The Rise of Co-CEOs: Can Dual Leadership Drive Companies Forward?
The business world has witnessed a surprising trend in leadership with some major companies adopting a co-CEO structure. While the model boasts potential advantages, including shared responsibilities and diverse expertise, it also presents unique challenges that not all firms can navigate. Here, we delve deeper into the co-CEO approach, its success stories, and cases where it fell short.
The Unconventional Route Taken by Major Corporations
Marks & Spencer's Co-Leadership Experiment
In 2022, British retail giant Marks & Spencer embraced a dual leadership model following the departure of CEO Steve Rowe. Stuart Machin and Katie Bickerstaffe were appointed CEO and co-CEO, respectively, with Machin having overall leadership responsibility and responsibility for strategy and transformation. At the same time, Bickerstaffe focused on digital and technology, reporting to Machin. This division of responsibilities was meant to foster agility and focused leadership. Although a hybrid dual leadership model, the move was seen as bold and part of a broader restructuring process to revitalise M&S’s position in a highly competitive retail landscape.
Netflix’s Transition to Co-CEOs
Netflix, a household name in the streaming industry, adopted a co-CEO structure in 2020 with Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos sharing the role. The move allowed Hastings to concentrate on long-term innovation while Sarandos managed day-to-day operations and content strategy. This division helped Netflix weather industry challenges, including subscriber fluctuations. However, Hastings stepped down in 2023, leaving Sarandos and newly appointed Greg Peters to continue as co-CEOs. The leadership shift underscored Netflix's adaptability but also highlighted the pressures inherent in co-leadership during times of transition.
Oracle’s Leadership Playbook
Oracle is another tech giant that once tested the waters with a co-CEO model. Following the passing of former CEO Mark Hurd in 2019, Safra Catz and Larry Ellison briefly co-led the company. This partnership was part of Oracle’s effort to ensure continuity while leveraging each leader’s expertise. However, Catz later became the sole CEO, suggesting that even in tech, where collaboration is often touted, the co-CEO model can be difficult to sustain.
The Benefits of Co-CEO Leadership
The idea behind co-CEOs stems from the concept of leveraging complementary strengths to guide a company effectively. At Board Intelligence, co-CEOs Jen Sundberg and Pippa Begg showcase how this model can work when the leaders' skill sets align strategically. Sundberg focuses on product and strategy while Begg drives commercial operations. This clear delineation allows each leader to excel in their respective areas, ensuring that the company thrives in both the present and future. Sundberg and Begg highlight that shared leadership helps mitigate biases in decision-making, enhances checks and balances, and combats cognitive biases that can afflict single-leader models.
High-Profile Failures: When Co-Leadership Falters
The co-CEO model has not been universally successful. One notable failure is Standard Life Aberdeen, born from a 2017 merger. Co-CEOs Martin Gilbert and Keith Skeoch initially aimed to combine their expertise to drive the company forward. However, friction between the two leaders reportedly contributed to strategic stagnation, leading to their eventual departure. The company's share price reflected these challenges, falling significantly after the leadership arrangement failed to deliver anticipated results.
Similarly, Deutsche Bank experimented with co-CEOs from 2012 to 2015 when Anshu Jain and Jürgen Fitschen were appointed to lead. The dual leadership was meant to balance investment banking expertise with more conservative financial strategies. However, cultural clashes and poor performance ultimately led to the dissolution of the co-CEO structure.
The Role of Culture in Co-CEO Success
A critical aspect that determines the success or failure of a co-CEO arrangement is the company’s culture. For a co-leadership model to thrive, the organizational culture must support collaboration, communication, and shared responsibility. This means fostering an environment where leaders can operate without unhealthy competition or territorial behavior, which can otherwise impede decision-making and erode trust.
Netflix’s co-CEO era offers an instructive look into how culture can bolster a dual leadership strategy. The company is known for its commitment to openness and its unique “freedom and responsibility” framework, which gives leaders autonomy while demanding accountability. This culture enabled Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos to leverage their distinct strengths—Hastings with a long-term focus on technology and Sarandos with his expertise in content strategy. Such a setup underscored that Netflix’s internal ethos facilitated their coordination, promoting efficiency even within a non-traditional leadership framework.
On the other hand, Standard Life Aberdeen’s experience highlights how a mismatch in culture can doom a co-CEO experiment. The combined entity faced integration challenges post-merger, as its leaders struggled to present a unified front. The absence of a cohesive, collaborative culture exacerbated the divide, leaving strategic decisions mired in discord and ultimately harming company performance.
The impact of culture on co-leadership is also evident at Palladium, where diversity is celebrated within its leadership team. The company’s culture of inclusion supports its four-CEO model, enabling clear communication and shared accountability. By recognizing cultural fit as a linchpin for effective dual or multi-CEO arrangements, Palladium has been able to maintain operational coherence and responsiveness to global challenges.
Related: Netflix's Unique Co-CEO Setup—and Why It Succeeds
Balancing Power and Vision
Despite the challenges, the co-CEO model works in specific contexts, especially when leaders share a unified vision and have well-defined roles. For instance, at Palladium, a company in the international development sector, co-CEOs such as Jose Maria Ortiz and Sinead Magill distribute responsibilities based on their expertise in finance and communications. This approach has led to effective management with each leader focusing on distinct areas, making the organization adaptable and responsive to global challenges.
Jen Sundberg and Pippa Begg of Board Intelligence also note that co-leadership enables smoother transitions during personal or professional shifts, such as maternity leave, ensuring continuity without abrupt power vacuums.
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Future Prospects for Co-CEOs: Can It Become the Norm?
The future of co-CEOs in business remains uncertain. While examples like Netflix and Palladium demonstrate the model’s potential to foster innovation and distributed leadership, cases like Standard Life Aberdeen and Deutsche Bank serve as cautionary tales. The co-CEO model demands transparency, mutual trust, and complementary leadership styles to succeed. When these conditions are met, companies can benefit from diverse perspectives and shared decision-making power. Without them, however, the model can lead to confusion, rivalry, and inefficiency.
As companies continue to navigate complex markets, the question of whether more firms will embrace co-leadership remains open. For now, co-CEO structures present both opportunities for enhanced collaboration and risks of divided leadership. The answer may lie in how companies align their strategies with the capabilities of their leadership teams, ensuring that shared power leads not to division, but to strengthened, innovative governance.
