Reimagining the CEO Role: How Christa Hill is Co-Parenting Leadership and Redefining Success
Kate McKenzie
Learning & Development Specialist | Business Coach l Program Designer l Communications Strategist l Community Builder l Professional Speaker
Christa Hill had built her company, Tacit Edge, the way most founders do: with hustle, endless hours, and a sense of being everywhere, all at once. It was an all-hands-on-deck operation where agility and speed were keys to survival. But as the business grew and the demands on her time multiplied, a comment during a six-week trip to Europe changed everything.
Hill had taken a significant step back from the business to travel with her mother for a once in a lifetime type of experience. Upon her return, her business partner Renee Matsalla shared something that stung: "It was easier while you were gone."
For Hill, this was a moment of profound reflection. "I was pissed," she admitted. "I had never been so upset, as that was not what I was expecting to hear!" But she quickly realized that Renee wasn’t criticizing her leadership; the business had operated more efficiently because the work had been streamlined—priorities had become clearer in her absence.
It was a turning point. Christa Hill began to ask herself questions that cut to the core of traditional leadership:
Together with Renee, Christa began to experiment with a radical, co-parenting approach to the CEO role. It wasn’t just a strategy to balance workloads; it became a vision for how leadership could better serve women—and businesses—in a world where burnout was becoming the norm.
Trading Time for Impact
"Our time is under attack," Hill shares. For women balancing leadership, families, and increasingly common roles in elder care, the traditional model of a CEO—omnipresent, overcommitted, and on call—is untenable.
Hill and Renee decided to challenge the assumption that leadership meant constantly showing up. They embraced a model where they traded responsibilities, communicated asynchronously, and leaned heavily on tools like Calendly and Slack to keep processes streamlined.
“There is a period of time in a business where having everyone in the room on every call is the fastest way. However, there is a magical moment when you don’t need everyone. The challenge is letting go and not joining a meeting just because you are interested in talking to that person but realizing that it may not be a good use of time.”?
"I let Renee do all the talking first," Hill explains. Hill shared that prior to the co-parenting model she often found herself using meetings as an opportunity to provide a download of everything that had happened during the week. Now she says, "I shut up and listen…I bring new ideas if they fit the context but I don’t bring a download. We’ve moved towards more of a standup, scrum style of meeting." By alternating leadership roles on different days and projects, they created a system that not only lightened the load but also amplified their strengths.
One of their boldest moves was setting boundaries. Renee reduced her active work to just four days per week—and much of that time was gated and highly focused. "If you’re only working two days a week," Christa says bluntly, "it better not be free." Tentative calls? Canceled. Repetitive meetings? Cut. The result was a tighter, more intentional approach to leadership.
For their clients and partners, the new model was both transparent and efficient. "Everyone knows only one of us will respond," Christa explains. This clarity not only improved communication but also removed the “noise” that often comes with leadership—the endless pings, emails, and decisions that drag leaders away from high-impact work. They stay updated on each client by ensuring that detailed summaries and action items are outlined in the email thread with the client. The leaders also committed to sharing a summary of where everything is at with clients on their slack channel every Friday. “Everyone can chime in. We have adopted ‘uncomfortable transparency’ and we share the challenges so that someone on the team can say, ‘I can help you with that.” Hill shares, “Even if there is a decision that I don’t agree with, I accept it. We have adopted an approach that everyone is equally capable of building the business.”?
Building a Lifestyle, Not an Empire
Hill believes this approach is more than a survival strategy; it’s a reimagining of success.
“We’re not building an empire,” she says. “We’re building a lifestyle. Money doesn’t buy the empire; joy does. When you stop striving and focus on sustainable growth, you actually get there faster.”
By stepping back and sharing leadership, Christa discovered a path to more meaningful, joyful work. She describes how the change shifted her focus to Tacit Edge’s most impactful projects while leaving space for new ideas to emerge. "Ideas flow better when there’s room," she says. "It’s like co-parenting: both leaders can step in, offer different perspectives, and move things forward." This type of model also allows each leader to take breaks, a key to high performance. Christa shared “prioritizing rest for the people that are in the game doesn’t show weakness but rather, discipline.”
It’s also a model that reduces the interpersonal conflict that so often contributes to burnout in senior leadership roles. “Burnout isn’t the work,” Hill explains. “It’s prolonged exposure to interpersonal conflict. When you share leadership, there’s more space for trust and shared accountability. No one gets a hall pass on hard conversations, but no one carries it alone either.”
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A Feminine Approach to Leadership?
Hill doesn’t believe her co-parenting model is exclusively feminine, but she acknowledges that women are often better positioned to innovate. "Women are tuned to think outside the box because we’ve had to. There’s a survival instinct there. We solve problems at greater speed because we’re constantly navigating complex dynamics—at work, at home, and everywhere in between."
The co-parenting model reflects a deeper truth about leadership: success is not a zero-sum game. Women, Hill argues, are more likely to share that success with others, whether it’s through collaboration, mentoring, or creating space for their teams to step up.
This approach, she points out, is particularly valuable in a world where time is a finite, contested resource. "There is no deferential parent in leadership," she says. "There’s only the parent in the room. And that’s a role we can share.”
The Results: Joy, Growth, and New Ideas
Today, Tacit Edge is thriving under its co-leadership model. By trading responsibilities and creating space for each other, Christa and Renee have built a business that works for them while delivering exceptional results for their clients.
The practical benefits are clear:
The intangible benefits, though, are just as important. "We’re happier," Christa says. "We’re more creative. And we’re proving that leadership doesn’t have to mean constant sacrifice."
For women entrepreneurs and business leaders looking to do things differently, Christa Hill’s story offers a compelling case study. What happens when you trade time for impact? When you redefine success as a lifestyle, not an empire? When leadership becomes a shared, co-parenting role?
For Christa Hill, the answer is simple: you get the joy back.
Key Takeaways for Leaders
Article Written by Kate McKenzie, Leadership and Business Coach at Ayla Consulting
Providing strategic consulting and executive coaching to help organizations and leaders achieve their growth goals. Ready to take your leadership to the next level? Book a coaching session today. Learn more at https://www.kathrynmckenzie.org/coaching
Marketing & Brand Leader | Creative Strategist | Turning Vision into Action
1 个月Awesome case study and super interesting approach. ?
PCC, PdM-C, Product Management Author, Executive & Product Coach, Educator, and Leader.
2 个月Thank you so much for writing this story Kate McKenzie!