David Ellison’s appointment of Ynon Kreiz as co-CEO of the merging Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery empire is a timely reminder: the lone chief-executive model isn’t the only way to run a company. 

Rather, in an environment characterized by complexity, speed and pressure, sharing the CEO role can be a strength that delivers increased shareholder returns.

Analysis from Harvard Business Review supports this, finding that companies with two CEOs delivered an average shareholder return of 9.5% from 1996 to 2020, outperforming the 6.9% return from single-leader companies during the same period.

The model has been adopted by several corporations, including Spotify, Comcast, Netflix and KKR. But while some have created value by having two people at the helm, others have floundered. Approached in the wrong way, it can even lead to crisis—notably at the mobile phone pioneer Research in Motion, which later became BlackBerry.

What separates the models that work from those that fail is clarity. Co-CEOs can work every bit as effectively as a single CEO when there is clarity of vision, strategy, and action, and a leadership team fully aligned behind the plan.

Here’s how to get that right—no matter how many names are at the top.

Research from Calgary University’s Haskayne School of Business finds that the dual-CEO model works best when there’s a specific context and clear strategic reason for doing it . This might involve overseeing different verticals or regions or, as in Lululemon’s case, bridging the transition between two single CEOs with trusted, interim co-CEOs while the board ran its search, eventually appointing Heidi O’Neill to the top job .

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