In November 2013, Susan Colantuono, Founder and CEO of Leading Women, keynote speaker, and author of No Ceiling, No Walls: What Women Haven’t Been Told About Leadership, delivered a TEDx talk titled The Career Advice You Probably Didn’t Get at Beacon Street. In her presentation, Colantuono highlighted a critical misperception: while women hold 50% of middle management and professional positions—a figure that seems to indicate progress—the representation sharply declines at the top levels of leadership, particularly in the C-suite.
According to Forbes’ 2024 article, The CEO Gender Gap: What the Lack of Female Leaders Means for All Working Women by Kim Elsesser, only 9% of CEOs in the largest U.S. companies (S&P 100 Index) are women. Beyond the CEO level, the leadership pipeline itself shows structural obstacles that prevent many women from advancing.
Both Colantuono and Elsesser identify patterns that explain these disparities:
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The Broken Rung: Women often lack opportunities at critical early promotions in the corporate ladder, redefining the traditional concept of the “glass ceiling.”
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The Glass Walls: Women are frequently guided away from profit-generating roles toward areas like HR or administrative functions, limiting career growth and visibility.
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The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: With few women reaching CEO positions, the belief that these roles are attainable is often removed from women’s career planning.
Colantuono further highlights what she calls the “missing 33 percent.” Leadership advancement requires three essential competencies:
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Skills – the ability to perform tasks effectively.
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Talents – natural strengths that enhance performance.
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Abilities – the capacity to contribute to organizational goals strategically and financially.
While women are frequently encouraged to develop soft skills such as confidence, collaboration, and assertiveness, they are rarely guided to strengthen business, strategic, and financial acumen—the critical 33% necessary for executive leadership. Without this focus, women continue to face systemic barriers that prevent them from claiming their deserved place at the head of the table.