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Abstract

Increased accessibility of information, cross-functional workplace challenges and financial belt-tightening have led organizations since the 1990s to consider a collaborative leadership style where leaders embrace teamwork and empower staff through motivation rather than wielding traditional authoritarian power. For females in particular, a collaborative style fits with feminist principles of relationship/consensus building and power sharing. The authors introduce a new type of collaborative leadership, the Co-CEO model, in a study by two experienced female executives who lead a mid-sized community behavioral health center in a Midwestern city. They address advantages and disadvantages of adopting the Co-CEO model for social service agencies and offer recommendations for further study.

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Co-CEOs: A New Leadership Paradigm for Social Service Agencies

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