PHOENIX (STN) – A co-CEO model isn’t a mainstream business structure. New York Times best-selling author and Senior Partner at McKinsey & Co., Carolyn Dewar, said less than five percent of public companies officially operate with a dual-CEO system.
Title sharing means power sharing which one may assume leads to conflict and confusion, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Under the right circumstances, co-CEOs can be an effective partnership that enhances the business.
As part of a panel discussion on leadership during the July episode of “It Happens at STN,” co-CEOs of Girl Scouts–Arizona Cactus-Pine Mary Mitchell and Christina Spicer shared their unique insight into this unconventional leadership model and how it benefits their organization.
“Everybody has a blind spot,” Spicer said. “When a challenge is there, we can take it to each other and say, ‘Okay, how do you see it? How do I see it? Let’s talk about it. Let’s really be able to deeply communicate about the issue.’”
Watch the panel discussion on shared leadership below:
After both interviewing for the CEO position individually and then interviewing several times together, Spicer said her relationship with Mitchell makes Girl Scouts–Arizona Cactus-Pine a better organization while providing a life lesson for the girl scouts they lead.
“We have deep respect for each other, so when we don’t necessarily see eye to eye, it’s not conflict,” Spicer said. “It’s just trying to make the best decision for the organization. And girls see [that] it’s okay if you don’t always agree. That’s not the point. The point is to be able to carry out your mission to its absolute fullest.”
Mitchell carried the point further.
“Modeling that for girls so that they can understand how much muscle they can build with that, they will need that,” she said. “They’ll need it in their personal lives. They will need it in their workspaces. As women, it’s important to be able to model for our team and particularly for the girls, that it’s okay to be in healthy dialogue and conversation.”
And while the shared leadership is proving to work well for Girl Scouts–Arizona Cactus-Pine, and the girls it serves, Spicer said from her experience, it can be better for the leader too.
“CEOs [are] literally stepping down from their roles because they don’t want the stress, and they don’t want the anxiety, and they’re prioritizing their well-being,” Spicer concluded. “I really hope that people take a look at caring for the leaders who are trying to make change in our community. And this is an incredible way of doing that.”
