Linda Yaccarino stepped down as CEO of X (Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Vox Media)

Getty Images for Vox Media

Linda Yaccarino stepped down as CEO of X today, two years after she took on the role. “After two incredible years, I’ve decided to step down as CEO of X. When @elonmusk and I first spoke of his vision for X, I knew it would be the opportunity of a lifetime to carry out the extraordinary mission of this company,” she wrote on the platform. She didn’t say why she was stepping down.

When Yaccarino was first named CEO, many labeled her a “glass cliff” hire. The “glass cliff” refers to a phenomenon where women are more likely to be appointed CEO in companies experiencing financial struggles. X was certainly struggling when Yaccarino was appointed. Musk had purchased the company six months before her arrival, and both users and advertisers were exiting the platform. Although Yaccarino was tapped to lead a company with problems, that doesn’t necessarily mean she was put on a glass cliff.

Is There Really A Glass Cliff For Female CEOs?

The term “glass cliff” was originally coined by researchers who found that struggling U.K. companies were more likely to appoint female board members. In order to delve further into this phenomenon, they completed a study in which they told 122 participants about a fictional supermarket chain. Half were told the chain was thriving, and half were told the chain was struggling. Then the participants were tasked with choosing a CEO for the chain and were given background information on two similar candidates, one man and one woman. If they thought the chain was doing poorly, the majority (63%) chose the female candidate. If they thought the chain was thriving, they were more likely (67%) to choose the man.

Why would female CEO candidates be more desirable for struggling companies? In times of trouble, good communication skills and empathy are seen as key traits. Generally, women are thought to excel at these skills. Some also believe that hiring a woman signals change, something that struggling companies often want to project. At first, it may seem like a positive that women are brought in to run these companies, especially since there are so few female CEOs. However, many of these roles have impossible expectations and are merely setting the CEO up for failure.

Recently, some researchers have questioned the validity of the glass cliff theory. While women are certainly hired to lead failing companies, they are also appointed to lead profitable businesses. The question is whether women are more likely to be brought into a struggling company than a thriving one.

To answer this question, researchers examined all CEO appointments (over 10,000 of them) from 1998 to 2022 in publicly held companies in the U.S. Women were no more likely to be appointed CEO of a company with financial problems than a profitable one. In fact, the study revealed the opposite. As a company’s finances improved, the chances that a woman would be appointed to CEO also increased.

Yaccarino And The Short Tenure Of Female CEOs

Whether women are generally more likely to get appointed to CEO in struggling companies or not, few could argue that Yaccarino took over at a challenging time at X. And, despite the chaos, she has made progress for the platform. She told the Financial Times last month that 96% of major advertisers had returned to the platform under her tenure. And, eMarketer.com predicted that for the first time in four years, X will have revenue growth in 2025. Nonetheless, the platform still finds itself regularly at the center of controversy. As an example, just a day before Yaccarino resigned, Grok, X’s AI chatbot, praised Adolf Hitler. The post was deleted, but some believe it may have contributed to Yaccarino’s decision to leave.

There’s also a chance that Musk nudged out Yaccarino. Research shows that female CEOs are more likely than their male counterparts to be fired. According to Russell Reynolds’ CEO Turnover Index, women CEOs are far more likely than their male counterparts to be fired in the first three years after their appointment. Other research indicates that female CEOs are 45% more likely to be terminated than male CEOs. While male CEOs are typically only let go when a company is underperforming, female CEOs can be fired whether the company is doing well or not.

Regardless of whether female CEOs are fired or choose to leave on their own, they still spend less time at the helm. According to a 2023 analysis, male Fortune 500 CEOs had been at the helm for a median of 5 years, while the median tenure for women was only 3.8 years.

Ultimately, the biggest issue facing women who aspire to climb the corporate ladder is the scarcity of women at the top. According to the Women’s Business Collaborative, only 9% of CEOs of the largest companies in the U.S. are women. Today, there is one fewer.