- Ops & Other Opinions
- Posts
- Why every Founder needs an Operator
Why every Founder needs an Operator
And why every operator needs to own their brilliance
Mary Alice Duff
September 29, 2025
Hey reader,
The world of work is changing at breakneck speed. Entire industries are being restructured, roles cut, costs slashed. The corporate world has told us exactly who they are — and they are not, and never will be, people-first. When push comes to shove, they’ll protect the bottom line. Always.
But here’s the catch: the work still needs doing. Which is why I am convinced we are hurtling toward a future where self-employment — and especially fractional executive work — is going to explode.
Even for those of us who never thought of ourselves as “entrepreneurial.”
And yet… no one teaches this stuff. The script for the world of work hasn’t changed in 50 years: go to school, get a stable job, keep your head down, retire.
But here’s what I’ve learned in the past eight years of self-employment — and especially now, running my own remote business from the south of France: our time on this planet is ridiculously short. And there is no guarantee that a lifetime of hard work inside an organization will ever pay off.
Which is why it makes me furious to see brilliant people — people with real skills, real gifts, real impact to offer — playing small. Downplaying themselves because they don’t know how to position their value outside the walls of an organization. Being “grateful” for opportunities that really aren’t. Settling for corporate crumbs when they could be defining their work on their terms.
That’s why I’m building: Future Fractional: Ops Clinic.
An 8-week, hands-on group program where we cut through the noise and actually build your fractional ops business together.
We start next week. And today is the last day to register.
If you’ve been considering going fractional, this is your nudge.
Let’s build your business like you mean it.
Onward,
Mary Alice
Table of Contents
Why every Founder needs an Operator
And why every operator needs to own their brilliance
Scene: me, third grade, Ms. Sullivan’s class at St. Denis Elementary.
A head taller than everyone in my class with glasses far too large for my face (thanks Dad for getting them off the discount rack!), let’s just say, I was not “cool.”
Ms. Sullivan’s assignment landed on my desk. This week’s project: come up with an invention that can be used at home to help with a daily task.
And let me tell you — I came up with the dumbest shit ever. A machine that sprayed Windex on the window and wiped it down… but you had to manually operate it with your hands. Basically, a glorified sponge with extra steps. This invention did not help anyone. In fact, it just made cleaning the dang windows way more clunky and cumbersome. And where the hell was one to put this massive contraption? It was objectively terrible.
As a kid who consistently did well in school, I was frustrated as all get out. And Ms. Sullivan was not impressed.
I remember sitting there, glasses sliding down my nose, feeling like a total loser while my classmates showed off their actually good ideas. Where was my genius invention? Where was my “wow” moment?
And while I didn’t realize it then, I now know: had the assignment been to take one of those ideas to market, to figure out how to finance it, scale it, hire people to help with it, get the idea out into the world — I would have killed it. Because that’s my superpower. Not conjuring up ten wild ideas. But sifting through a million half-baked ones, identifying the nuggets worth pursuing, and making them real.
And yet, in business (and life), we worship the idea generator. The visionary. The “cool kid.” The spontaneous one. Anyone with the word “founder” in their LinkedIn headline. And I’m still left wondering: where’s my seat at the lunch table?
But if there’s anything I’ve learned in my forty years on this planet, it’s this: operators are essential. Ideas are a dime a dozen. Bringing them to life — without burning through piles of cash or driving your team insane — is a gift. And it’s high time we start treating it as such.