Energetic listening. Shared tasks. Pre-planned forgiveness. If the tenets of AlixPartners’ co-CEO relationship sound quite a bit like these of a married couple who’ve gone via plenty of therapy, properly, you’re not far off.
AlixPartners co-CEOs David Garfield and Rob Hornby had been promoted to guide the three,500-person international consulting agency in February, however beforehand had labored collectively for some 14 years, which each say was very important. “Having prior work expertise collectively makes an enormous distinction,” AlixPartners co-CEO David Garfield informed Fortune about sharing the highest job with Rob Hornby. “I genuinely imagine that our selections are higher on account of collaborating on them than they might be if we had been making them independently.”
Garfield relies in New York and has many years 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 identical time, each perceive the tech and business sides and have a strong decade and a half of working collectively beneath their belts.
The geographic separation is a strategic advantage for the co-CEOs. Between them, they preserve 20 hours of management protection throughout time zones—a feat that may be unsustainable long-term for a single CEO.
“We’re co-responsible for all the things,” Hornby mentioned. “So we share duty for all outcomes for all the things. However that doesn’t imply that we’re equally concerned in all the things—as a result of we have now totally different experience.”
They function beneath a single umbrella of “pre-planned forgiveness,” so if Hornby decides that Garfield wouldn’t have made throughout the time they aren’t overlapping, there’s no hurt executed. The identical is true for Hornby.
“Then there are some issues we simply need to say, ‘That’s too large. That’s one thing we have to discuss,’” mentioned Hornby. “And we are going to reserve the suitable to take that offline, converse to one another and are available again to whoever is asking for a choice.”
That dialog all the time entails energetic listening, mentioned Garfield. At this level, they belief one another sufficient to not foyer primarily based on preconceived notions however as a substitute they get one another’s views on the desk.
“Sarcastically, I feel it will get us to the reply sooner as a result of we don’t need to spend time increase a case,” mentioned Garfield. “Having shared values makes an enormous distinction and having a basis of belief makes an enormous distinction.”
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 sophisticated and the CEO function turns into more and more advanced, two would possibly be higher than one—however provided that the mixture is sort of flawless and interpersonal dynamics don’t derail the connection, specialists mentioned. Prior 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 a lot occurring each externally and internally and organizations are going via fixed change and it’s not letting up,” mentioned Susan Sandlund, a managing director at Pearl Meyer who leads the management consulting observe. “It might probably make sense to have co-CEOs if the corporate truly has a necessity for it however I wouldn’t say it ought to be the norm. I feel it’s an exception and you need to have a reasonably good enterprise case for it.”
Knowledge supplier Esgauge reveals there are solely eight co-CEOs presently working within the Russell 3000 amongst 245 CEO transitions to date in 2025. In the course of 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 “quite a bit can go fallacious,” famous Sandlund.
When issues get awkward with co-CEOs
The obvious entice a duo can fall into? Energy struggles, with one government eager to be the standout, mentioned Shawn Cole, president of Cowen Companions Government Search. In conferences with shoppers, buyers, or the board, one would possibly discuss over the opposite one, making issues painfully awkward. Factions can type. Inconsistent messaging can confuse the management workforce; choice making can decelerate. And there’s all the time the chance of confusion about authority, mentioned Cole, who has been referred to 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 non permanent or that they might finally get the CEO function all to themselves.
“It’s very very similar to a wedding,” Cole mentioned. “It takes plenty of communication to make it work.” And identical to a wedding, generally outdoors provides are too interesting to go up.
“They’re all the time going to be drawn to different sole CEO alternatives,” he mentioned, which is another excuse co-CEO-ship doesn’t usually final, in his view. He’s skeptical in regards to the latest appointments, noting that some appear to be short-term options to issues which have emerged in succession plans. Generally boards have issue making a choice, or executives could be lured elsewhere, he mentioned. “These simply don’t look like long-term options,” mentioned Cole.
Egon Zehnder’s Chuck Grey, who advises boards on CEO succession, famous that the way in which totally different folks react to energy “will not be all the time predictable.” Generally it’s for the nice, however not in each case.
“I’ve seen individuals who, after they turned CEO, they’ve modified,” mentioned Grey, co-head of Egon Zehnder’s North American board and CEO observe. “When you could have two folks sharing energy, you don’t all the time understand how they’ll react to being that sort of construction.”
Grey noticed that defining “equal” in a co-CEO relationship is sort of inconceivable. “Is it equal variety of direct stories? Is it equal dimension P&Ls? Is it the identical dimension workplace?” he mentioned. “One line of enterprise is larger than the opposite, one has duty for all of the P&Ls and all the company features—will they really feel equal?”
Grey famous a board member as soon as requested that he cease her instantly if the board ever thought-about a co-CEO management construction ever once more.
CEOs say they’re lonely
Nonetheless, the CEO function 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 some extent now the place the CEO job is sort of an inconceivable 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.
“After I discuss to plenty of CEOs, you possibly can simply see the stress and the pressure,” Grey mentioned. In idea, in the event you can share a number of the burden with somebody, the job may very well be extra sustainable, he mentioned. Plus, plenty of CEOs say—and Grey famous this was a cliche—however CEOs say they’re lonely. Having one other particular person might reduce the load, he mentioned.
The secret’s having distinctly totally different roles, complementary expertise, shared values, clear choice making rights, and real belief, specialists agreed. Extra importantly, each folks have to truly need to share the function, which is a trait that doesn’t all the time align with personalities drawn to being a CEO.
“It takes a really mature particular person,” mentioned Sandlund. “Sure CEOs right this moment, no means in hell would they be capable to share energy. Some days one will shine and the opposite can’t get their nostril bent out of form over it… You might be actually sharing the limelight and need 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 folks can have a wider vary if they’ve the suitable chemistry and match. “I feel the calls for on a contemporary CEO are near unsustainable,” mentioned Hornby. “When you’re a singular CEO, I feel it’s a reasonably robust job these days. Co-CEOs, in the event you can meet the situations of belief and relationship, simply offers you with much more bandwidth to cope with an advanced world.”
