glass ceiling

Definition

An invisible barrier preventing women and minorities from advancing to senior leadership positions, despite qualifications. A metaphor that's unfortunately more durable than glass.

Example Usage

She hit the glass ceiling at Director level, where the executive team is exclusively men named Michael or Mark.

Origin

Coined in a 1978 speech, popularized by a 1986 Wall Street Journal article

Fun Fact

At current rates of change, it will take 132 years to achieve gender parity in executive leadership positions globally.

Source: Workplace equity and discrimination terminology

Related Terms

Beginner

staffing

The perpetual HR challenge of finding, hiring, and occasionally yeeting employees to keep a business running smoothly. It encompasses everything from recruitment strategies to headcount planning, basically ensuring you have enough humans doing the right jobs at the right time. When companies say they have "staffing issues," it means they're either drowning in applications or desperately clinging to whoever shows up.

👥 Human Resources

Beginner

employee

A person who trades their labor, expertise, and roughly 40 hours per week for a paycheck and the thrilling uncertainty of corporate restructuring. Unlike freelancers, they get benefits and PTO; unlike executives, they get neither stock options worth mentioning nor the luxury of failing upward. The organizational building block that HR refers to as 'headcount.'

👥 Human Resources

Advanced

top grading

A rigorous hiring methodology involving extensive interviews to ensure only 'A players' are hired, popularized by Bradford Smart. It's exhausting for everyone involved and assumes you can actually define an 'A player.'

👥 Human Resources

Intermediate

succession

The formal process of passing power, position, or property from one party to the next, whether it's a CEO, a monarch, or your aunt's prized ceramic cat collection. In corporate and political circles, succession planning is the art of ensuring the ship doesn't sink when the captain retires. Also known as "musical chairs for grown-ups with actual consequences."

👥 Human Resources

Beginner

Quiet Quitting

The revolutionary act of doing exactly what you're paid to do and absolutely nothing more. Somehow this basic employment concept needed a trendy name to scandalize LinkedIn thought leaders everywhere. Turns out "working your job description" needed a rebrand.

👥 Human Resources

Beginner

supervision

The art of watching over someone's work closely enough to catch mistakes but not so closely that you're accused of micromanaging—a balance most managers spectacularly fail to achieve. It's corporate-speak for 'someone's checking up on you' with a professional veneer. The boss's favorite word when they want credit for your accomplishments.

👥 Human Resources

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