Mulcahey and Burns: The Glass Cliff

Ursula Burns takes over the reins at Xerox today (July 1), and in doing so, achieves a number of firsts. Not only will she be the first African-American woman to serve as CEO of a Fortune 500 company, she will also be part of the first female CEO-to-female CEO transition in the Fortune 500 as well (Burns takes over the reins from Anne Mulcahey, who has served as CEO for eight years and who will continue as the chair).

Bloomberg.com quoted John Engler of the National Association of Manufacturers in describing the challenges Burns will face as CEO as "daunting." Such a situation is not unusual for female CEOs, as suggested by research conducted by S. Alexander Haslam and Michelle K. Ryan at The University of Exeter on a phenomenon they have identified as the "glass cliff."

Haslam & Ryan have found evidence that women are more likely to be appointed to leadership positions "that are associated with an increased risk of criticism and failure" (2004). Their analysis suggests that the phenomenon occurs in the appointment of women as directors on corporate boards, the selection of women for executive-level leadership positions in business, and the recruitment of women to run for highly contested political races. Their results have been consistent, in both their analysis of existing data and in experimental research they have conducted. Most of the coverage of their research has been in the U.K., but the New York Times referenced their work in their 8th annual "Year in Ideas" coverage this past December (2008).

Mulcahey, who by some accounts hand-picked Burns to succeed her, is confident of Burns' ability to lead Xerox through the current economic times. According to Bloomberg.com, in her remarks at the May 2009 Xerox annual meeting, Mulcahey noted that "there is no doubt in my mind that she [Burns] is the right person and that this is the right time for her."