It goes without saying that, no matter how well equipped, the new CEO has some giant shoes to fill as Nvidia cofounder Huang’s 33-year tenure ends. However, inserting a woman into a burdensome leadership role during a time of absolute crisis isn’t exactly a new tactic.

While women and minorities are promoted to leadership positions less often than men, there is one time when they are asked to lead more often: when massive challenges are afoot.

The Glass Cliff

The phenomenon is referred to as, not punching a hole in a glass ceiling, but rather, standing on the edge of the glass cliff. That’s because, while the promotion itself might look like a win for women in business, the precarious position the new leader steps into often sets her up for failure.

The term itself came from researchers at the University of Exeter in the UK, whose research on 100 companies found that women promoted to leadership roles during times of crisis can face intense challenges. But they often are installed so that they can act as a kind of scapegoat for the company when they fail to extinguish the wildfires, which, in this case (and often), were started by the male predecessors.