Walking on Broken Glass
Navigating the aftermath of the glass ceiling
Shannon Nutter
Julia Carreon
Description
Nobody is coming to save us – so we’ll lead a revolution to save ourselves.
The ‘glass ceiling’ was just the first barrier – now comes the ‘glass cliff’ and the takedown playbook. The global rollback of DEI programs, the literal deletion of women in leadership and the entrenched assumption that only white men are competent leaders make one thing clear: institutional bias isn’t going anywhere and, in fact, is likely to go backwards.
In short, nobody is coming to save us. If women want to drive real change, we must claim our power and take control of our own destiny by banding together to make progress. The science is clear: more diverse teams drive better business outcomes.
Shannon Nutter and Julia C. Carreon know this from first-hand experience. They climbed to the C-suite at some of the world’s largest financial institutions while staying true to who they are. They built careers that weren’t just successful, they were fully their own. And along the way, they learned that what women really need isn’t another set of instructions for how to change themselves, it’s a playbook for how to identify and prepare for bad behavior, from women with lived experience of it.
Shannon Nutter is a global executive and board director. She has over two decades of leadership experience at organizations including Vanguard, Deloitte and General Motors.
Julia C. Carreon is a financial services executive with a reputation for technology transformations and execution excellence. She has led wealth management and advisor tech at Citibank and Wells Fargo.
Endorsements
‘The hard-hitting, truth-telling book women have been waiting for.’ – Michelle Minnikin, Organizational Psychologist, Coach and Author of Good Girl Deprogramming
‘One of the most urgent and insightful leadership books to come along in years.’ – Maya Stonecastle, Former Senior HR Executive, Entrepreneur
‘A powerful, practical guide to the pitfalls of the working world for women.’ – Dylan Tweney, Founder, Tweney Media
Contents
About the authors xiii
Foreword xv
Introduction 1
Part 1: Recognizing the mess
Chapter 1: Why the system feels rigged 7
Chapter 2: The world is optimized for men 27
Chapter 3: Women are poorly served 49
Chapter 4: The workplace isn’t fair 63
Part 2: Tackling the mess
Chapter 5: Rejecting the old expectations 87
Chapter 6: Politics with purpose 103
Chapter 7: Recognizing a takedown 121
Part 3: Cleaning up the mess
Chapter 8: Supporting the sisterhood 153
Chapter 9: Claiming power, creating change 169
Conclusion: Be yourself. Be great. Make a difference. 187
Want to dive deeper? 191
Notes 193
Bibliography 209
Acknowledgments 223
Index 225
Editions
FORMAT / ISBN / PUBLICATION DATE / RRP
Hardback / 9781788609869 / September 15, 2026 / £24.99
Paperback / 9781788609876 / September 15, 2026 / £15.99
Ebook / 9781788609883 / September 14, 2026 / £7.99
Paperback and eBook Bundle / £17.99
Authors
Shannon Nutter
Shannon Nutter is a global executive and board director. A recognized expert in strategy, product development and customer experience, she has been a leader at organizations including the Vanguard Group, Deloitte and GM. Shannon is also the founder of My Classroom Economy, a K-12 program teaching financial responsibility. She earned a BA in Economics from Macalester College and an MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business. Shannon lives outside Philadelphia and has two sons.
Julia Carreon
Julia C. Carreon is a financial services executive with a reputation for large-scale technology transformations and execution excellence. She has led wealth management and advisor tech at Citibank and Wells Fargo and launched the first mobile app for wealth advisors. In May 2024, Julia was featured on the Nasdaq billboard for her contributions to innovation in the wealth management space. She has a BA in Journalism. She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and three sons.
