I love Ted Talks – they’re short, engaging, understandable and are a powerful way to inspire new thoughts and ideas. Today I listened to Sophie Williams – The rigged test of leadership. 

We all know about the glass ceiling, but Sophie talks about the glass cliff – what happens when under-represented people (namely women and racially marginalised) break through the glass ceiling, make it to the C-Suite and find themselves in a new and dangerous position – on the edge of a glass cliff!

She quotes some eye-opening statistics about barriers to success, the need to address our conscious and unconscious bias, and to provide the same level of support, guidance, mentorship and development that the rest of their colleagues (white male) are getting. 

In the 2020 Lean In women in the workplace report identifies that white men represent 30% at entry level, but this balloons to 66% when we get to the C-Suite, meaning that white men look up and see nothing but themselves. 

It’s therefore more important than ever that businesses support women, not to just break through the glass ceiling, but to help them succeed when they get there.  Because statistics consistently show that greater diversity in the C-Suite leads to more profitable businesses.