Some CEOs Run Multiple Companies. Should They?

This originally appeared on June 13, 2024 in Forbes.

In a new paper published in the Academy of Management Discoveries, researchers from TU Dortmund University in Germany and HEC Lausanne in Switzerland examined how some people come to hold multiple CEO positions — which is extremely unusual — and more importantly, how they legitimize these highly unorthodox arrangements to investors and stakeholders.

The paper looked at the circumstances surrounding four famous multi-CEOs. Steve Jobs (Apple and Pixar); Elon Musk (SpaceX, Tesla, Twitter); Jack Dorsey (Twitter and Square); and Carlos Ghosn (Renault and Nissan).

We need to look at this phenomenon through two lenses. First — can they do it? And secondly — should they do it?

Read the rest on Forbes.