Glass Cliff Essay

Fortune 500 magazine annually publishes a list of the 500 publicly traded U.S companies that have the biggest gross revenues. This magazine serves as a good representative sample of the largest and most influential firms in the U.S. economy. 95.2% of all of the CEO in power of the Fortune 500 companies are men and women, despite representing 51% of the country’s population, make up only 4.8% of the those running the largest revenue generating companies in the U.S. This proportion of the Fortune 500 companies led by women is growing however. In 2011, only 12 women were CEOs of these companies. When looking at the Fortune 1000, only 27 women CEOs are added to that amount. With that said, only 5.1% of the country’s most influential firms are

This phenomenon is called the Glass Cliff, an almost invisible barrier just as the discrimination of female applicants and those of color experience is predominantly hidden in plain sight. It was found that the people in charge of hiring a new leader often display a bias against non traditional leaders with a preference for traditional leaders. They are more likely to give more appealing and less risky opportunities to applicants that are the same gender and race as them. This was also found when a hiring committee is all white and male in that they were less likely to give a woman or person of color a job, whether it be because they want the best opportunities to be given to people like them or they feel that women or people of color don't have the skill required for the job. Women and people of color are less likely to receive the reigns of a successful company when the decision makers, often white men, believe that they are inferior leaders. This leads to women and those of color to be lead to high risk or failing companies. When they are unable to resurrect those firms, the biased decision makers use that as a reason to say that men are better