Glass Cliff
The phenomenon where women and members of other underrepresented groups are more likely to be appointed to leadership positions during times of crisis or downturn, when the risk of failure is highest.
- What Is the Glass Cliff?
- Key Research on the Glass Cliff
- Why the Glass Cliff Happens
- Notable Glass Cliff Cases
- Consequences of the Glass Cliff
- How HR Teams Can Prevent Glass Cliff Appointments
- Glass Cliff vs Glass Ceiling vs Broken Rung
- Glass Cliff Statistics [2026]
- Frequently Asked Questions About the Glass Cliff
What Is the Glass Cliff?
Key Takeaways
- ✓The glass cliff describes the pattern where women and minorities are disproportionately appointed to leadership roles during organisational crises, restructurings, or periods of declining performance.
- ✓It was identified in 2005 by researchers Ryan and Haslam, who analysed FTSE 100 board appointments and found women were more likely to be appointed when company performance was already declining.
- ✓The effect creates a double bind: underrepresented leaders get fewer chances at success while facing higher scrutiny, and their failure reinforces false beliefs about their capability.
- ✓The glass cliff doesn't just affect women. Research shows it extends to ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ leaders, and other underrepresented groups.
- ✓Unlike the glass ceiling (which blocks entry), the glass cliff actively pushes people into set-up-to-fail situations.
The glass cliff happens when organisations appoint women or minority leaders not during good times, but specifically during bad times. A company's stock is plummeting? Appoint a woman CEO. A school district is failing? Hire a Black superintendent. A political campaign is losing? Bring in a female candidate. The pattern is consistent across industries, countries, and decades of research. Ryan and Haslam's original 2005 study examined 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange and found that companies appointing women to their boards were significantly more likely to have experienced poor performance in the preceding months. Subsequent studies replicated the finding in politics, education, law, and non-profit leadership. What makes the glass cliff especially damaging is the cycle it creates. A woman gets appointed to lead during a crisis. The problems may be too deep to fix quickly. She's removed or steps down. The narrative becomes "she couldn't handle it" rather than "she was handed an impossible situation." The next time a stable, successful leadership opening appears, the decision-makers remember the "failure" and choose a safer candidate, usually a man from the majority group.
Key Research on the Glass Cliff
Multiple studies across different sectors and countries have confirmed the glass cliff pattern. Here's a summary of the most significant findings.
| Study / Source | Year | Key Finding | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan & Haslam (University of Exeter) | 2005 | FTSE 100 companies were more likely to appoint women to boards during periods of poor stock performance | Corporate (UK) |
| Cook & Glass (Utah State University) | 2014 | Minority CEOs at Fortune 500 companies were more likely to be appointed to struggling firms and had shorter tenures | Corporate (US) |
| Ryan, Haslam et al. | 2016 | Meta-analysis of 70+ studies confirmed the glass cliff across corporate, political, and experimental settings | Cross-sector |
| Strategy& / PwC CEO Success Study | 2023 | 41% of women CEO appointments occurred during periods of declining performance, vs 22% for men | Global corporate |
| Catalyst | 2023 | Women of colour face compounded glass cliff effects at 3x the rate of white men | Corporate (US) |
| Arvate, Galilea & Todescat | 2018 | Female mayors in Brazil were more likely to be elected in municipalities facing fiscal distress | Politics (Brazil) |
Why the Glass Cliff Happens
The glass cliff isn't usually the result of conscious sabotage. It emerges from a mix of cognitive biases, organisational politics, and structural inequality.
Think crisis, think female
Research by Ryan, Haslam, and others found a consistent bias: when people imagine a crisis leadership scenario, they're more likely to choose a woman. This mirrors the well-documented "think manager, think male" bias, but flips it during downturns. The reasoning (often unconscious) goes something like this: the aggressive, risk-taking style associated with male leaders got us into this mess, so maybe a more collaborative, empathetic approach will get us out. It reduces women to stereotyped qualities and only values them when the situation is already dire.
Saviour narratives and optical diversity
Appointing a woman or minority leader during a crisis serves a dual purpose for boards under pressure. It signals change to shareholders, media, and regulators, while simultaneously providing a convenient scapegoat if things don't improve. The organisation gets credit for diversity without doing the structural work to support the new leader. A 2019 Harvard Business Review analysis called this "the diversity premium at a discount": boards get the optics of inclusion while maintaining the conditions that make failure likely.
Limited alternatives and pipeline dynamics
When crisis hits and the current leader departs, the urgency to fill the role fast combines with a thin pipeline of senior women and minority candidates. The candidates who are available may feel pressure to accept a risky role because they know opportunities at this level don't come often. Turning down a CEO role, even a glass cliff one, might mean waiting another decade for another shot. The scarcity of opportunity creates willingness to accept unfavourable terms.
Notable Glass Cliff Cases
These examples illustrate how the glass cliff plays out in practice. Some leaders succeeded despite the odds. Others were set up in situations where anyone would have struggled.
Corporate examples
Marissa Mayer was hired as Yahoo CEO in 2012 with the company in decline, competing against Google with a fraction of the resources. She was held to impossible turnaround expectations and exited when Verizon acquired the company. Meg Whitman took over HP in 2011 during a chaotic period of board dysfunction and declining market share. Jill Soltau became CEO of JCPenney in 2018 with the retailer already deep in financial distress; the company filed for bankruptcy less than two years later. In each case, the leader inherited problems that predated their appointment by years.
Political examples
Theresa May became UK Prime Minister in July 2016 immediately after the Brexit referendum, inheriting the most divisive political situation in a generation. Mary Barra took the GM CEO role just before the company's ignition switch scandal broke. These aren't isolated cases. A pattern analysis of UK political leadership shows women and minorities are disproportionately elected in unwinnable seats or appointed to cabinet roles during periods of party crisis.
Consequences of the Glass Cliff
The glass cliff doesn't just harm individual leaders. It damages organisations, reinforces stereotypes, and slows progress toward genuine equity.
- Shorter tenures and forced exits: Leaders placed in glass cliff positions leave their roles faster, often before they've had time to implement changes. This creates a revolving door that boards then use to justify returning to "safe" choices.
- Confirmation bias about leadership capability: When a woman or minority leader fails in a crisis role, observers often attribute the failure to the person rather than the situation. This reinforces the false belief that underrepresented groups can't lead effectively.
- Reduced willingness to take senior roles: High-profile glass cliff failures discourage other women and minorities from pursuing leadership positions. The risk-reward calculation looks unappealing.
- Pipeline damage: If leaders from underrepresented groups are consistently given impossible jobs, they burn out or exit the leadership pipeline altogether. The already thin pipeline gets thinner.
- Organisational instability: Frequent leadership changes during crises create further instability, eroding employee trust and shareholder confidence.
How HR Teams Can Prevent Glass Cliff Appointments
Preventing the glass cliff requires intentional changes to succession planning, board governance, and how organisations support new leaders.
Audit appointment patterns
Track the conditions under which women and minorities are promoted or hired into senior roles. Are they disproportionately given troubled divisions, failing projects, or interim roles? Compare the starting conditions for all senior appointments over the past 5-10 years, broken down by demographic group. If the data shows a pattern, you've found the cliff.
Provide equal support and resources
Leaders placed in turnaround situations need more support, not less: executive coaching, adequate budget, a supportive board, and a realistic timeline. If you wouldn't give a male leader 18 months to turn around a division, don't give a woman 6 months and call it a fair shot. Ensure the departing leader's failures are publicly acknowledged so the new leader isn't carrying blame for inherited problems.
Build pipelines during stable times
Don't wait for a crisis to suddenly care about diverse leadership. Build succession plans that place women and minorities in high-visibility, high-success-probability roles during stable periods. When they've built a track record of success, they'll be credible candidates for any role, crisis or not. The glass cliff disappears when diverse leaders have the same access to winnable situations as everyone else.
Glass Cliff vs Glass Ceiling vs Broken Rung
These three concepts describe different barriers at different career stages. Understanding how they interact helps HR teams target interventions more precisely.
| Concept | What It Describes | Where It Occurs | Who It Affects Most | Key Research |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glass Ceiling | Invisible barrier preventing advancement to top roles | Senior and executive levels | Women and minorities broadly | Federal Glass Ceiling Commission (1995) |
| Broken Rung | Failure to promote women into first-level management | First promotion from individual contributor to manager | Women, especially women of colour | McKinsey/LeanIn Women in the Workplace (2019) |
| Glass Cliff | Appointment to leadership during crisis or high-risk periods | C-suite and senior leadership | Women and minorities who reach the top | Ryan & Haslam (2005) |
Glass Cliff Statistics [2026]
Data showing the scope and impact of glass cliff dynamics in corporate and political leadership.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the glass cliff intentional?
Does the glass cliff only affect women?
Can someone succeed in a glass cliff role?
How can I tell if I'm being offered a glass cliff role?
What should organisations do after recognising a glass cliff pattern?
Written by Adithyan RK