OPINION
How unconventional leadership can redefine our expectations OF BUSINESSES
As businesses evolve and redefine themselves, traditional organisational structures are evolving too. The co-CEO approach, under which two CEOs work side by side, can create an open and engaging culture where collaboration is celebrated, argues Guenther Eisinger
I t’s often the case that new models and ways of working emerge out of difficult periods – and this is certainly true of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has firmly established the concept of remote working. Less firmly established in the English- speaking world, however, is the concept of co-CEOs. Co-CEOs is an unusual leadership approach whereby, rather than splitting senior leadership positions out in a more
conventional model, under which a CEO would generally be accompanied by a chief operating officer or a chief technology officer, two CEOs work side by side. This model, which we undertook when starting our remote onboarding business, Omnipresent,in 2020, has operated ever since. Though the leadership role is shared, our separate roles are clearly defined – with one side of the partnership responsible for technical, products, sales and marketing,
Guenther Eisinger is the Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Omnipresent. He served in the Austrian Special Forces leading combat units in Afghanistan, Eastern Europe and Africa. Before Omnipresent, he ran his own international business and has three master’s degrees and a PhD, plus more than 20 years of operational expertise in 40- plus countries.
‘A strong co-CEO relationship, while requiring firmly established roles and expectations around duties, is also dependent on how well the two can work together’
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