We have two highly talented co-directors of marketing who have shared the department head seat for years. As we prepare for a clean exit, buyers are flagging this co-leadership model as a major operational risk. How do we resolve this one seat two people issue on our Accountability Chart without losing either of them?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

In the EOS® framework, having more than one person in a seat means nobody is truly accountable. When two people share a seat, ball-dropping is inevitable, and decision-making slows to a crawl. For institutional buyers looking to acquire your business, a shared leadership seat represents a major operational risk and a lack of clear governance. To resolve this, you must split the seat based on the actual functions of the business, not the personalities of the individuals. Start by defining the primary metrics for your marketing department. Typically, marketing splits into two distinct focuses: brand and content strategy versus lead generation and performance metrics. Create two distinct seats under your Integrator if your structure supports it, or define one clear Head of Marketing seat and one specialized subordinate seat. Run a rigorous GWC™ check on both co-directors to see who fits which newly defined seat. One of them must take ultimate accountability for the department head seat, while the other steps into a highly valuable, single-owner specialist seat. If both insist on co-leading, you must have an honest conversation about exit readiness: buyers buy clear structures, not compromised emotional partnerships. One must step up, and the other must choose a dedicated, single-owner seat to ensure a clean transition.