News : Job Opportunities at Zara, Alexander McQueen and Rixo

Monday, May 29, 2023

Job Opportunities at Zara, Alexander McQueen and Rixo

In this week's Careers Newsletter, read BoF senior correspondent Sheena Butler-Young's latest: How Some Women Leaders Are Owning the Glass Cliff

Winnie Park isn't falling off anyone's glass cliff.

On paper, some might say the Forever 21 chief is a textbook example of the concept. Park is a woman of colour with a resumé that includes leadership roles at some of the industry's top brands (Levi's and LVMH-owned DFS among them) put in charge of a retailer with significant problems. That's not how she sees her current role, though.

"I truly don't believe in a glass cliff," she said.

She'd be in good company if she did: the term entered the business lexicon about two decades ago, and has been applied to dozens of CEO roles that companies discovered they could fill with someone other than a white male only when crisis loomed. In fashion, the label has sometimes been stuck to Marvin Ellison, who headed struggling department store JCPenney from 2015 to 2018 (now CEO of Lowe's, he's still one of only six Black CEOs in the Fortune 500), and Michelle Gass, who fended off e-commerce rivals and activist investors over five tumultuous years at Kohl's (her performance won the attention of Levi's CEO Chip Bergh, who in November named Gass his successor).

Park is adamant about reframing this narrative. She believes the perception that women and minorities are often the last resort for leadership roles at struggling companies diminishes the hard-won skills (like "grit and determination") those leaders are forced to develop in order to climb in their careers.

"Maybe minorities and women are more likely to take those risks [to transform companies]… to raise their hands and say, 'I will take this on,'" she said.

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