[iujjkfjdkkdkf]

I'm curious about the co-CEO thing. That seems like it is universally something that doesn't work and is just what happens when nobody wants to make a tough decision. Is there any context on why it might be the right move here?

[cbanek]

I can only think of The Office: "It doesn’t take a genius to know that any organization thrives when it has two leaders. Go ahead, name a country that doesn’t have two presidents. A boat that sets sail without two captains. Where would Catholicism be without the Popes?"

[pasttense01]

From the Wall Street Journal:

"The company said Friday that it is promoting its chief technology and operating officers, Dmitri Dolgov and Tekedra Mawakana, to lead a decade-old effort to make self-driving cars a reality. They will share the title of co-chief executive... Mr. Dolgov is one of the founders of Google’s self-driving car project. He joined the program when it began in 2009 and led the development of Waymo’s autonomous system, known as Waymo Driver. He studied physics and math at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology before earning a doctorate in computer science from the University of Michigan. As chief operating officer, Ms. Mawakana has led the effort to commercialize Waymo’s self-driving system. She has a law degree from Columbia University and previously worked at other tech companies such as eBay Inc. and Yahoo."

https://www.wsj.com/articles/waymo-ceo-john-krafcik-is-leavi...

My guess it that traditionally the chief operating officer would have been promoted and the chief technology officer would stay as the chief technology officer--but that there was a significant risk of the chief technology officer leaving if he wasn't promoted. So you end up with co-CEOs.

[summerlight]

My suspicion here is simple; they couldn't find a proper candidate who can demonstrates technological and operational leadership from both insiders and outsiders. You can simply promote either of them (usually COO suits better though), but that risks departure of another candidate, so this compromise has to be made. Anyway, this might be okay for Waymo for a short term; unlike other companies, even if those two CEO don't agree on a specific matter, there's an escalation path to Sundar (and ultimately Larry and Sergey).

[solutron]

This is a huge red flag. Especially when Waymo's had no significant milestones and when the CEO is using language like 'spend time with friends and family'. That usually means they're being pushed out, or that he's made the realization it's not going to work out and is jumping ship.