Why co-CEOs are gaining ground in Australian boardrooms

Five things boards must understand before appointing co-CEOs.

Belinda Coates GAICD, founder and CEO of global business consultancy Harper B, and a non-executive director at not-for-profit Storey Residential, has worked across multiple co-leadership arrangements. Here is her checklist for boards.

1. This is not job sharing. Both leaders must be capable of stepping into each other’s shoes. The value is in two complete leaders who have different leanings. If the C-suite underneath them is strong, the co-CEOs are freed to lead and grow. If they’re trying to cover every specialist function themselves, the model will collapse under its own weight.

2. Delegation of authority must be defined emotionally, not just financially. Every board sets financial delegation thresholds. With co-CEOs, the more important question is, which decisions will feel wrong to one CEO if made independently by the other? These are rarely big-ticket items. They’re the mid-level calls that touch shared territory. Getting explicit about this early prevents quiet resentments surfacing.

3. Conflicts of interest are sharper. The board must be scrupulously even-handed. Relational bias can be a problem. Directors cannot have a preferred CEO or route sensitive conversations through one and not the other. They must be seen by both to be even-handed. The co-CEO model asks something of the board, not just management.

4. North Star alignment must be tighter than in a single-CEO structure. With two CEOs, the margin for interpretive drift is narrow. A single set of performance measures, rather than individual scorecards, is mandatory. It is the structural foundation that keeps incentives aligned and prevents the arrangement from becoming a competition.

5. Succession must be planned before it becomes urgent. When one co-CEO departs, a replacement can’t simply be slotted in. Boards should plan for three possible paths: a transition to a single CEO, elevation of a senior internal candidate into a co-role, or a structured handover period. The model lends itself to this as someone is always present to mentor the next generation of leadership from within.