Sharing Executive Power

José Luis Alvarez is Professor of General Management at Instituto de Empresa Business School in Madrid, where he directs its Center for Corporate Governance. Silviya Svejenova is an Assistant Professor of Strategy at ESADE Business School in Barcelona and a Visiting Lecturer in Organisation Theory in the PhD and DBA programs at the Cranfield School of Management.

• Figures; Tables; Introduction; Part I. Contingencies and Roles in Structuring Corporate Power: 1. Contingencies of corporate power structures; 2. Managing the 'infinite job' solo: executive dilemmas, roles and actions; 3. Roles and relationships as parameters of corporate power structures; Part II. Small Numbers at the Top: 4. Professional duos; 5. Trios and bigger executive constellations; 6. United careers of small numbers at the top; Conclusion; Bibliography; Appendix.

'Even though popular images of power center on a solitary heroic figure at the top, the reality of power at the top is increasingly different. Power is often shared among a small group of co-leaders (think CEO-COO, co-CEOs, CEO-Chairman, etc). Alvarez and Svejenova are pioneers in tackling this understudied leadership phenomenon. This book helps us understand shared leadership at the top both theoretically and practically. It is a must read for scholars interested in leadership and for practitioners who understand the necessity and difficulty of creating effective shared leadership.' Nitin Nohria, Harvard Business School