What is the Glass Cliff? New Twitter CEO Stands on the Edge
Linda Yaccarino, former head of advertising at NBCUniversal, breaks the glass ceiling as she replaces Elon Musk to become the first woman CEO of Twitter.
Sixteen days ago, Yaccarino stepped into the position following Musk’s resignation, which he announced back in December.
“I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software & servers teams,” tweeted Musk after conducting a Twitter poll to determine his future at the company. With a vote of 57.5% of people in favor of his resignation, he found his “foolish” successor five months later.
I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software & servers teams.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 21, 2022
Yet, amidst Twitter’s recent decline, many question if Yaccarino has fallen victim to the glass cliff phenomenon, an unfortunate gender dynamics pattern in which a woman is only selected for a position of power when a company is on the brink of crisis.
Twitter in Decline
Since Musk’s takeover in October 2022, Twitter’s ad revenue has suffered, a result of Musk’s more lax content moderation practices that worry advertisers. He since lost 40% of his revenue in the first two months of his acquisition, and has been forced to cut 80% of his workforce to 1,500 employees.
Yaccarino seemed like the perfect solution. The Penn State University grad was described as a “homerun hire” by a Wall Street analyst given her lead advertising experience. She started at NBCU in 2011 where she oversaw all global ad sales, marketing, and partnerships. According to her LinkedIn profile, she generated $100 billion in ad sales, managed a 2,000-member team, and assisted in the launch of the Peacock streaming platform.
The Glass Cliff Phenomenon
Despite her qualifications, her untimely hiring places her at the edge of the glass cliff.
The term “glass cliff” was first coined by University of Exeter academics S. Alexander Haslam and Michelle K. Ryan following their research on top companies on the London Stock Exchange. They found that badly performing companies were more likely to hire women leaders than well-performing companies.
Women that fall victim to this dynamic often find it harder to succeed, as they are hired at the brink of a company’s destruction. Additionally, women feel more inclined to take these offers, as they feel that it’s unlikely that a better opportunity will present itself. As a result, if/when the companies fail, the woman is left to look responsible, which may not be wholly true.
Past examples of women CEOs who fell off the glass cliff include Marissa Mayer of Yahoo. Mayer took control of the sinking ship in 2012, and numerous layoffs and acquisitions later, was forced to sell the company to Verizon in 2016 for $4.8 billion. Similarly, Carly Fiorina of Hewlett-Packard was fired after six years of failing to innovatively transform the company as the board had hoped.
On the other hand, Mary Barra of General Motors successfully avoided the glass cliff and drove her company away from failure. Upon her takeover in 2014, General Motors was tied up in multiple scandals involving faulty ignition switches in several of their models. Barra worked to recall over 30 million cars, and established new policies to turn the company around. Barra is proof that saving a company and surviving the glass cliff is complicated, yet possible.
Glass cliffs are a prevalent display of gender inequality in society, and require more structural changes at upper levels—such as Yaccarino’s recent appointment—to put the pattern to rest. As far as Yaccarino’s success, time will tell, yet she’s off to an optimistic start according to her response to Musk’s announcement of her Twitter takeover.
“I’ve long been inspired by your vision to create a brighter future. I’m excited to help bring this vision to Twitter and transform this business together,” Yaccarino said.
Thank you @elonmusk!
I’ve long been inspired by your vision to create a brighter future. I’m excited to help bring this vision to Twitter and transform this business together! https://t.co/BcvySu7K76— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayacc) May 13, 2023
