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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →The glass cliff describes a pattern in which women and other underrepresented people are appointed to leadership when an organization is in crisis or facing instability. For Black women, the concern is not only whether they reach senior roles, but whether those roles come with real authority, resources, fair compensation, and institutional support. Evidence suggests the pattern can occur, but it does not establish how often Black women experience it across all industries.
What is the glass cliff?
The glass cliff is the risk of being given a leadership role when the organization is already facing serious problems: declining performance, instability, or reputational damage. The term focuses on the conditions surrounding an appointment, not simply on who gets promoted.
It is different from the glass ceiling, which describes barriers that make it harder to reach senior leadership in the first place. The two can overlap: someone may encounter barriers on the way up and then be appointed to a high-risk role with inadequate backing.
| Concept | What it describes | Typical concern |
|---|---|---|
| Glass ceiling | Barriers to advancement and access to leadership | Who gets opportunities to move up |
| Glass cliff | The conditions around an appointment, especially during crisis or instability | Whether the leader has a realistic chance to succeed and sufficient support |
The distinction matters: evidence that a group faces barriers to promotion does not, by itself, show that its members are more likely to receive crisis appointments.
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What the evidence says—and does not say
Research on crisis appointments finds a context-dependent pattern
A meta-analysis by Morgenroth, Kirby, Ryan, and Sudkämper found some evidence consistent with a glass cliff for women, but the archival effect was small and varied by organizational domain. The review also found that women were more likely than men to be selected in crisis conditions in the studies analyzed, with a stronger selection effect in countries with higher gender inequality. The authors discuss extensions of the pattern to underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, while identifying unresolved questions. These findings do not show that every woman, or every Black woman, is appointed only when an organization is in trouble, nor that the pattern is identical across industries and countries. Read the meta-analysis.
Experiments suggest stereotypes can affect candidate choice
In experiments by Bruckmüller and Branscombe, participants favored a male candidate to lead a successful company but a female candidate to lead a company in crisis when the organization had a history of male leadership. That difference disappeared when the company had a counter-stereotypical history of female leadership. This offers evidence that assumptions about gender, leadership, and crisis can shape selection in experimental settings; it is not a measure of actual appointment rates across workplaces. Read the experimental study.
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A direct study of Black women leaders offers detail, not a population estimate
A 2025 narrative inquiry by Johnson, Toms, Gaines, and colleagues interviewed five Black women with high-level academic leadership experience. Participants described limited mentorship and sponsorship, inequitable compensation, unstable and under-supported environments, exclusion from consequential decisions, and heightened scrutiny. The authors identify eight interrelated themes, including identity and professional trajectories and glass-cliff-like organizational conditions.
The study provides a close look at how participants experienced leadership after appointment, but its small sample and focus on public institutions mean it cannot establish how prevalent these experiences are among Black women leaders generally. Private academic institutions were not included. The authors summarize their contribution this way: “This study contributes to higher education leadership literature by demonstrating how misogynoir and racialized organizational risk shape Black women’s leadership experiences post-appointment.” Read the 2025 study.
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How advancement barriers can shape the path to leadership
Glass-cliff appointments concern the circumstances of leadership selection. Separate evidence on advancement helps explain why reaching leadership can be difficult, but it should not be mistaken for proof of crisis appointments.
In its 2020 corporate-workplace report, Lean In reported that for every 100 men promoted to manager, 58 Black women were promoted, even though Black women asked for promotion at the same rate. The figure describes the report’s corporate context and its first-promotion-to-manager finding; it is not a measure of glass-cliff appointments. Read Lean In’s 2020 report on Black women.
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The same report says Black women were less likely than white women to receive managers’ advocacy, opportunities to lead people and projects, and help navigating organizational politics. It also describes fewer interactions with senior leaders, limited sponsorship, microaggressions, and pressure to repeatedly demonstrate competence. Less than a quarter of Black women surveyed reported having the sponsorship they needed to advance.
For context beyond Black women alone, the report cited a U.S. law-firm survey in which 62% of women of color who had some mentorship said the lack of an influential mentor was an advancement barrier, compared with 30% of white men. That comparison is not a Black-women-only estimate.
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Why conditions after appointment matter
A leadership title does not guarantee the power or backing needed to address a crisis. In the 2025 higher-education study, participants’ accounts connected leadership experience to whether they had access to decision-making, resources, support systems, appropriate compensation, and professional opportunities. When responsibility is assigned without comparable authority or support, a leader may be held accountable for outcomes they have limited ability to change.
This is why the glass-cliff question is not simply, “Was a Black woman promoted?” It is also, “What was happening in the organization, what authority came with the role, and what support was available to meet its demands?”
What organizations can do
The higher-education study points to practical areas for organizations to examine. These are implications drawn from participants’ experiences and the authors’ discussion, not a tested intervention package or a guarantee of success.
- Make recruitment and selection transparent. Clarify role expectations, decision criteria, and the organization’s condition before and during a leadership transition.
- Match accountability with authority. Give leaders meaningful access to consequential decisions and the ability to influence the conditions for which they are responsible.
- Provide resources and embedded support. Ensure the role has adequate staffing, budget, and institutional backing, rather than relying on the leader to overcome structural constraints alone.
- Address compensation equitably. Review pay and benefits in relation to responsibilities and comparable roles.
- Invest in sponsorship and professional development. Create access to influential advocates, senior leaders, and opportunities to build experience, rather than treating advancement as an individual networking problem.
What remains unknown
The available studies do not establish the prevalence of glass-cliff appointments specifically for Black women across all industries, a single universal cause, or which organizational interventions are most effective. The direct recent evidence described here is qualitative and limited to five Black women in high-level academic roles at public institutions. Larger studies across sectors, alongside research on appointment conditions and outcomes, are needed to determine how often the pattern occurs and what changes reliably improve support.
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