- CNN's next CEO is all but set up to fail.
- We shouldn't be surprised if a woman gets the job.
- Women are more likely to be promoted to top jobs when times are tough.
CNN's next CEO is all but set up to fail. Which is why we shouldn't be surprised if a woman ultimately gets the top job.
Research shows that women and people of color are more likely to be promoted to top jobs when companies are going through tough times, or when a company is most likely to fail. This phenomenon is known as the "glass cliff."
CNN is certainly going through tough times.
Its CEO Chris Licht stepped down on Wednesday after a little more than a year on the job. His tenure was a rough run, defined by layoffs, a shrinking audience, and an increasingly angry newsroom.
Even before Licht got the top job, the network was in trouble.
As Dylan Beyers wrote in Puck recently:
"Licht inherited an empire that had been burdened by years of reputational warfare with Trump; the surprise ouster of Zucker, a beloved newsroom leader; and the arrival of a new corporate owner in WBD that made no secret about its desire to cut costs and alter the network's editorial mission."
Two of the three editorial leads put in charge of the network on Wednesday in the interim are women.
"Women are seen as better leaders in times of crisis," Jennifer Reynolds, the CEO of Women Corporate Directors, a global network of 2,500 female corporate directors, recently told Insider. "We're seen as good collaborators, good listeners, and we're thought to have the ability to get different stakeholders together to tackle tough issues."
But if women are only given a shot to lead when times are tough, their jobs will be harder and their failure rate will be higher than that of their male colleagues.
"If women are appointed in times of crisis, it's not that women are unable to lead, but leading in a time of crisis is more difficult and more precarious than leading when everything is great," according to Michelle Ryan, the researcher who helped coin the phrase the "glass cliff."
After Elon Musk appointed Linda Yaccarino, a former NBCUniversal exec, to CEO of Twitter, many suggested that she could fall victim to the so-called glass cliff. Insider's Rebecca Knight wrote:
"While there's little doubt that Yaccarino… is eminently qualified for the role, her track record and expertise might not matter. Even when women reach the upper echelons of corporate America, the proverbial deck is often stacked against them — especially when the company is already in trouble."
