The paradigms for leadership are changing. With burnout at an all-time high and women leaders leaving their companies at the highest rate in years—often for positions that offer better advancement opportunities and prioritize flexibility, employee well-being, and diversity, equity, and inclusion—many organizations are recognizing the need to change the way they do business and shift to different models of leadership. Co-leadership, where two or more people equally share power, influence and responsibility in an organization, has become an increasingly popular model across multiple sectors, particularly for women leaders and others looking to do leadership differently.
“We believe this is a sign of our times, sometimes linked to necessity and pragmatism to support the sustainability and resilience of the work, while for others it is clearly aligned to their broader vision for sharing power and transformation,” say Ruby Johnson and Devi Leiper O’Malley, former executive co-leads who recently came out with Mosaics and Mirrors, a report and guide that takes a thoughtful, in-depth look at the benefits and challenges of co-leadership. The report itself was done in a collaborative, creative way, as they weaved together details from literature, their own first-hand experiences as co-leads and interviews with over 25 co-leaders and practitioners from primarily funder, social justice and feminist organizations—all presented amongst a collaging of illustrations from six young feminist artists from different parts of the world.
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