November 19, 2024

How to Perfect Your Personal Elevator Pitch in 3 Easy Steps

How to Perfect Your Personal Elevator Pitch in 3 Easy Steps

Melissa Harris is a newspaperwoman-turned-marketing-exec who has perfected her elevator pitch and wants to help you perfect yours as well.

InterimExecs Chief Executive Officer Robert Jordan knows that the thousands of interim and fractional executives he has spoken with over the years need this. In fact, Jordan needed it himself. So he invited Harris, CEO of M. Harris & Co. to a Zoom chat during which she offered a Master Class on how executives can be far more effective in talking about themselves.

Here’s her 3-step approach to introducing yourself in a short, powerful, memorable way.

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August 22, 2024

How the Right ERP Strategy Can Improve Your Business

How the Right ERP Strategy Can Improve Your Business

It’s a common scenario: A company invests big bucks in a massive ERP implementation only to watch the effort stall. Or worse, fail altogether.

Maybe the problem is the lack of planning or ERP software curation. Maybe it’s not thinking ahead for future needs. Or maybe it’s not having an experienced ERP implementation executive who can make that integration sing.

For all that goes into ERP implementation — ERP, or Enterprise Resource Planning, is, after all, managing, streamlining, and tying together all essential business processes — strategizing every step should be a non-negotiable.

“ERP systems usually get replaced every seven to 10 years. I’ve been with some companies where they hadn’t replaced them for 25 years,” says Bruce Howard, an InterimExecs RED Team member and Interim CIO who has spent much of his career implementing ERP solutions.

“There’s a planning phase to bring all of the pieces together and make sure you’ve got a clear approach and clear people assigned. And then you need a methodology for the way you select systems and implement,” he says.

To better understand the components of a successful ERP implementation process and a clear look at how an ERP strategy can support business operations and better decision-making, we asked Howard and interim executives Tony DeLima and Alonso Vargas to walk us through the essential elements.

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June 20, 2024

Executive Search Services: Why Interim Executives Are Right for Fast-Growing Companies

Executive Search Services: Why Interim Executives Are Right for Fast-Growing Companies

Interim executives — experienced C-suite leaders who take on short-term roles — traditionally are found in turnaround situations, coming in to save companies on the brink. Or they are brought in to keep a company moving forward while a new permanent hire is identified and onboarded.

But there’s another leadership role that is tailor-made for an interim leader: Using their skills, experience and executive talent to guide fast-growing companies.

An experienced interim executive is the right leader for companies facing big points of change or growth. Interim and fractional executives often step in to address growing pains many organizations feel when they lack the systems and processes to scale. On the other hand, interim executives jump in as a key part of the diligence or post-acquisition integration strategy for companies and private equity firms leveraging an M&A strategy to expand.

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June 11, 2024

CFO Resignations Hit Record Highs. Who Will Fill the Role When Your CFO Leaves?

CFO Resignations Hit Record Highs. Who Will Fill the Role When Your CFO Leaves?

During the first quarter of 2024, 82 Chief Financial Officers of the biggest public companies left their jobs, tying a record set in Q1 2021. The difference between then and now? Many of the CFOs who resigned in 2021 were retiring post-pandemic. Today, many of them are taking over as CEO, COO, or some other C-suite position.

According to data reported by the management consulting firm Russel Reynolds Associates, 271 CFOs left their post as finance chief in 2023. And Russell Reynolds says that 291 new CFOs were appointed in 2023 — nearly two-thirds of them first-time CFOs.

That adds up to a huge demand for new CFOs around the globe.

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April 19, 2024

Maximizing Operational Efficiency: Expert COOs Offer Tips for Improving Process and Productivity

Maximizing Operational Efficiency: Expert COOs Offer Tips for Improving Process and Productivity

Operational efficiency. It’s the holy grail of business success. Chief Operating Officers are charged with creating operations management systems that root out inefficient processes, lower operating expenses, reduce lead times, and increase profit margins.

Two expert COOs, Steve Raack and Mike Bartikoski, are interim executives with repeated successes at mega-million-dollar corporations. They shared what they learned along the way during a wide-ranging webinar and Q&A moderated by InterimExecs CEO Robert Jordan:

Here’s a recap:

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March 16, 2024

The Case for Hiring Part-Time or Fractional Executives

The Case for Hiring Part-Time or Fractional Executives

Every business owner dreams of gaining major traction in the marketplace. Fast-track growth, however, often comes at a cost. Things get taped together. There’s no process to speak of. Systems? Ha. Things go missing, including clients and team members. Lack of resources means that even the crown jewel – the company’s ability to out-innovate — may be put on hold just to keep up.

When a company grows faster than the capabilities of the leadership team, the company can hit the wall.

One of the hottest trends in business today is bringing part-time or fractional executives to provide C-suite leadership, mentorship, and the operational upgrades needed to help a company break through the ceiling to growth.

In this webinar, InterimExecs CEO Robert Jordan takes a deep dive into the question of when choosing a part-time or fractional executive is the best choice for a company:

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September 24, 2023

What Is an Interim Executive & Is It the Right Answer for Your Company?

What Is an Interim Executive & Is It the Right Answer for Your Company?

What is an interim executive? It’s a highly knowledgeable and deeply experienced C-suite executive ready to step into a company in need of superior leadership.

As veterans of the interim business, we know that pairing the right interim executive with the right company is a delicate balance. After all, private equity funds or venture capital funds get one use of their dollar. Just one. Fund managers have a sacred charge of evaluating opportunities and investing the funds they’ve been entrusted with by their limited partners in hopes of maximum returns.

Likewise, we get one chance to make a great match. We must identify the interim executive with the right skills and experience and catch that executive during the brief period of time they are in between assignments assessing the next opportunity they want to take on.

So how do we best deploy genius leadership when we only get one chance every day to maximize everyone’s time, unique skillset, and results? We start by being selective about our clients.

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May 12, 2023

How Much Does An Interim Executive Cost?

How Much Does An Interim Executive Cost?

Once owners, board members, and investors figure out exactly what an interim is and how an interim can help, the next question is: How much does an interim executive cost?

The short answer is: There is no off-the-shelf rate card for interim execs. Or more precisely, it doesn’t exist for the best interims in the world.

The first thing to understand about interim executive costs is to know that interim and permanent executive compensation is structured differently.

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May 4, 2023

Acting Manager vs. Interim Manager: What does Acting Mean in a Title?

Acting Manager vs. Interim Manager: What does Acting Mean in a Title?

Scanning someone’s career history, what does it mean when you see the word acting in a title?

The language around interim executives, executives who specialize in growing, transforming and turning around companies can be tricky as executives in the specialty don’t always identify themselves with the same language. But in some cases acting can be another indicator that you have found an interim.

Consider your audience: is the executive being presented to the board of directors, the company at large, or to the general public?

When it comes to public companies, the language is precise and if an executive has temporarily stepped in while a permanent search takes place, they will be described as interim or acting.

Things get confusing because public companies often appoint board members to this interim or acting role who serve as more of a babysitter or placeholder. Beware that this is not the same thing as a career interim who can be identified by their career history taking on high-impact engagement after engagement, helping cause companies to grow or turn around.

The far larger use of interim executives is in private companies worldwide, whether for-profit or nonprofit.

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April 12, 2023
Michelle Barnes

What is an Interim Executive Director and Why Would You Want One?

Michelle Barnes | Interim CEO & RED Team Member
What is an Interim Executive Director and Why Would You Want One?

The concept of an Interim Executive Director (ED) isn’t well-known among nonprofit organizations…yet. But, it’s becoming more mainstream and for many good business reasons.

On average, it takes a Board of Directors 9 months to recruit a new Executive Director. By the time they are on-boarded and contributing, a year may have passed since the departure of the prior nonprofit leader.

While nonprofit board members may step up to “mind the gap,” the truth is that stakeholders — employees, partners, and funders — can lose confidence in your organization during this leadership transition and key employees may leave.

Organizing payroll, developing a budget and/or managing human resources may keep the lights on, but without someone filling the executive director role during the transition period, your organization can be harmed and stymied while the Board is focused on the executive search for a new ED.

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