Fractional roles are a real tool for scaling fast and staying smart. Overemployment is something else - and it will bite you, hard. With the story of Soham Parekh making the rounds, it's important to understand why that line matters, and what execs and founders need to watch out for now.

The Fine Line: When Flexible Work Crosses Into Fraud

Let’s not pretend “fractional leadership” and “overemployment” are the same thing. Fractional is clarity. Overemployment - especially the secret kind - is a mess. And the Soham Parekh story is a mess: here’s an Engineering leader who quietly held at least three (sometimes four) simultaneous full-time jobs, lied to boards and teams, and turned double-dipping into his MO.

Why does this matter? Because I hear execs, VCs, and recruiters talk up the value of part-time and “portfolio” leaders every week now. Fractional can be powerful for startups or scaling companies: get deep expertise, don’t break the bank, everyone knows the deal. But overemployment, when you pass it off as classic commitment, is something else. That’s when you cross the line from smart resource allocation to flat-out theft.

Here’s the tension that anybody responsible for a team or company must see: The line isn’t always obvious from the outside, until it’s blown up in your face.

Fractional Leadership: Clarity, Honesty, Impact

The real value in fractional work is transparency. The best fractional execs I know - COOs, product chiefs, growth leaders - do one thing at a time, for a handful of clients maximum, and everyone understands their bandwidth. They over-communicate. They over-disclose. Their contracts, calendars, and impact are out in the open.

Fractional means you run lean: bringing in focused experience, but not pretending the relationship is something it’s not. You avoid the bloated headcount, you flex resources, you get sharp thinking without distraction. These people become a force-multiplier for teams that crave leadership but can’t land five full-time VPs.

It works if - and only if - everyone knows what they’re buying.

Overemployment: Secrets and Split Focus

Overemployment is built on hiding, not helping. It’s not running two projects as a consultant or clearly-defined fractional exec. It’s faking full-time presence with multiple employers. It’s gaming the system: double salaries, triple calendars, nightmares for your teams.

The Soham Parekh situation is just one high-profile example, but it’s far from unique. I’ve seen the signals myself. Team members unavailable for key meetings, “always busy,” a vague sense of absentee leadership, mysterious missed deadlines, and lots of last-minute delegating. The root? They’re “working” somewhere else at the same time. Nobody wins - least of all your team.

This isn’t just about ethics. It erodes trust, kills velocity, and sends a quiet signal to your best people that leadership’s priorities are elsewhere. Eventually, the fallout lands on everyone.

Want a deeper look at the cost of divided focus in product? Read my take on why speed wins, but only when teams can truly experiment and learn.

How to Spot (and Prevent) the Creeping Drift

Early signals aren’t always obvious. But the teams that outrun this drift do a few things differently. Here’s what I watch for:

1. Clear Contracts and Commitments: Don’t offer a role with fuzzy hours or ambiguous deliverables. Get it on paper - what’s expected, for how many hours, and who else they’re working with.
2. Radical Transparency: Fractional leaders should volunteer where else they work, how many hours, and whether “emergencies” at another place can impact their time with you.
3. Outcome-Based Work: Focus on results. Don’t pay for warm butts in seats - pay for solving problems, not running out the clock.
4. Check-ins, Not Checklists: Don’t micromanage, but do set real, recurring touchpoints. Call out misalignment or sliding priorities fast.
5. Cultural Dissonance: Notice if a leader never seems “all in” - missed context, shallow in-the-weeds discussions, or trends of reactivity, not proactivity.
6. Board Involvement: Don’t hide fractional relationships from your board or investors. They need to know what’s really going on at the exec table.

Teams that avoid the overemployment trap treat transparency as a minimum requirement, not a favor.

How This Shows Up With Execs (and How I Coach It)

Here’s the uncomfortable part: sometimes an exec you love still drifts. They rationalize - “I’m just being efficient,” or “I can do both!” Maybe for two weeks. Never for two years.

I’ve sat with founders shell-shocked when they find out their right-hand leader is clocking hours for another startup. I’ve seen the calendar-juggling - color-coded blocks trying to hide second (or third) gigs. I’ve cleaned up teams’ morale dips and investor blowback.

My advice to them looks a lot like the tough conversations I have with product and engineering chiefs. If you want a healthy, high-performing team, you can’t dodge the hard stuff or coast on autopilot:

• Spell out role clarity, every quarter.
• Openly revisit what “fractional” means. Don’t assume it’s business as usual.
• Set up observable goals, not just tasks or “check-ins.”
• Don’t be afraid to call out possible distractions - with questions, not accusations.

And to leaders: If you’re feeling stretched, say it. Don’t wait until you’re deleting calendar invites or lying by omission.

If you’re wondering whether your org is too lean or scattered, check out how to build effective teams - even when you can’t do it all yourself.

Fractional vs. Overemployment Side-by-Side

Leadership Isn’t Renting Yourself Twice - It’s Keeping Promises

You can’t scale if you don’t trust. Fractional work, done honestly, is a lever. Overemployment, on the other hand, is poison - slow, then all at once.

The Soham Parekh story isn’t some wild outlier. It’s a billboard for why teams, founders, and investors need to stop celebrating “hustler” myths and start demanding specifics. I’m not against flexibility - I coach it. I am against lying and sliding from “fractional” into “fraudulent.”

If you’re an exec thinking about stacking multiple roles, ask yourself: do my companies actually know, agree, and get results without waving away the conflicts? If not, you’re not being clever. You’re setting yourself, and your teams, up to blow things up.

No playbook, no consulting trend, no smart hack can replace the basic compact of trust between companies and the people who lead them. Get clear, get honest, stay focused. Don’t cross the line. Nobody wins when you do.

Learn more about how to draw real boundaries and sustain integrity in tough environments. Here’s a piece on what happens when you try to lead your team while the ground is shifting under everyone.

Takeaway
Fractional and overemployment are two different worlds - one is about clarity, the other about illusion. Whether you’re a CEO, a head of product, or a hands-on exec, commit to truth in labeling. Do the work you’ve promised, and let transparency be your default. Give your teams and yourself the shot at real progress, not the slow burn of split focus.

Next time someone calls themselves a “portfolio leader,” ask them how they manage their commitments. That answer will tell you more about their fit than any resume ever could.