“It is advisable talk as vividly and clearly as doable that you simply’re on some completely different trajectory. And the stronger the break from the previous, the clearer the signaling,” Haslam says. “For that purpose girls or members of different minority teams are sometimes preferentially appointed below these circumstances.”
Yaccarino’s background in promoting, Twitter’s main income, actually makes her a logical option to attempt to salvage the corporate’s crumbling enterprise. However consultants who spoke to WIRED say that one purpose girls step into dangerous glass cliff roles is that they often have few different possibilities to take management positions, regardless of being extremely certified.
“For lots of govt girls, generally their first alternative to step into a job that is actually that highly effective is to do a turnaround of a complete division or firm,” says Coco Brown, CEO of the Athena Alliance, a networking group for girls executives in enterprise.
That may make turning down a precarious glass cliff function troublesome, even when the dangers are evident. In line with Glass of the College of Utah, although girls usually tend to be appointed in instances of disaster they’re additionally extra prone to be blamed for the disaster itself and, later, changed by a white male CEO in what researchers have dubbed the savior impact.
“Very hardly ever are girls CEOs given a second probability,” Glass says. “It is a double whammy for girls CEOs: These disaster appointments could be the solely alternatives they’ve, and by advantage of entering into them they put their future management careers in jeopardy.”
However, Glass says, many instances girls are sometimes greatest suited to assist proper the ship. Mary Barra, CEO of Common Motors, famously introduced the corporate again from the brink of failure after the 2008 monetary crash. Anne Mulachy took over as CEO of Xerox because it was flailing, making it worthwhile, earlier than stepping down in 2009.
Yaccarino’s possibilities of success, says Sandra Quince CEO at Paradigm for Parity, a company addressing the gender hole in companies, will partly rely on how a lot time and freedom she’s given to show the ship round. The assist of the board and Musk’s willingness to actually let go of the reins could possibly be essential.
Musk has mentioned that with Yaccarino in as CEO he’ll turn into govt chair of Twitter’s board in addition to the corporate’s CTO. He’s additionally CEO of Tesla and of SpaceX, the place president and COO Gwynne Shotwell is liable for day-to-day operations.
“She’s going to wish the board to be supportive of her imaginative and prescient that she has for the group,” Quince says. “She’s going to wish somebody to run air cowl for her. In instances like this, the place you are making an attempt to determine it out, nobody is ideal, and errors will be made.”
It could be tempting to see Yaccarino’s appointment because the cynical final gasp of a failing firm. However Brown of the Athena Alliance says Yaccarino’s bravery must be applauded, whether or not or not Twitter seems to be salvageable.
“We shouldn’t be saying that has been set as much as fail publicly however that she has determined that that is her shot to strive one thing a bit heroic,” says Brown. “By most individuals’s accounts, she goes to fail. However wouldn’t it’s cool if she pulls it out?” If Yaccarino manages that, it could be essentially the most shocking twist of all within the spiraling story of Musk’s takeover.