Co-Leadership Resources

An evolving list

Co-Leadership: A leadership structure where two or more individuals share executive authority and decision-making responsibilities

Co-Leadership Webinar Preparedness Onboarding Resources

Good Reads

  1. Bianca Anderson, Monisha Kapila, and Nonprofit Quarterly, Operationalizing Co-Leadership Structures: Lessons from the Nonprofit Intermediary Field, Nonprofit Quarterly, August 1 2023

  2. Meera Chary, Three Nonprofits Share Their Approaches to Co-

    Leadership, The Bridgespan Group, March 23 2022

  3. Ashley Lanfer and Kelly Mangiardi, A Reality Check for Nonprofit Co-Leadership, Stanford Social Innovation Review, January 15 2025

  4. Sandhya Nakhasi, Jennifer Swayne Njuguna & Jess Yupanqui Feingold, Co-Leadership as Practice for an Equitable Future: How to determine if your organization is ready to make the jump (and how to prepare for it if you are), Stanford Social Innovation Review, January 13 2025

  5. Hayley Roffee, Co-Leadership for Bottom-Up Transformation: Shared leadership models can be transformative, but require building an organization-wide culture of collectivity, sharing, and generosity, Stanford Social Innovation Review, January 14 2025

  6. The Surprising Benefits of Co-Leadership: Because Two Brains Really Are Better Than One, Atlassian

  7. Michael Allison, Susan Misra and Elissa Perry, Doing More with More: Putting Shared Leadership into Practice, Nonprofit Quarterly, June 25 2018

  8. Devi Leiper O’Malley and Ruby Johnson, Building the Bicycle While We Ride It: Five Reflections on Nonprofit Co-Leadership, Nonprofit Quarterly, January 17 2017

  9. Ruby Johnson and Devi Leiper O’Malley, Feminist Friendship as Method: Experiences of Re-Organising Power in Philanthropy, Alliance Magazine, July 30 2021

  10. Aaron Schildkrout, A Guide To Co-Leadership: Why It’s Hard, Why It’s Good, And How To Make It Work, TechCrunch, October 18 2014

  11. Carsten Tams, Bye-Bye, Heroic Leadership: Here Comes Shared Leadership, Forbes, September 10 2019

  12. Virisila Buadromo and Zharin Zhafrael, In Trouble: Feminist Co-Leadership and Power Sharing, International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA), February 9 2022

  13. Kets de Vries, Two CEOs, No Drama: Ground Rules for Co-Leadership, INSEAD Knowledge. June 30 2021

  14. Two’s Good Company: interview with Sara Wajid and Zak Mensah, Co-CEOs of Birmingham Museum Trust, Saxton Bampflyde, 2022

  15. Russ Banham, Co-CEOs: Are Two Better Than One? Chief Executive, April 2 2012

  16. Gwen Moran, Are Co-CEOs a Great Idea or a Total Disaster? Fast Company, February 2 2017

  17. Megan Poinski, How To Make The Co-CEO Model Succeed, Forbes C-Suite Newsletter, February 9 2026

  18. Chip Cutter, Co-CEOs Are Out of Style: Why Is Netflix Resurrecting the Management Model? MarketScreener, July 17 2020

  19. How To Make Co-Leadership Work, The Bridgespan Group, November 16 2022

  20. George Deeb, Why Co-CEOs Are A Bad Idea, Forbes, September 26 2025

  21. Donika Dimovska, Simon Sommer, and Fabio Segura, Can Co-Leadership be the future of philanthropy? Alliance, Jacob’s Foundation

  22. Cindy Suarez, Experiments in Liberatory Leadership, Nonprofit Quarterly, June 7 2022

  23. Dede Henley, The Surprising Benefits of Co-Leadership, Forbes, January 22 2023

  24. Jessica Struve and Linda Wilgus, Two at the Top: How Co-Leadership Turns Shared Authority Into Strategic Advantage, ASAE, January 28 2026

  25. Geoffrey Winder, Shared Leadership Shared Power, LinkedIn Newsletter

Research . Studies . Cases

  1. Shared Leadership in Action: Perspectives, Principles and Practice, Brazen Consulting and Accounting, September 7, 2025

  2. Cathleen Clerkin, Co-leadership: A path to more diverse, sustainable nonprofits? Candid, April 17 2024

  3. Meera Chary,Learning Through Co-Leadership, The Bridgespan Group, February 28 2024

  4. Caroline McAndrews, Frances Kunreuther, Shifra Bronznick, Structuring Leadership: Alternative Models for Distributing Power and Decision-Making in Nonprofit Organizations, Building Movement Project, 2011

  5. James O’Toole, Jay Galbraith, Edward E. Lawler, III, When Two (or More) Heads are Better Than One: The Promise and Pitfalls of Shared Leadership, California Management Review, Vol 44 No. 4 Summer 2002

  6. Lydia Alpízar Durán and Barbara Williams, Feminist dances with power: AWID’s Leadership Transition 2015–2016, AWID/Association for Women’s Rights In Development, October 21 2019

  7. Bennett, N., Wise, C., Woods, P. A. and Harvey, J. A., Distributed Leadership: A Review of Literature, Nottingham: National College of School Leadership, January 2003

  8. Richard Bolden, Distributed Leadership in Organizations: A Review of Theory and Research, International Journal of Management Reviews, 13: 251-269, 2011

  9. Lauren A. Lanzo, Co-Leader Relationships and the Impact on Team Functioning, The George Washington University, Dissertation January 10 2020

  10. Craig L. Pearce and Jay A. Conger, All Those Years Ago: The Historical Underpinnings of Shared Leadership, in Shared Leadership: Reframing the Hows and Whys of Leadership

  11. Marianne Döös and Lena Wilhelmson, Fifty-five years of managerial shared leadership research: A review of an empirical field, Leadership, Vol 17 Issue 6, August 2021

  12. Big News from Third Wave's Co-Directors, Third Wave Fund, March 22 2021

  13. Benefits and challenges of the Co-Leadership Model,Oxford HR

  14. Daryl K. Yankee, A Measure of Attributes and Benefits of the Co-Leadership Model: is co-leadership the right fit for a complex world? Pepperdine University Digital Commons. 2017

  15. Claire Antrobus, A User Guide to Co-Leadership, 2024Claire Antrobus, Co-leadership: an opportunity for the UK Cultural sector to increase leadership diversity and impact, 2023

  16. Claire Antrobus, Two heads are getter than one: what art galleries and museums can learn from then joint leadership model in theatre, 2011

  17. Claire Antrobus, The Benefits of Co-Leadership

  18. Job Sharing at a Senior Level: making it work, Capability Jane, 2011 (full study report www.thejobshareproject.com)

  19. Jean-Louis Denis, Ann Langley and Viviane Sergi, Leadership in the Plural, The Academy of Management Annals, 5 (1), pp.211–283, 2012

  20. Co-Directors in Action: A Joint Interview With All*Above All and Reproaction, ReproJobs, February 3

  21. Suzie Mills, Ruth Davis, Zoe Greenwood, and Grace Mansah-Owusu, Co-Leadership: The Future of Leading? Oxford HR, October 2023

  22. Jennifer Pellet, Making A Co-CEO Leadership Structure Work, Chief Executive, February 5 2019

  23. Peter Bailinson, William Decherd, Diana Ellsworth, and Maital Guttman, with Aaron De Smet, Sundiatu Dixon-Fyle, Kevin Dolan, Ruth Imose, Tanya Lee, and David Mendelsohn, Understanding organizational barriers to a more inclusive workplace, McKinsey & Company, June 23 2020

  24. Global Leadership Forecast 2021, Development Dimensions International Inc. (DDI), 2021

  25. Edward Segal, Leaders And Employees Are Burning Out At Record Rates: New Survey, Forbes, February 17 2021

  26. Cade Metz, Jeff Bezos Creates A.I. Start-Up Where He Will Be Co-Chief Executive,The New York Times, November 17 2025

  27. Greenpeace UK Co-Executive Directors, Oxford HR, 2022

  28. Qiong Wu and Kathryn Cormican, Shared Leadership and Team Effectiveness: An Investigation of Whether and When in Engineering Design Teams, Frontiers in Psychology, January 18 2021

  29. Emma Abson, Peter Schofield, and James Kennell, Making shared leadership work: The importance of trust in project-based organisations, International Journal of Project Management, Volume 42 Issue 2, February 2024

  30. Christina L. Wassenaar, Craig L. Pearce, and Natalia Lorinkova, Shared Leadership 2.0 Taking Stock and Looking Forward, Cambridge University Press Elements in Leadership, April 24 2025

  31. Jinlong Zhu, Zhenyu Liao, Kai Chi Yam, and Russell E. Johnson, Shared Leadership: A State-of-the-Art Review and Future Research Agenda, Journal of Organizational Behavior, May 2018

  32. Wei Chen and Jun-Hui Zhang, Does shared leadership always work? A state-of-the-art review and future prospects, Journal of Work-Applied Management, Volume 15 Issue 1, April 24 2023

  33. Michael D. Kocolowski, Shared Leadership: Is it Time for a Change, Regent University-Emerging Leadership Journeys, Issue 1 Volume 3, 2010

  34. Petru Lucian Curșeu, Jan van Rijswijk, and Sandra G L Schruijer, Collaborative and Shared Leadership Dynamics in Healthcare Action Teams: A Systematic Literature Review, Journal of Healthcare Leadership, December 31 2025

Books

  1. David A. Heenan and Warren Bennis, Co-Leaders: The Power of Great Partnerships, New York: John Wiley and Sons, January 1 1999

  2. José Luis Alvarez and Silviya Svejenova, Sharing Executive Power: Roles and Relationships at the Top, Cambridge University Press, September 22 2019

  3. Craig L Pearce (Author), Jay A. Conger, Shared Leadership: Reframing the Hows and Whys of Leadership, Sage Publications Inc., 2003

  4. Rodd Wagner and Gale Muller, Power of 2: How to Make the Most of Your Partnerships at Work and in Life, Gallup Press, October 27 2009

  5. Wendy Reid and Hilde Fjellvær, Co-Leadership in the Arts and Culture: Sharing Values and Vision, Routledge, 2023

  6. Gino Wickman and Mark C. Winters, Rocket Fuel: The One Essential Combination That Will Get You More of What You Want from Your Business, BenBella Books, April 12 2016

Learning Manuals

  1. Consensus, Collaboration and Trust: A Multiracial Co-led Organization’s Guide to Sharing Power, CommonFuture, 2024

  2. Devi Leiper O’Malley and Ruby Johnson, Mosaics & Mirrors: Insights & Practices, Feminist Co-Leadership,

  3. Claire Antrobus, The Co-Leadership Library

Access Required

  1. Michael D. Ensley, Keith M. Hmieleski, and Craig L. Pearce, The importance of vertical and shared leadership within new venture top management teams: Implications for the performance of startups, Elsevier The Leadership Quarterly, Volume 17, Issue 3, Pages 217-231, June 2006

  2. David Lancefield, How Co-Leaders Succeed, Harvard Business Review, February 22 2024

  3. Marc A. Feigen, Michael Jenkins and Anton Warendh, Is It Time to Consider Co-CEOs?, Harvest Business Review, July August 2022

  4. Claire Antrobus, Co-leadership is key to diversity, Arts Professional, March 8 2023

Co-Leadership Resources: An evolving list. This is not a complete or exhaustive list. Not responsible for source links that are no longer active. We invite you to submit additional sources to add to the resource library.