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It was once the corporate world’s equivalent of a shotgun marriage - two people, one office, and a whole lot of tension.
The idea of co-CEOs has long been dismissed as a recipe for disaster, all power struggles and muddled authority.
But a funny thing is happening in boardrooms across America. Big names are dusting off the much-maligned model and giving it another try. Spotify, Comcast, and Oracle have all recently announced dual leaders at the helm, defying years of conventional wisdom that one boss is more than enough.
The logic is easy to follow. Today’s chief executive must be all thingd to all men/women - technologist, therapist, lobbyist, brand manager and spreadsheet jedi, all rolled into one. Finding one person who excels at every one of those roles is about as likely as finding a unicorn on the payroll.
But...
A 2022 Harvard Business Review study of 87 public companies that tried co-leadership found they didn’t just survive, they thrived - delivering an average annual shareholder return of 9.5% compared with 6.9% for their single-CEO peers. Even length of tenure didn’t differ much, with both camps averaging around five years in the big chair.
Why the co-CEO model works - sometimes...
When shared leadership implodes, it’s nearly always about the people, not the plan. Salesforce’s Marc Benioff twice attempted the structure, only to discover he wasn’t quite ready to hand over the reins of “my company.” SAP’s 2020 experiment failed for more practical reasons - delays, confusion, and a growing divide between its US and German bases.
Then there’s Netflix. Its setup is held up as the best in class. Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos first proved it could work, and now Sarandos and Greg Peters are continuing the act. The key? Complementary skills and clear demarcation. Sarandos takes the creative and communications side; Peters handles tech, product, advertising, HR and gaming.
Both are believers in the shared burden of leadership. “Having someone to talk to who is not an employee or a board member - who is your peer - is so helpful,” Sarandos told Fast Company. To keep things smooth, they even work with an executive coach. And when a referee is needed, co-founder Hastings still sits above the fray as chairman.
In HR there are currently less such examples, but there have been some. Paycom had co-CEOs until one stepped down, when Chris Thomas resigned as co-CEO, leaving Chad Richison to continue.
Aon Consulting used a co-CEO arrangement some years ago. Back in 2008, as part of a reorganization, two leaders - Kathryn Hayley and Baljit Dail - were appointed as co-CEOs to manage different parts of the business.
And in December 2021 the aforementioned Salesforce Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Marc Benioff appointed Former President and Chief Operating Officer Bret Taylor as his co-chief executive.
It was a restoration of a power-sharing agreement, nearly two years after previous Co-CEO Keith Block left the company in February 2020.
How to avoid C-suite drama
Spotify, Comcast, and Oracle all appear to have learned from past flops. Each pairing had an established working relationship before stepping into joint command, and each has a clear arbiter for when "opinions diverge" (corporate shorthand for when one leader needs to be physically restrained from the other).
At Spotify, arbitration falls to founder and now executive chairman, Daniel Ek. Comcast has family stalwart Brian Roberts, while Oracle’s ever-present Larry Ellison stands ready to keep his “conflict-prone” lieutenants in line. Clear rules, clear hierarchy - two ingredients missing from earlier failures.
Ek has already defined his position as a “hands-on European-style chairman,” while Roberts insists his partnership with Mike Cavanagh will run “for years to come,” setting expectations early that this is a shared era, not a handover.
One company that might quietly envy the setup is Disney. With a business spanning films, streaming, cruise lines, sports and theme parks (you know...Disney), the entertainment giant has struggled to find a single leader who can manage both creative egos and culture wars. Bob Chapek’s short-lived tenure showed how tricky that balance can be.
So, while joint-CEOs may not be the panacea, the single-CEO setup isn’t a guaranteed success either.
For companies trying to bridge the impossible gap between creativity, technology and politics, however, two heads might not just be better than one, it might even be the future for business leadership.
