt, Europe's largest freelance platform, adopts a country-by-country strategy where each nation offers a tailored client experience. Other platforms like Flexer.AI specializes in Southeast Asian fractional marketing talent, Talent Alpha specializes in IT talent in Poland and Dojo Talent focuses on gaming talent in Turkey.
Think beyond AI
While AI is great, use cases can be industry or skill-set-specific. For example, rather than an AI expert, a supply chain expert on supply chain-focused talent platform NatQuest, paired with an AI expert on Arc might be best. Or potentially, a fractional CFO on finance-focused talent platform Paro paired with an AI expert might be best.
Akhil Seth, UST's Freelance Program leader, learned this when combining multiple freelancers for a website build rather than trying to find one Unicorn talent that understood both advanced mathematics and a specific Python library. They found two freelancers. One understood advanced mathematics. The other understood the Python library and could teach UST's internal team how to develop with it. The result is that they finished the website in 3 weeks, saving $2 million worth of revenue.
What experts can you pair to take your first step into realizing your potential in AI?
Related: A Game Plan for Introducing Flexible Talent
Let your flexible talent strategy unlock growth and innovation
Once you embrace flexible talent, you'll quickly learn that top talent is always only a couple of days away. You'll realize this is more than a "plug the hole" staffing solution. Flexible talent is a leadership strategy that drives growth and innovation across your company.
Take the next step by scaling your flexible workforce. Don't stop at collaborating with only one individual. Build a pool of 20 to 100 freelancers, then 1,000 freelancers, and watch your company go from bureaucratic and slow to agile and effective.
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