Stronger Together: Why shared leadership works at pro-manchester

Leadership is still often framed as a solo act. One person at the helm, setting direction and carrying the pressure, visibility and the responsibility of a business as an individual.

But that model does not reflect how many modern organisations do their best work or how strong teams operate together. And it’s not always the structure that ambitious businesses replicate.

At pro-manchester, we see leadership differently.

Our leadership model, led by co-CEOs Sam Booth and Nicola McCormick, is built on the idea that shared leadership can be stronger leadership. It is not about splitting a role in two or duplicating responsibilities. It is about bringing together different strengths, different perspectives and a shared commitment to creating opportunity for our members, our team and Greater Manchester.

Sam and Nicola lead pro-manchester in distinct but complementary ways. Sam is more outwardly focused, working across the region, building partnerships, understanding where the opportunities are emerging and staying close to the conversations shaping Greater Manchester’s business landscape. Nicola leads with a strong commercial, driving performance, improving how we work and making sure the business is set up to respond with pace, clarity and purpose.

Together, it creates balanced leadership. It means pro-manchester benefits from both external insight and internal drive, and decisions are better informed, opportunities more quickly realised, and leadership is grounded in both strategy and delivery.

Just as importantly, it changes the culture of leadership itself. Too often, senior leadership is still seen as something that is carried alone. There is a long-standing assumption that the higher you go, the more isolated leadership becomes. But we think the opposite is true – Sam and Nicola’s partnership shows that leadership at the top can be collaborative, supportive and open. It can be built on trust and shared responsibility and can create space for challenge, problem-solving and better outcomes.

That matters to us because it helps shape a culture where people feel supported, where strengths are valued and where success is something built together. But it also matters because at pro-manchester, we exist to bring businesses together to connect, develop and shape the future of our city region. A collaborative leadership model is not separate from that mission, but a reflection of it.

As a member-powered growth network, we believe better outcomes come from bringing people together around shared ambition. Our programmes, committees, events and partnerships are all rooted in that same belief: that collaboration creates momentum,

and that momentum creates opportunity. In that sense, Sam and Nicola’s co-leadership is not just a way of running the organisation but an expression of what pro-manchester stands for.

There is also something important in what this model represents more broadly. As two female co-CEOs leading side by side, Sam and Nicola are helping to challenge old assumptions about what leadership should look like. They show every day that it can be complementary, ambitious, commercially sharp and people-centred at the same time.

That feels particularly relevant in Greater Manchester – a city region with a strong history of innovation, togetherness and doing things differently. pro-manchester has been creating opportunity here since 1986, and our role has always been to move with the pace and ambition of our members. A co-leadership model fits that mindset. It is practical, modern and built for the kind of connected, inclusive growth we strive for across the city region.