Should a CEO run a wide span of direct reports or a small leadership team?

Ryan Petersen · Nov 13, 2023

Having many direct reports (15) is better than the conventional six because it generates more collaboration, provided decisions are made in small groups of four to six rather than in full-team meetings

Big meetings aren't where decisions happen; you pull the right handful of people for a topic, including people from technology and the front lines who understand the issue

Scope: for our business; large group only convened to broadcast information

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Daniel Dines · Dec 18, 2024

Having as many direct reports as you can handle is a great management model

Scope: he himself has around 12

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Alex Bouaziz · Oct 22, 2025

Having many direct reports with continuous informal feedback is a better management setup than few reports with weekly one-on-ones and formal performance reviews

His direct reports are strong and they talk and work together constantly, so feedback flows continuously rather than in scheduled blocks

Scope: depends on having very strong direct reports; he has just over 20 reports

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Alan Chang · Jan 5, 2026 · hedged

He leans towards Jensen Huang's model of many direct reports rather than heavy delegation, because great leaders are self-guiding missiles who only need target agreement and monitoring, not managing

Once you and a leader debate and agree the target, there is nothing left to manage — you just monitor that things are okay

Scope: doesn't know his own number of direct reports; 'probably lean towards'

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