The Glass Cliff

A must-read post by equity activist Tara Jaye Frank 👇🏿

What Brian Flores and Hue Jackson claim they were subjected to--essentially being set up (and even paid) to fail--is what Black people in corporate America call "glass cliff" assignments. 

A "glass cliff" assignment is one in which a Black leader gets promoted into a role that company leaders do not expect to succeed long-term and that requires borderline heroics. There are several types of glass cliff assignments:

1. Unimportant: The company may feel pressured to create or maintain a specific role, but the role is not important to the company, so it has no power, no resources, and an insufficient team. When the Black leader fails to make progress, they are scapegoated.

2. "Impossible": The challenges are great and the tools are few. The goals attached to the job have a 50/50 (or less) chance of being met. If the Black leader succeeds, they are rewarded with praise (but not always money or opportunity). If they fail, they are labeled as failures and their careers begin a steep decline, while white male leaders can fail multiple times and get opportunities to try again. 

3. Controversial: The Black employee is asked to lead a body of work that is inherently difficult and comes with built-in resistance. The work may be counter-culture and come with high reputation risk. If the Black employee doesn't have incredibly strong relationships, they will not be successful, since relationships are often the only force that overcomes culture barriers. 

There you have it. I'm tired. But you needed to know this. 

We know when it is happening to us, but we often want the benefits of the promotion, so we take it, hoping we will persevere. If you read this and it disturbs you, analyze your decisions through this lens and make sure you're not perpetuating this dangerous phenomenon. 

I'm turning over all the soil and digging up the weeds. We can do better than this.