16.2 Remember that in an idea meritocracy a single CEO is not as good as a great group of leaders.
Dependence on one person produces too much key-man risk, limits the range of expertise (because nobody is good at everything), and fails to establish adequate checks and balances. It also creates a burden because there’s generally too much to do. That’s way we have a co-CEO model at Bridgewater that is essentially a partnership of two or three people who lead the firm.
At Bridgewater the CEOs are overseen by a board largely via the executive chairman or chairmen. In our idea meritocracy, the CEOs are also held accountable by the employees of the company, even though these employees are subordinate to the CEOs. The challenge of having two or three people is for them to dance well together. If they can’t do that, and coordinate well with the chairmen, they have to notify the executive chairman or chairmen so changes can be made.
For the same reason we have more than one CEO overseeing management of the company, we have more than one chief investment officer (there are currently three).
* Source: Principles by Ray Dalio