Energetic listening. Shared duties. Pre-planned forgiveness. If the tenets of AlixPartners’ co-CEO relationship sound rather a lot like these of a married couple who’ve gone via quite a lot of remedy, nicely, you’re not far off.
AlixPartners co-CEOs David Garfield and Rob Hornby had been promoted to steer the two,500-person international consulting agency in February, however beforehand had labored collectively for some 14 years, which each say was important. “Having prior work experience together makes a huge difference,” AlixPartners co-CEO David Garfield informed Fortune about sharing the highest job with Rob Hornby. “I genuinely believe that our decisions are better as a result of collaborating on them than they would be if we were making them independently.”
Garfield relies in New York and has a long time of expertise in company technique, shareholder worth creation, and the business facet of the worldwide consulting enterprise. Hornby relies within the UK and spends 30% of his time in New York. He has a soup-to-nuts background in AI, digital innovation, and each startup and international working environments and beforehand led the agency’s Europe, Center East, and Africa area. On the similar time, each perceive the tech and business sides and have a stable decade and a half of working collectively beneath their belts.
The geographic separation is a strategic benefit for the co-CEOs. Between them, they keep 20 hours of management protection throughout time zones—a feat that might be unsustainable long-term for a single CEO.
“We’re co-responsible for everything,” Hornby mentioned. “So we share responsibility for all outcomes for everything. But that doesn’t mean that we are equally involved in everything—because we have different expertise.”
They function beneath a single umbrella of “pre-planned forgiveness,” so if Hornby comes to a decision that Garfield wouldn’t have made through the time they aren’t overlapping, there’s no hurt finished. The identical is true for Hornby.
“Then there are some things we just have to say, ‘That’s too big. That’s something we need to talk about,’” mentioned Hornby. “And we will reserve the right to take that offline, speak to each other and come back to whoever is asking for a decision.”
That dialog all the time includes energetic listening, mentioned Garfield. At this level, they belief one another sufficient to not foyer based mostly on preconceived notions however as an alternative they get one another’s views on the desk.
“Ironically, I think it gets us to the answer faster because we don’t have to spend time building up a case,” mentioned Garfield. “Having shared values makes a huge difference and having a foundation of trust makes a huge difference.”
Whereas it’s going to plan for Garfield and Hornby, different management specialists are extra cautious about splitting up the highest job. But, because the world grows extra difficult and the CEO position turns into more and more advanced, two would possibly be higher than one—however provided that the mixture is almost flawless and interpersonal dynamics don’t derail the connection, specialists mentioned. Up to now three weeks, Comcast, Oracle, and now Spotify have all introduced CEO transitions involving a co-CEO management construction with various government chair oversight on the board.
“There’s so much happening both externally and internally and organizations are going through constant change and it’s not letting up,” mentioned Susan Sandlund, a managing director at Pearl Meyer who leads the management consulting apply. “It could potentially make sense to have co-CEOs if the company actually has a need for it but I wouldn’t say it should be the norm. I think it’s an exception and you have to have a pretty good business case for it.”
Information supplier Esgauge reveals there are solely eight co-CEOs at present working within the Russell 3000 amongst 245 CEO transitions to this point in 2025. Throughout the previous decade, the very best variety of co-CEOs serving at a single time amongst corporations within the index was 17 in 2023.
A part of the rationale it’s been so unpopular traditionally is that “a lot can go wrong,” famous Sandlund.
When issues get awkward with co-CEOs
The obvious lure a duo can fall into? Energy struggles, with one government eager to be the standout, mentioned Shawn Cole, president of search type Cowen Companions. In conferences with shoppers, buyers, or the board, one would possibly speak over the opposite one, making issues painfully awkward. Factions can type. Inconsistent messaging can confuse the management staff; determination making can decelerate. And there’s all the time the danger of confusion about authority, mentioned Cole, who has been known as in to kind out conditions after a co-leadership construction has gone to pot. When it fails, Cole chalks it as much as interpersonal points and a notion about damaged guarantees, particularly if one of many co-CEOs was beneath an impression it was momentary or that they might finally get the CEO position all to themselves.
“It’s very much like a marriage,” Cole mentioned. “It takes a lot of communication to make it work.” And similar to a wedding, generally exterior provides are too interesting to cross up.
“They’re always going to be drawn to other sole CEO opportunities,” he mentioned, which is another excuse co-CEO-ship doesn’t typically final, in his view. He’s skeptical in regards to the latest appointments, noting that some appear like short-term options to issues which have emerged in succession plans. Generally boards have issue making a call, or executives is likely to be lured elsewhere, he mentioned. “These just don’t seem like long-term solutions,” mentioned Cole.
Egon Zehnder’s Chuck Grey, who advises boards on CEO succession, famous that the way in which completely different individuals react to energy “is not always predictable.” Generally it’s for the nice, however not in each case.
“I’ve seen people who, when they became CEO, they’ve changed,” mentioned Grey, co-head of Egon Zehnder’s North American board and CEO apply. “When you have two people sharing power, you don’t always know how they’ll react to being that type of structure.”
Grey noticed that defining “equal” in a co-CEO relationship is almost inconceivable. “Is it equal number of direct reports? Is it equal size P&Ls? Is it the same size office?” he mentioned. “One line of business is bigger than the other, one has responsibility for all the P&Ls and all the corporate functions—will they feel equal?”
Grey famous a board member as soon as requested that he cease her instantly if the board ever thought of a co-CEO management construction ever once more.
CEOs say they’re lonely
Nonetheless, the CEO position itself could also be driving renewed curiosity in energy sharing and Grey mentioned his agency plans to analysis splitting CEO roles in additional depth. He’s been telling shoppers not too long ago that “we’ve gotten to a point now where the CEO job is almost an impossible job for one human to have.” In board searches, CEOs have been asking for impartial company administrators to be sitting CEOs who’ve handled the continued disruptions because the fall of 2019.
“Wehn I talk to a lot of CEOs, you can just see the stress and the strain,” Grey mentioned. In concept, when you can share a number of the burden with somebody, the job could possibly be extra sustainable, he mentioned. Plus, quite a lot of CEOs say—and Grey famous this was a cliche—however CEOs say they’re lonely. Having one other individual might reduce the load, he mentioned.
The secret’s having distinctly completely different roles, complementary abilities, shared values, clear determination making rights, and real belief, specialists agreed. Extra importantly, each individuals have to really need to share the position, which is a trait that doesn’t all the time align with personalities drawn to being a CEO.
“It takes a very mature person,” mentioned Sandlund. “Certain CEOs today, no way in hell would they be able to share power. Some days one will shine and the other can’t get their nose bent out of shape over it… You are truly sharing the limelight and have to be OK with that.”
Again at AlixPartners, Garfield and Hornby each mentioned they’re OK with it. Garfield famous it’s not proper for each firm tradition, however two individuals can have a wider vary if they’ve the precise chemistry and match. “I think the demands on a modern CEO are close to unsustainable,” mentioned Hornby. “If you’re a singular CEO, I think it’s a pretty tough job nowadays. Co-CEOs, if you can meet the conditions of trust and relationship, just provides you with a lot more bandwidth to deal with a complicated world.”
