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The Broken Rung: When the Career Ladder Breaks for Women--and How They Can Succeed in Spite of It
The broken rung is more pervasive than the glass ceiling in holding women back from career success. Three McKinsey senior partners offer strategies for overcoming it and fulfilling your potential.
Women around the world do extremely well when it comes to their education. They graduate at higher rates than men and have higher average GPAs. But then a strange thing upon entering the workforce, they immediately lose their advantage. When the first promotions come around, the slide continues. For every 100 men promoted to manager, only 81 women overall and 77 women of color get promoted.
This is what McKinsey senior partners Kweilin Ellingrud, Lareina Yee, and María del Mar Martínez call "the broken rung," and its effects compound throughout women's careers, causing them to fall behind at the start and keeping them from catching up. In this groundbreaking book, the authors reveal the problem's underlying while about half of a person's lifetime earnings come from education and half from work experience, men get more value from their experience than women do. It is also here, in one's work experience, that the solution women need to build their "experience capital" to level the playing field and maximize their earning potential.
The book combines over a decade of research, personal conversations with more than fifty remarkable leaders, and the authors' own rich experiences as leaders at McKinsey. They weave data on the potential pitfalls with inspiring and instructive stories of women who have climbed over the broken rung using strategies that increased their experience capital.
Leaders and companies must do more to address gender inequalities in the workplace. But you don't have to wait. The Broken Rung is your guide, right now, for moving up the career ladder and reaching your full potential at work.
Women around the world do extremely well when it comes to their education. They graduate at higher rates than men and have higher average GPAs. But then a strange thing upon entering the workforce, they immediately lose their advantage. When the first promotions come around, the slide continues. For every 100 men promoted to manager, only 81 women overall and 77 women of color get promoted.
This is what McKinsey senior partners Kweilin Ellingrud, Lareina Yee, and María del Mar Martínez call "the broken rung," and its effects compound throughout women's careers, causing them to fall behind at the start and keeping them from catching up. In this groundbreaking book, the authors reveal the problem's underlying while about half of a person's lifetime earnings come from education and half from work experience, men get more value from their experience than women do. It is also here, in one's work experience, that the solution women need to build their "experience capital" to level the playing field and maximize their earning potential.
The book combines over a decade of research, personal conversations with more than fifty remarkable leaders, and the authors' own rich experiences as leaders at McKinsey. They weave data on the potential pitfalls with inspiring and instructive stories of women who have climbed over the broken rung using strategies that increased their experience capital.
Leaders and companies must do more to address gender inequalities in the workplace. But you don't have to wait. The Broken Rung is your guide, right now, for moving up the career ladder and reaching your full potential at work.
314 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 11, 2025
65 people are currently reading
2260 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
March 27, 2025
I chose The Broken Rung as my self-help reading material. I’m a full-time housewife, but that doesn’t mean my role is limited to just that. I can’t sit still—I always look for ways to grow and move forward, just like career women do. That’s why I work as a freelance book translator, writer, and editor. This book, especially Part 3, really resonates with me. As women, we need to keep learning new skills to move forward in life.
In The Broken Rung, McKinsey senior partners Kweilin Ellingrud, Lareina Yee, and María del Mar Martínez often overlooked barrier in women’s professional journeys. With compelling research, they unravel the phenomenon where women, despite outperforming their male counterparts academically, face a stark reality when it comes to career advancement.
This is a book to help women today harness their power and reach their full potential. It challenges women to build their “experience capital,” ensuring they seize the opportunities necessary to elevate their careers.
It has 4 parts;
-The roots of the problem
-Gain the experiences that matter
-Build the most valuable skills
-Prepare for the inevitable
I like the part 3 where woman must find the valuable skills in the insdustry that it is our support system to growth with. When you do succeed, you will be helping others to build their experiences and skills.
Don't let success become a barrier to your dreams, even if you're a housewife. Do something for your good. Do something that your future will thank you for!
This book is a necessary read for anyone committed to fostering gender equality and inspiring change in their professional spheres.
In The Broken Rung, McKinsey senior partners Kweilin Ellingrud, Lareina Yee, and María del Mar Martínez often overlooked barrier in women’s professional journeys. With compelling research, they unravel the phenomenon where women, despite outperforming their male counterparts academically, face a stark reality when it comes to career advancement.
This is a book to help women today harness their power and reach their full potential. It challenges women to build their “experience capital,” ensuring they seize the opportunities necessary to elevate their careers.
It has 4 parts;
-The roots of the problem
-Gain the experiences that matter
-Build the most valuable skills
-Prepare for the inevitable
I like the part 3 where woman must find the valuable skills in the insdustry that it is our support system to growth with. When you do succeed, you will be helping others to build their experiences and skills.
Don't let success become a barrier to your dreams, even if you're a housewife. Do something for your good. Do something that your future will thank you for!
This book is a necessary read for anyone committed to fostering gender equality and inspiring change in their professional spheres.
July 8, 2025
There are plenty of “self help” and “career” books out there but this one is a step ahead of the very crowded space.
There is so much useful information in this book - the obvious but also things that I hadn’t heard before. Like mentorship vs. sponsorship, how to use motherhood to exponentially grow your career (vs. it inhibiting growth), creating your own personal board of directors to help bounce ideas off of. I found a lot of this material profound in ways that I want to actively start using to shape my current role and future career.
This is not a doom and gloom, “woe is me as a woman in the workplace” book. It is very inspirational and action oriented. I don’t want to lean back, read this book and be done. I want to lean in (wink wink, lol) and action what I’ve learned.
If you are a female in the workforce (or honestly even if you aren’t working right now), and want to think strategically about your career you should give this book a try.
There is so much useful information in this book - the obvious but also things that I hadn’t heard before. Like mentorship vs. sponsorship, how to use motherhood to exponentially grow your career (vs. it inhibiting growth), creating your own personal board of directors to help bounce ideas off of. I found a lot of this material profound in ways that I want to actively start using to shape my current role and future career.
This is not a doom and gloom, “woe is me as a woman in the workplace” book. It is very inspirational and action oriented. I don’t want to lean back, read this book and be done. I want to lean in (wink wink, lol) and action what I’ve learned.
If you are a female in the workforce (or honestly even if you aren’t working right now), and want to think strategically about your career you should give this book a try.
September 22, 2025
Read this book as park of a club for my workplace women’s group. Extremely interesting to reach as someone who is still new to the workforce. Definitely gave me new perspectives and tips and what to do to contribute the trajectory of my career path.
March 25, 2025
Broken rung is a great book for everyone that works in management. This book focus on the obstacles that especially women face in the workplace.
The broken rung creates a ripple effect that weakens the entire leadership pipeline. To fix it, organisations must take proactive steps like structured sponsorship programs, bias training for managers, transparent promotion criteria, and addressing disparities in early promotions. Providing tailored leadership development and setting clear representation targets are also crucial.
The broken rung creates a ripple effect that weakens the entire leadership pipeline. To fix it, organisations must take proactive steps like structured sponsorship programs, bias training for managers, transparent promotion criteria, and addressing disparities in early promotions. Providing tailored leadership development and setting clear representation targets are also crucial.
May 30, 2025
A book means for women early in their career on how to optimize their careers to come, I had hoped to also have more insights from organization perspective.
Yes we can stimulate women to take a lot of the action, share what has worked for others; yet I had hoped that there would also be more case studies and examples of what organizations have done well, how that has helped them be more performant with a more engaged workforce.
Now it is again up to the women. Having both sides of the coin in one book would have made it so much stronger.
Yes we can stimulate women to take a lot of the action, share what has worked for others; yet I had hoped that there would also be more case studies and examples of what organizations have done well, how that has helped them be more performant with a more engaged workforce.
Now it is again up to the women. Having both sides of the coin in one book would have made it so much stronger.
July 21, 2025
Chock-full of good advice and tactics, but falls a little flat on the engaging personality.
Now, I wasn't expecting this to hit on the same emotional engaging levels as some other self-help and improvement books. 1) This is primarily a business advice book, and 2) the authors all worked at Deloitte. The corporate coded is going to be entrenched. However, as the book kept on, more warmth and engagement worked it's way in. The background slog of research in the beginning is necessary to get to the rest.
The parts I liked the best in this book: learning about experience capital and how to build it, considering the company rather than a role, encouraging bold moves, and sharing about skills such as soft skills and entrepreneurism.
What I wished they had done more of: more charts and graphics please. I can read about statistics, but it's better to see it in visuals. It hits deeper and creates better engagement. People push that business folks love to read about numbers, but I argue against that. Use numbers wisely and only a few at a time. If it's a big number with impact (say a statistic on female promotions after giving birth), then you focus on that one number and don't list three more. Numbers can become alphabet soup in the brain. Even for business folks.
Favorite excerpt:
"Alex explains a simple three-step process for effective persuasion:
1. Help people understand specifically what you do that no one else does.
For example, are you a connector or a researcher or a rapport builder? If you're not sure, notice the moments when you feel the most joy and connection at work and take note of what you're doing during those moments.
2. Communicate whom you do those things for.
The audience may be internal or external. Whom do you love to serve?
3. Identify your specific impact.
What can other people do as a result of working with you that they couldn't do before?"
Now, I wasn't expecting this to hit on the same emotional engaging levels as some other self-help and improvement books. 1) This is primarily a business advice book, and 2) the authors all worked at Deloitte. The corporate coded is going to be entrenched. However, as the book kept on, more warmth and engagement worked it's way in. The background slog of research in the beginning is necessary to get to the rest.
The parts I liked the best in this book: learning about experience capital and how to build it, considering the company rather than a role, encouraging bold moves, and sharing about skills such as soft skills and entrepreneurism.
What I wished they had done more of: more charts and graphics please. I can read about statistics, but it's better to see it in visuals. It hits deeper and creates better engagement. People push that business folks love to read about numbers, but I argue against that. Use numbers wisely and only a few at a time. If it's a big number with impact (say a statistic on female promotions after giving birth), then you focus on that one number and don't list three more. Numbers can become alphabet soup in the brain. Even for business folks.
Favorite excerpt:
"Alex explains a simple three-step process for effective persuasion:
1. Help people understand specifically what you do that no one else does.
For example, are you a connector or a researcher or a rapport builder? If you're not sure, notice the moments when you feel the most joy and connection at work and take note of what you're doing during those moments.
2. Communicate whom you do those things for.
The audience may be internal or external. Whom do you love to serve?
3. Identify your specific impact.
What can other people do as a result of working with you that they couldn't do before?"
November 6, 2025
The main concept of the book is that you need to build your “experience capital” in order to be successful in your career. This can be done with early pivoting, banking on the company with the right employee growth mindset and lateral / diagonal moves. Also pay attention to the industry, to bet on growing ones, not shrinking. Usually too many mentors and not enough sponsors.
A bit short on some concepts, like motherhood. Also a bit too obvious in chapter about health helping your career (mental, physical, financial). Also a bit short on how to fight biases (none of the ideas actually stuck to my mind).
Most common types of bias faced by women in the workplace:
- performance bias: men being hired and promoted based on future potential vs women on their past accomplishments
- attribution bias: women receive less credit for their accomplishments and more blame for their mistakes
- affinity bias: to gravitate toward those who are similar to them
- likability bias: trade-off between being seen as competent vs likable.
- loyalty bias: assumption that women will favour relationships and loyalty to their organisation over their career advancement
- motherhood bias: less committed to their careers and less competent than non-mothers.
Self-reflecting questions in conclusion chapter:
- what is my ambition and how can I embrace it?
- - am I strategically building a portfolio of experiences to help me meet my ambitions?
- what investments am I making in myself that will increase my chances of success?
- do I have the right short and long term habits in place to ensure my career longevity?
- am I asking for help?
- am I giving back to my communities and lifting others around me?
A bit short on some concepts, like motherhood. Also a bit too obvious in chapter about health helping your career (mental, physical, financial). Also a bit short on how to fight biases (none of the ideas actually stuck to my mind).
Most common types of bias faced by women in the workplace:
- performance bias: men being hired and promoted based on future potential vs women on their past accomplishments
- attribution bias: women receive less credit for their accomplishments and more blame for their mistakes
- affinity bias: to gravitate toward those who are similar to them
- likability bias: trade-off between being seen as competent vs likable.
- loyalty bias: assumption that women will favour relationships and loyalty to their organisation over their career advancement
- motherhood bias: less committed to their careers and less competent than non-mothers.
Self-reflecting questions in conclusion chapter:
- what is my ambition and how can I embrace it?
- - am I strategically building a portfolio of experiences to help me meet my ambitions?
- what investments am I making in myself that will increase my chances of success?
- do I have the right short and long term habits in place to ensure my career longevity?
- am I asking for help?
- am I giving back to my communities and lifting others around me?
October 3, 2025
The net takeaway of The Broken Rung is that the biggest barrier for women in the workplace is not just the “glass ceiling” at the top, but the “broken rung” at the very first step into management. Women are promoted at much lower rates than men in that critical early transition, which causes them to fall behind in leadership representation for the rest of their careers. The book emphasizes that fixing this requires both individual strategies (building experience, networks, and sponsorship) and organizational changes that create fair, intentional pathways for women to advance. Ultimately, repairing the “broken rung” is essential to achieving true gender equity in leadership. The book argues that repairing this “broken rung” requires both women building experience and networks, and companies redesigning systems to ensure fair advancement.
November 27, 2024
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this complementary ARC in exchange for my honest review!
I really enjoyed this comprehensive summary that women face in the workplace, with the title referring to the struggles faced even prior to the glass ceiling. Although this book was written from the perspective of women, I think there were lots of interesting tidbits of information that are useful to everyone.
There is lots to take away as a people manager on how to be more supportive of female employees as they progress through their career - I especially appreciated the specific examples provided in each section.
I really enjoyed this comprehensive summary that women face in the workplace, with the title referring to the struggles faced even prior to the glass ceiling. Although this book was written from the perspective of women, I think there were lots of interesting tidbits of information that are useful to everyone.
There is lots to take away as a people manager on how to be more supportive of female employees as they progress through their career - I especially appreciated the specific examples provided in each section.
April 20, 2025
There’s no doubt that The Broken Rung was written with a powerful intent to shine a light on the structural barriers women face in the workplace, and the emotional and mental toll that often comes with it. These are real stories, with real impact. And the authors do a beautiful job of honouring that human side.
But as I turned each page, I found myself looking for more clarity, more direction, more action steps.
While the book includes compelling research and statistics, it’s ultimately structured around a collection of individual narratives. These are moving but without a clear thread of “what now?” the result feels more reflective than empowering. It opens your eyes, yes, but leaves you unsure of what to do with that awareness.
It’s also worth noting that although the book makes reference to global issues, the lens remains largely US-focused. As someone working in European corporate environments, I found the applicability limited, e.g. many of the systems and social dynamics described don’t translate seamlessly across borders.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this advance copy.
But as I turned each page, I found myself looking for more clarity, more direction, more action steps.
While the book includes compelling research and statistics, it’s ultimately structured around a collection of individual narratives. These are moving but without a clear thread of “what now?” the result feels more reflective than empowering. It opens your eyes, yes, but leaves you unsure of what to do with that awareness.
It’s also worth noting that although the book makes reference to global issues, the lens remains largely US-focused. As someone working in European corporate environments, I found the applicability limited, e.g. many of the systems and social dynamics described don’t translate seamlessly across borders.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this advance copy.
April 24, 2025
This is definitely targeted for folks much earlier in their career paths overall. Would be great for college students or those in first years of employment. I wish there was more for more advanced careers, but I guess we’ve already overcome much of this topic.
It was gratifying to learn that my approach and philosophies very much align with their recommendations and I’ve tried to be a sponsor as much as possible, ever since I learned the importance of that from my internship project years ago.
It was gratifying to learn that my approach and philosophies very much align with their recommendations and I’ve tried to be a sponsor as much as possible, ever since I learned the importance of that from my internship project years ago.
May 31, 2025
After following the Women in the Workplace reports since their inception, I really wanted to love this book. I listened to it on Audible and I felt like someone was reading their PhD dissertation aloud to me. While they wove in some stories to keep it interesting, it felt like 75% very dry data and stats.
October 29, 2025
Great book to gift to women entering their professional careers. It provides insight on the reality that many women still face and tips on how to overcome and move heads despite obstacles that remain in the workforce today.
February 17, 2025
Good read!
March 21, 2025
Love how much data was used throughout this book to support the insights. Loved it!!
March 30, 2025
I have selected this book as Stevo's Business Book of the Week for the week of 3/30, as it stands heads above other recently published books on this topic.
May 2, 2025
Great advice overall, interesting stats.
May 27, 2025
What a great guidebook to a HUGE problem. Just wish it wasn’t done by the evil empire…I have a hard time trusting the motives of this book due to that.
May 31, 2025
this is REAL dei: providing actionable steps to remove systemic barriers bolstered by biases!!!
interesting, nuanced research with compelling narratives from real women in unique industries <3
interesting, nuanced research with compelling narratives from real women in unique industries <3
December 29, 2025
Nothing we didn’t already know
March 18, 2025
I appreciate how the book offers a wealth of concrete and actionable advice for women facing the challenges of the 'broken rung' in organizations. It not only explains the reasons behind these issues but also outlines how to develop the necessary experience capital for women to succeed.
Although the book is tailored to women's situations, men who read it carefully can gain valuable insights and apply much of the advice. Additionally, the book strikes a perfect balance between highlighting the problems and providing solutions.
Although the book is tailored to women's situations, men who read it carefully can gain valuable insights and apply much of the advice. Additionally, the book strikes a perfect balance between highlighting the problems and providing solutions.
June 27, 2025
I often find self help-ish books a bit trivial but I actually feel like there were some good takeaways for me here - but at the same time it was quite depressing
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews