FILS -Fractional, Interim, Legacy, and Strategic
Executive leadership no longer fits a single template. The model that emerged in World War II — one permanent, full-time executive for every strategic need — does not always match how organizations operate today.
FILS is our response to that reality: Fractional, Interim, Legacy, and Strategic leadership options designed for moments when the work is critical, but the role does not need a traditional, permanent executive.
In a rapidly changing business environment, many organizations do not need “a leader for the next decade”; they need the right leader for this phase, this challenge, this opportunity.
FILS gives you a way to bring in senior capability that fits the need and the moment — with the flexibility, precision, and speed to match how your business actually runs.
Fractional leadership in a rapidly changing business world
In the current economic climate, relocation is often a barrier: higher interest rates, constrained housing markets, and dual-career or spousal employment considerations all make traditional moves harder to justify. At the same time, many organizations do not actually need a full-time C‑suite executive to move the work forward.
Fractional leadership is often the ideal solution. With remote and hybrid teams now standard and a growing preference for “best talent” over “local talent,” fractional roles can be structured as:
A defined hybrid presence (for example, on-site a few days a month)
Fully remote with clear deliverables and communication rhythms
A limited-hours model (such as a 20-hour-per-week executive role)
You define the need and the level of presence required; we design the search strategy and run the engagement to find leaders who match the opportunity and still offer long-term retention value. The goal is to align scope, cost, and access to talent in a way that reflects how work is actually being done today.
Interim leadership
Interim leadership has become a preferred option for many top-tier candidates, especially in periods of market volatility, shifting board dynamics, or organizational change. Rather than stepping immediately into a long-term commitment, they are choosing interim or interim-to-permanent roles that allow both sides to learn how they work together in real time.
In our model, interim leaders typically engage as at-will employees or 1099 consultants, with the exact structure defined between the selected candidate and the client. Most interim engagements run around six months, and we do not charge a conversion fee if you decide to extend the engagement or transition the leader into a permanent role.
An interim search usually moves at a faster pace, with remote-friendly hiring and clear decision points built in. We focus on ensuring that clients and candidates have meaningful conversations and genuine strategic discussions—not just interviews—before a decision is made. The result is a leader who can step in quickly, stabilize and advance the work, and give you the flexibility to make a long-term choice when the timing is right.
Legacy
In today’s market, the foundation laid for succession planning rarely looks the same by the time an actual transition arrives. Economic conditions shift, priorities change, and in sectors like healthcare and finance, leaders are leaving in record numbers to pursue portfolio careers or fractional work.
The classic “10-year C‑suite plan” is far less compelling than it once was, and too many organizations still hinge their future on a single successor.
When that one scenario doesn’t materialize, there is effectively no plan.
Legacy work changes that narrative. When we hire a leader or emerging leader with a clear vision for succession or a defined legacy opportunity, the organization is no longer betting everything on one static path; it is building an intentional chapter of overlap and progression.
Legacy searches typically begin 24 months ahead of an anticipated exit, with roles created, elevated, or refined specifically for that shorter-term legacy horizon.
Because these roles sit at the intersection of succession, culture, and strategy, they require a different level of rigor and conversation. In practice, that often adds 30–45 days to the search to ensure alignment across stakeholders, financial models, and market positioning, so that candidate communication is direct, credible, and consistent.
The result is a transition that feels planned rather than reactive — and leadership continuity that reflects how people actually want to work now, not how they worked a generation ago.
The Strategic Search - What is it?
Strategic roles are for the moments when your leadership need is real, but not yet fully defined on paper. You may be combining responsibilities, elevating expectations for an existing function, anticipating a merger or acquisition, or entering a new market where the right structure will emerge only after you see the data.
In those situations, a traditional, fixed-position search can be limiting. When a role is fluid, dependent on market analytics, or tied to an 18‑month growth or scale plan, a strategic search is often the better practice.
When a strategic search makes sense
We recommend a strategic search when:
You are combining or redefining roles instead of simply backfilling
A new position is being created around growth, integration, or innovation
A merger, acquisition, or significant market expansion is pending
The leadership need is clear, but the org chart is not — yet
Here, success is about alignment with near-term priorities and concrete 12–18-month deliverables as much as it is about long-term potential.
How we approach strategic roles
Strategic searches require a different level of dialogue from the start. Rather than forcing a candidate into a rigid template, we:
Anchor on outcomes, time horizons, and decision rights
Test for the ability to operate in ambiguity and build structure as they go
Evaluate not only skills and track record, but professional personality, rapport with key stakeholders, and alignment between the candidate’s appetite for the work and the client’s real needs
Many executive searches are, in truth, strategic searches in disguise. Naming them as such early in the process allows us to design a search that matches the reality of the role, rather than pretending it is “standard.”
A strategic search can take the form of a fractional, interim, or legacy engagement — or progress through those stages over time.
What defines it is not the contract type, but the nature of the work: a critical position that is still being shaped, and leadership that is brought in to help define, not just occupy, the role.
