Cracking the Glass Ceiling & Scaling the Glass Cliff

You may have met, seen, read about, or watched her on the news.

Who is she?

She is the university’s new president, the leader of an Ivy League university, or even the top candidate for the U.S. presidency. She’s the first or one of the few women to hold the post. She’s coming in as the organization says it is committed to making the changes necessary for mid-21st-century success. She has worked hard to get here, having broken through the glass ceiling. Now, she’s atop what turns out to be a troubled institution. She is falling, not from grace, but from a glass cliff where there’s no parachute.

What has she ascended and where does it land her?

She has fully ascended the career ladder and broken through the glass ceiling. Now, she has inadvertently landed on a “glass cliff”. This means she has been appointed to a senior role during a period of crisis or of poor organizational performance, thereby increasing her chance of failure. Having spent extraordinary time and energy to the top, she is now reluctant to refuse the position or its tasks “lest she be accused of ‘looking a gift horse in the mouth.’” As she takes the helm, she is handed a poisoned chalice  — charged with solving, often without the necessary support, problems that took her predecessors years to create. If she cannot solve them quickly enough, “her” failures are disconnected from the impossible task she was handed at the outset. She is personally blamed.

And, blame is not the only thing she experiences. She is 45% more likely than her male counterpart to be ousted from her CEO role. If all of that doesn’t make the glass cliff problematic enough, after she is “pushed out as a CEO, she’s replaced by a man, a mark of a return to the status quo.” This final move in the scenario has been dubbed the “savior effect.”

Five ways to avoid or (if already there) get traction on the cliff

1. Assess the university’s finances and the culture

Throughout the search process, gather meticulous data on the university’s financial state. Once you are a finalist, ask for reports such as the audited financials and any letters to management; the statements of activities, financial position, and cash flow; and summaries of current and anticipated legal or major personnel issues. Also do your best to get a handle on the current culture and ethos of the place.

2. Discern board commitment and competency for innovative, underrepresented leaders

A well-intentioned but inexperienced board can create a glass cliff without even knowing it. Current and former CEOs of nonprofit organizations, like Mojdeh Cox, express this point clearly: “Building infrastructure for marginalized leaders is a [board] responsibility. If we don’t want to continue harming organizations at a high level and severing ties in the community, we’ve got to provide support and really mean it…[my former organization] didn’t build the infrastructure for my leadership and we had a board that didn’t know what their job was.”

With this warning in mind, incoming and sitting female executives should research each board member to see what set of skills and experiences they bring to the table. How many of them have led people, projects, or initiatives that are similar to those you will lead? Ideally, Glass Cliff awareness programs are provided by industry experts before an executive search is even launched. If it doesn’t happen before the search process, aim to set up such a training once a new female or occupational leader takes the helm.

3. Propose goals and metrics in a “first-term success plan”

Before you agree to any specific goals and measurements use the information you have gathered from the research process described above to draft “a first-term success plan.” This plan should map out a few areas that data suggest need to be addressed over the next few years. It should also include the types of support you and your team will need to achieve time-specific, measurable goals in each of these areas. Set realistic, not idealistic deadlines since studies show that “when women are placed in precarious positions, they are given less time to turn things around than their male counterparts.”

4. Negotiate like a man

 “Women are four times less likely to negotiate their salary than men.” Buck that trend and develop a negotiation mindset. Gather salary data from the 990s of peer institutions and present it during negotiations in cooperative but unapologetic ways. If you are going into a highly challenging environment, consider negotiating, on the front end, what a severance or buy-out package would look like. It’s easier to discuss such things when all is well than when things start to fail.

5. Set the net (the safety net)

Tap trusted colleagues to serve as an inner circle of advisers that you can use as a sounding board, a reality check, and a confidant. Relatedly, consider asking the board to include six to eight months of executive coaching. Prior to assuming the role, ask the board to approve any missing/vacant positions that are necessary for your success. It is better to get approval for key resources in anticipation of pressing needs rather than in reaction to an emerging problem.

Challenging but scalable

Hopefully, this article helps you avoid the glass cliff in the first instance. But, if you land there, summon the skills that have gotten you this far. Those skills plus the insights and assistance from others who have been there should help you gain traction and avert a fall.