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A relatively new category of solopreneur is booming, and its ascent is challenging perceptions of what it means to be self-employed. Since 2018 demand for fractional expertiseor specialized talent that works for one or many firms on a limited or part-time basishas tripled, according to a recent study by workforce intelligence company Revelio Labs. The most popular part-time executive position, according to the study, is CFO, which makes up 18% of fractional executive roles, followed by CMO at 14% and CEO at 10%. Revelio Labs chief economist Lisa Simon says the skyrocketing demand for fractional executives is largely a function of the current job market. She explains that layoffs have freed up many highly skilled workers while budgetary constraints have added to the appeal of a lower cost flexible alternative to full-time hires among businesses. Employers see fractional work as a way to save on costs while filling a particular role and, because of the weak labor market, more workers are willing to take these part-time positions, she explains. Though some go fractional out of necessity, others actively choose the arrangement for its added flexibility, especially women. According to the Revelio Labs study, about 38% of American fractional executives are female, compared with 31.5% of those that are traditionally employed. Women are much more likely to be interested in remote work and return to office has had particularly adversely affected women; theyre less willing to go back, because of the extra caregiving responsibilities, Simon explains. Fractional work is more attractive to mothers, to those giving elder care, because it allows for that extra flexibility. A new work paradigm, or just a fad? The trend may be driven by temporary market conditions, but there is reason to believe the growth in both the supply and demand of fractional help is indicative of a broader and more lasting change. What Im seeing is the unbundling of roles, explains Sara Daw, the global CEO of U.K.-based Liberti Group, which connects businesses with fractional executive talent in 18 counties. Roles that we historically only thought of as being full-time and permanent are unbundling into more work tasks and activities, and the fractional trend meets that head on. Daw says her organization has been providing part-time executive services since 2001, but those services have only been labelled fractional since the pandemic. Since then the organization has doubled thanks to skyrocketing demand, especially for CFOs, which it provides through its sub-brand the CFO Centre. Before COVID most people didnt know what we were talking about when we were pitching it, says Daw, who published a book tracking the fractional trend last year. Most business owners wanted their CFO sitting next to them, and I think COVID taught everyone that we can work differently, and it’s normalized our business model. The pandemic also inspired workers to reevaluate their relationship with work and seek more control over their schedules. It encouraged a lot of people to consider whether their full-time high-end C-suite leadership job was detrimental to their health, their well-being, their family, Daw says. Those two trends coming together has created this phenomenon. Thats especially true among younger workers. Though they may not be ready to step into fractional executive roles, a new generation of talent is proving much more comfortable with the part-time model, suggesting more growth on the horizon. Most Gen Zers have a side gig already; theyre much more portfolio-minded and gig-orientated, Daw says. I’m not saying employment is dead, I’m saying this has got its own space alongside it. Not Just for Cash-Strapped Startups Prior to the pandemic, Daw says the primary customer for fractional services were startups and small businesses that couldnt afford full-time help. While that segment remains strong, there has also been significant growth among larger organizations looking for a temporary, flexible helping hand. Since COVID, the pace of changegeopolitics, climate change, war, technology, all of those mega-trendshas meant that organizations have got a lot to cope with, and the senior leaders have started looking more for outside help, she says. They might have a group CFO or group CMO who’s employed full-time, but those individuals are overwhelmed in a turbulent world, and they need an agile talent structure. When large organizations needed outside assistance in the past they traditionally looked to major consulting and advisory firms. Many are now discovering that they can find specialized talent at a lower cost by engaging a part-time, temporary expert. Those fractional experts may have even been previously employed by one of those big consulting firms or may have helped a similar organization overcome a similar challenge in the past. You’re seeing very large corporationsthe brands you knowhiring these fraction-ers intentionally to get access to the talent, says Ran Harpaz, the founder and CEO of Lettuce Financial, a Fintech platform for solopreneurs earning six figures. They don’t want to go to finance and justify a job, and put it in the budget for the next five years and deal with all the support systems around it. From embarrassment to badge of honor Before the term gained traction, those who offered what wed now describe as fractional services were given labels that Harpaz says didnt really match their level of expertise. Consultant, contractor, 1099, those are accounting terms. Fractional is a business term, he says. It says Im going to solve your problem, and I can do it in a fractional capacity. That new label, he says, has shifted the perception of this category of solopreneurs from something many felt they had to hide on their résumés to something they advertise as a badge of honor. They say out loud, I’m so great at what I do that I can help your business in 10 hours or 20 hours a week, because Im that experienced, Harpaz says. It’s not a gig, it’s a destination, and I’m positioning myself so that clients understand what they’re getting, and they see the value in the interaction.
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E-Commerce
Balancing gut feelings with hard data isn’t a soft skill. It’s a strategic advantage. In an era where AI, automation, and ubiquitous dashboards flood us with metrics, it’s tempting to believe that better spreadsheets alone will yield better decisions. But our most consequential choices rarely emerge from a cell in column D. They arise from an ongoing negotiation between intuition and rational analysis. The paradox is this: as technology becomes more sophisticated at processing information, the human capacity to notice what mattersthe intangible signals of opportunity or riskbecomes more valuable. Yet most organizations force a false choice. We either romanticize intuition (“I just know this investment is a winner”) or we bury it under rationalizations (“The model says no”). A healthierand more innovativeapproach is to design for both. {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/i-16x9-figure-thinking.jpg","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/i-16x9-figure-thinking_0b545c.jpg","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cem\u003EWonderRigor Newsletter\u003C\/em\u003E","dek":"Want more insights, tools, and invitations from Dr. Natalie Nixon about applying creativity for meaningful business results and the future of work? Subscribe \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/urldefense.proofpoint.com\/v2\/url?u=https-3A__figure-2D8-2Dthinking-2Dllc.kit.com_sign-2Dup\u0026amp;d=DwMFaQ\u0026amp;c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM\u0026amp;r=xHenyQfyc6YcuCNMBsOvfYGQILM1d1ruredVZikn4HE\u0026amp;m=F383gnrChFhYKPhcpNHI1hY3o58IHIn_LkB5QJDrs3G5Wfft-DcucUO4UEmGO7GZ\u0026amp;s=JlJm7GyKCJvPW0jyrsfTFtinteKDitN13vfPZiuJnP8\u0026amp;e=\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E for the free WonderRigor newsletter at Figure8Thinking.com","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"Learn More","ctaUrl":"http:\/\/Figure8Thinking.com","theme":{"bg":"#3b3f46","text":"#ffffff","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#6e8ba6","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91470060,"imageMobileId":91470061,"shareable":false,"slug":""}} The Science Behind the Marriage of Modes Recent research reveals something counterintuitive. According to a Science Direct article about entrepreneurs decision making, when entrepreneurs with domain expertise integrate AI-driven analysis with their intuitive insights, they achieve the most balanced outcomes, excelling simultaneously in novelty, depth, and innovation. A controlled study of 124 entrepreneurs found that while AI assistance increased the number of recognized opportunities and the depth of evaluation, it simultaneously reduced novelty and contextual sensitivity. But here’s the interesting thing: sector knowledge and intuitive judgment restored this creative dimension. The entrepreneurs who combined both sources of intelligence outperformed those relying on either alone. Separately, research into human-AI collaboration in decision-making found that expertise in the decision-making domain is a necessary condition for intuition to be effective. Organizations attempting to eliminate intuition in favor of pure analytics often find themselves unable to navigate ill-structured problemsyou know, the kind that have no precedent and require human judgment. Conversely, intuition without analytical rigor falls prey to bias and incomplete information. What neuroscience reveals is even more compelling. Research shows that leaders who cultivate interoceptive awareness, which is your ability to sense and interpret internal bodily signals, experience improved self-regulation and more grounded decision-making. A study published in NeuroImage found that individuals with higher interoceptive awareness showed increased activation in the insular cortex during decision-making tasks, suggesting a direct link between bodily awareness and cognitive processes. In other words, learning to read your physical responses during deliberation literally changes how your brain processes information. Redesign How You Think One practical shift is to separate your phases of thinking. In the first phase, privilege expansive, intuitive work: walking meetings, whiteboard sessions, voice notes, even practices like yoga nidra (a guided relaxation technique) or non-sleep deep rest that loosen our grip on linear problem-solving. The job of this phase is not to decide; it’s to notice. What’s tugging at your attention? What feels unexpectedly alive or off? What pattern are you sensing before you can articulate it? This isn’t meditation or mysticism. It’s the recognition that your brain’s pattern-recognition systems, honed by years of experience in your domain, often detect signals faster than your conscious, analytical mind can process them. Honor that system. Later, in a distinct evaluative phase, invite rigor back in. We interrogate assumptions. We ask: What data supports this hunch? What contradicts it? Who would disagree, and on what grounds? Who benefits if this decision goes our way? Who bears the costs? Simply naming that we are in “intuitive mode” or “rational mode” reduces the unspoken power struggle between the two. It also prevents the common organizational mistake I see all the time: abandoning the intuitive insight midway through because the data is messy, or defending an intuitive pull long after contradicting evidence has emerged. Treat Hunches as Hypotheses The next step is to treat intuition as a hypothesis, not a verdict. A gut feeling about a hire, a product direction, or a market pivot can be translated into small, testable experiments. Pilot the idea with a narrow customer segment. Run an A/B test instead of a full rollout. Offer a time-bound consulting or project role before committing to a full-time leader. This shifts the conversation from “Should I trust my instinct?” to “What would I need to see to strengthen or challenge this intuition?” That’s rigor without self-betrayal. It’s also how learning accelerates. You’re not choosing between data and gut; you’re using data to train your gut. The Interoceptive Edge Of course, not all gut feelings are wisdom. Some are simply our biases wearing a confident costume. This is where building interoceptive awareness matters. Paying attention to how your body feels before and after major decisions can, over time, distinguish between expansive intuition and constricting fear. Research on interoceptive training demonstrates that after just one week of focused practice, participants showed enhanced interoceptive accuracy and significantly more rational decision-making. They also reported reductions in anxiety and somatic symptoms. The implication for leaders is clear: developing the capacity to read your internal signals isn’t indulgentit’s foundational. Consider keeping a brief “intuition log”: What did I feel? What did I decide? How did it turn out? Are there patterns? You’re effetively training your inner instrument. Over time, you become more reliable at distinguishing between a genuine signal and noise. Counter Implicit Bias To counter cultural and implicit bias, organizations need deliberate friction in decision-making. Research on affinity bias (our tendency to favor people similar to us) reveals that this bias operates silently and persistently. One study found that male candidates are 1.5 times more likely to advance to screening than equally qualified women. More broadly, diverse teams outperform homogeneous ones on measures of innovation, problem-solving, and financial returns, yet affinity bias remains one of the most common barriers to building such teams. Designate someone in key meetings to challenge assumptions: How might affinity bias be shaping this decision? If this candidate or idea looked nothing like our past successes, would we still be excited? Would we hire or promote this person if they came from a different background? If this market opportunity came from a woman rather than a man proposing it, would we fund it? Pairing intuitive pulls with structured dissent helps ensure we’re not just re-inscribing “this is how we do things around here.” It also reveals when our intuition is actually convenience masquerading as wisdom. The “Both/And” Decision Framework Ultimately, the goal is a “both/and” review of major decisions. On one side of the page: data, constraints, risks, what the models say. On the other: gut feel, emotional tone, bodily cues, pattern recognition from experience, what feels alive. Include the assumptions that underlie each. Include the people who would gain and lose with each choice. The closing question is simple: Given both columns, what is the smallest, most reversible next step? Make It Visible When leaders narrate this process out loud”Here’s what my intuition is telling me, here’s what the data says, and here’s how I’m reconciling them”then they normalize a culture where neither spreadsheets nor gut checks are taboo. This transparency also models the kind of thinking that develops over time. Junior leaders see that confidence isn’t about certainty; it’s about integrating multiple sources of information and taking action despite genuine uncertainty. In the imagination era, where ideas are our true currency and markets move faster than data can track the shifts, the organizations that thrive won’t be those that worship logic or intuition alone. They’ll be those that have the courage and discipline to let them dance. {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/i-16x9-figure-thinking.jpg","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/i-16x9-figure-thinking_0b545c.jpg","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cem\u003EWonderRigor Newsletter\u003C\/em\u003E","dek":"Want more insights, tools, and invitations from Dr. Natalie Nixon about applying creativity for meaningful business results and the future of work? Subscribe \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/urldefense.proofpoint.com\/v2\/url?u=https-3A__figure-2D8-2Dthinking-2Dllc.kit.com_sign-2Dup\u0026amp;d=DwMFaQ\u0026amp;c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM\u0026amp;r=xHenyQfyc6YcuCNMBsOvfYGQILM1d1ruredVZikn4HE\u0026amp;m=F383gnrChFhYKPhcpNHI1hY3o58IHIn_LkB5QJDrs3G5Wfft-DcucUO4UEmGO7GZ\u0026amp;s=JlJm7GyKCJvPW0jyrsfTFtinteKDitN13vfPZiuJnP8\u0026amp;e=\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E for the free WonderRigor newsletter at Figure8Thinking.com","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"Learn More","ctaUrl":"http:\/\/Figure8Thinking.com","theme":{"bg":"#3b3f46","text":"#ffffff","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#6e8ba6","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91470060,"imageMobileId":91470061,"shareable":false,"slug":""}}
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E-Commerce
Curving walls of clay brick and the dappled light of a forest canopy make up the design of the 2026 Serpentine Pavilion, the annual architectural installation that has become one of the field’s most prestigious commissions. This year’s pavilion is being designed by Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo of LANZA atelier, a Mexico City-based architecture studio. An annual installation outside the Serpentine art gallery in London’s Kensington Park that is freely open to the public from June through October, the Serpentine Pavilion is high-brow design that’s unusually accessible. Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo of Lanza atelier. [Photo: Pia Riverola] Hitting the premise on the nose, LANZA atelier’s design was inspired by a common English architectural feature known as a “serpentine” or a “crinkle-crankle” that uses a gently curving line of bricks to form a decorative wall. For the Serpentine Pavilion, the architects lined one side of the structure with this serpentine wall, built just a single brick wide. An architectural trick, the wall’s curves provide stability through lateral support, making it need fewer bricks than if the wall were straight. [Image: Lanza atelier/courtesy Serpentine] Inside, the pavilion evokes the trees of the surrounding park with a series of brick columnsalso a single brick widesupporting a semi-transparent roof. Bricks also make up the floor surface, making the interior a thoroughly earthy experience. This single material’s dominance is only broken by its white-painted metal frame lattice roof, which bounces light into the space. Its curvaceous form creates niches within the pavilion while also forming portals to the park and to the Serpentine gallery nearby. The Serpentine Pavilion has been an architectural event for 25 years, serving as both a showcase and a creative outlet for emerging architects and artists. One of the highest-profile commissions in the field, the Serpentine Pavilion has been designed by an A-list of designers since its first iteration, including Pritzker Prizewinning architects Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Peter Zumthor, and Diébédo Francis Kéré, and artists Ai Weiwei, Theaster Gates, and Olafur Eliasson. The Serpentine Pavilion is a global stage for LANZA atelier, a small office founded in 2015. The firm’s built works include several private homes, a children’s community center, and minimal yet elegant public bathroom. The 2026 Serpentine Pavilion will open to the public June 6.
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E-Commerce
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