悲壯或是沉默 女性臨危受命的玄機

The men have fled, there is a power vacuum at the top and a woman has taken over in a time of crisis. Is she being set up to fail?

男人們都逃走了，最高層出現了一個權力真空，一個女人在危機時刻接過權杖。她註定會失敗嗎？

If evidence were needed to support the theory that women only get the top job in particularly precarious times, Theresa May, the new UK prime minister, is that woman, says Michelle Ryan. Prof Ryan is an academic at Exeter University who, along with Alex Haslam, first coined the phrase “glass cliff” to describe the trend in 2005.

英國埃克塞特大學(University of Exeter)學者米歇爾•瑞恩(Michelle Ryan)表示，如果女性只會在特別危險的時刻獲得最高職務這個理論需要證據支持的話，英國新任首相特里薩•梅(Theresa May，見上圖)就是這樣一個例子。2005年，瑞恩與亞歷克斯•哈斯拉姆(Alex Haslam)首次提出“玻璃懸崖”這個詞，用以描述這種現象。

Although the 59-year-old head of the UK’s Conservative party has harboured leadership ambitions for several years, “it is interesting that this is the time she gets it,” Ms Ryan adds.

儘管59歲的英國保守黨領袖懷揣領導夢想已有多年，但瑞恩補充稱：“有趣的是她會在這個時候上任。”

“She will be in the position of not being able to please anyone.” No matter what she does on the European Union question, “50 per cent of the population are going to be happy and the other 50 per cent unhappy.”

“她所處的地位將無法取悅任何人，”不管她在英國退歐問題上怎麼做，“50%的英國人會高興，另外50%的英國人則會不高興。”

The argument is that women are set up to fail — pushed into leadership positions to take the flak or when a scapegoat is needed.

這種觀點是女性被推上註定失敗的舞臺；她們被推上領導崗位接受批評或者成爲替罪羊。

In other cases, it is because change is required, and women are more likely to suggest a clean slate than another white man in a grey suit, says Ms Ryan.

瑞恩表示，在其他例子裏，女性擔任領導者是因爲需要改革，與穿着灰色西裝的又一位白人男性相比，女性更有可能預示從頭再來。

Soon after Iceland’s three main banks failed in October 2008, Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir was installed as the nation’s first female prime minister and women were appointed to run two of the nationalised banks.

2008年10月，在冰島三家主要銀行破產後不久，約翰娜•西於爾扎多蒂(Johanna Sigurdardottir)被任命爲冰島首位女總理，該國兩家被國有化的銀行由女性接手。

Marissa Mayer, chief executive of Yahoo, which last week revealed it had suffered the biggest-known data breach to date, was initially hailed as a trailblazer who could rescue the technology and media company. Soon after her arrival she was castigated for everything from her decision to clamp down on staff working at home to her choice of taking only a short maternity leave.

雅虎(Yahoo)首席執行官梅里莎•梅爾(Marissa Mayer)最初被稱讚爲一位開拓者，能夠挽救這家科技和傳媒集團。在她上任後不久，她受到了各種批評，從她決定禁止員工在家辦公，到她選擇休很短的產假。雅虎最近承認遭遇迄今最大規模的已知數據泄密事件。

Mary Barra’s promotion to chief executive of General Motors in 2014 was welcomed as a victory for gender equality because she was the first woman to head a global carmaker. Two months after she was appointed, GM announced that it had to recall 2.6m cars because of faulty ignition switches implicated in the deaths of at least 13 people.

2014年，瑪麗•巴拉(Mary Barra)升任通用汽車(General Motors)首席執行官，這被視爲一場性別平等的勝利，因爲她是首位領導一家全球汽車製造商的女性。在她上任兩個月後，通用宣佈因點火開關故障不得不召回260萬輛汽車，這種故障與至少13例死亡有關。

This raised questions about whether Ms Barra or other executives knew a crisis was unfolding when she was appointed — putting her on, as it were, the very precipice of the glass cliff.

這引發了有關在巴拉上任時，她或其他高管是否瞭解一場危機正在撲面而來的質疑；這一任命彷彿把她推上了玻璃懸崖。

There is a host of examples of women taking leadership positions during crises but Per-Ola Karlsson, a consultant at Strategy&, part of PwC, says the glass cliff theory “may be a myth and that other factors can explain what we see”.

女性在危機期間擔任領導者的例子很多，但普華永道(PwC)旗下的Strategy&諮詢顧問佩爾-奧拉•卡爾鬆(Per-Ola Karlsson)表示，玻璃懸崖理論“可能是個神話，其他因素可以解釋我們所看到的現象”。

Women accounted for just 10 of the incoming 359 chief executives worldwide in 2015, the lowest rate since 2011, according to Strategy&’s annual study of 2,500 companies.

根據Strategy&對2500家公司的年度研究，在2015年全球359名新任首席執行官中，女性僅爲10人，爲自2011年以來最低。

In North America, just one female chief executive was appointed during the entire year: Andrea Greenberg at sports and entertainment company MSG Networks.

在北美，去年全年僅有一位女性首席執行官得到任命：體育和娛樂公司MSG Networks的安德麗亞•格林伯格(Andrea Greenberg)。

But while it is clear that “many factors including leadership development approaches and cultures make it that much harder for women”, Strategy& has not found any statistical evidence to back the idea that female leaders were brought in more often during crises, says Mr Karlsson.

然而，卡爾鬆表示，儘管很明顯，“包括領導能力發展途徑和文化在內的多個因素讓女性更難升遷”， 但Strategy&沒有發現有任何統計數據支持危機期間有更多女性領導者上任的觀點。

What it did find was that in the previous decade female chief executives were 27 per cent more likely to be forced out than male chief executives.

研究發現，過去10年，女性首席執行官被迫辭職的可能性比男性首席執行官高出27%。

Harriet Green, referred to by the Daily Mail tabloid as the “Gucci-loving blonde with a tattoo — and a temper”, joined the travel agent Thomas Cook as chief executive in 2012 when there were fears for the company’s survival.

2012年，哈瑞特•格林(Harriet Green)加盟旅行社Thomas Cook，擔任首席執行官，當時各方擔憂該公司能否生存。小報《每日郵報》(Daily Mail)稱她爲“有着紋身和脾氣、喜歡Gucci的金髮美女”。

Even though she transformed the company’s fortunes, Ms Green was forced out by the board two years later.

儘管她轉變了該公司的命運，但格林在兩年後被董事會趕下臺。

Strategy&’s research suggests one reason women are forced out is that they are more likely than men to be hired from outside the company, and outsiders, irrespective of gender, are more likely to end up being dismissed. Outsiders lack the internal networks and knowledge that help them survive.

Strategy&的研究發現，女性領導者被趕下臺的一個原因是她們比男性更有可能從公司外部聘用，而不管是男是女，外部人士最終更有可能被辭退。外部人士缺乏幫助他們生存的內部人脈和知識。

Still, the intense scrutiny faced by female bosses may deter women from competing for leadership positions, says Jenny Campbell, chief executive of YourCash Europe, the ATM provider formerly called Hanco ATM systems.

但是話說回來，原名Hanco ATM系統的ATM提供商YourCash Europe的首席執行官珍妮•坎貝爾(Jenny Campbell)表示，女性領導者受到的密切關注可能使女性不敢爭奪領導地位。

Although Ms Campbell was appointed to lead Hanco when it was in crisis, she believes that this was thanks to her experience at Royal Bank of Scotland, its then owner, rather than anything to do with her gender.

儘管坎貝爾在危機時刻被任命爲Hanco首席執行官，但她認爲，這要感謝她在Hanco當時的所有者蘇格蘭皇家銀行(RBS)的經驗，與她的性別毫無關係。

Ms Campbell’s argument is that plenty of men are also appointed to leadership positions during troublesome times but that women — still a rarity at the top — attract more attention when they fail. “Female leaders that haven’t succeeded in business are more visible and more likely to be put under the microscope simply because they are female,” she says.

坎貝爾認爲，很多男性也在艱難時刻擔任領導者，但女性（在高層仍屬罕見）在失敗時會招來更多的注意。她表示：“未能在商界取得成功的女性領導人更容易被看到，也更有可能因爲她們是女性而被置於顯微鏡下。”

All to say that even if there are cracks in the glass cliff theory, an extra set of crampons may come in hand for Mrs May and other women who have smashed the glass ceiling and want to stay on the summit.

總之，即便玻璃懸崖理論出現裂縫，對於梅以及其他打碎了玻璃天花板、並希望留在頂峯的女性而言，多準備一套冰爪可能是有用的。