What’s it like to be the CFO to two CEOs?

One is the loneliest number. But two? A potential CFO headache, at least when it comes to CEOs.

Dual CEOs are all the rage. Last September, Oracle appointed Clay Magouyrk and Mike Sicilia as co-CEOs. In the same month, Spotify announced Alex Norström and Gustav Söderström would take up dual chief exec posts. And Comcast added Michael Cavanagh to the business card with sitting CEO Brian Roberts. At Netflix, Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters have been co-CEOs since 2023. The list is growing as more companies see the benefits of having two executive leaders.

But for the CEOs’ right hand advisor—the CFO—is pleasing two bosses more a hindrance than a help? What is it actually like for a CFO to work under two CEOs?

Too many cooks? Greg Richart is the CFO of Gensler, a design and architecture firm based in San Francisco, that has two CEOs: Jordan Goldstein and Elizabeth Brink. His biggest concern about the dual CEO structure was that it could slow down decision-making at the top—double the number of perspectives to consider and double the people to convince of your idea.

Jay Peir, the CFO of Pigment, an FP&A platform that also has a dual-CEO setup, confirmed the structure “may require a little bit more communication and alignment” to make sure both CEOs’ opinions are taken into account. According to Richart, having two CEOs can actually lead to quicker decisions because they have someone to bounce ideas off.

Divide and conquer. The benefits of two CEOs outweigh the cons, Peir said. Complementary CEOs allow the company to play to each CEO’s strengths, and helps the CFO understand each one’s focus inside the company.

“It’s hard to have one CEO who’s really strong across all of [the] different dimensions,” Peir said.

At Pigment, CEO Eléonore Crespo is Peir’s direct manager; she oversees go-to-market, G&A, and operations. The other CEO, Romain Niccoli, oversees engineering, product, IT, security, professional services, and HR.

“My advice would be making sure there’s clarity on what types of decisions really need both CEOs to be aligned on, and which decisions can the CFO really work primarily with one of the two CEOs,” Peir said.

And sometimes it’s just logistically easier to reach one CEO if the other is stuck in a meeting.

At Gensler, Richart focuses on over-communication, and knowing when it’s “a divide and conquer situation” and when it’s “a one plus one equals three situation.”

Groupthink. “It’s beneficial to have two brains and opinions and perspectives on a number of different strategic topics or discussion points,” Peir said.

According to Richart, many CFOs are accustomed to the authority of a single CEO and would need to adjust to seeking a second perspective if a co-CEO were added to the org chart. He touts trust, emotional intelligence, and humility as his key strategic advantages to dealing with two CEOs. “Humility is what allows leaders to move fast without everyone thinking the same way,” Richart emailed us post-interview.

“I really believe that we get our best decisions through collaboration,” he said.