In the last post, I introduced the difference between signs and signals.
At the simplest level, signs are the observable inputs. Signals are what those inputs get interpreted to mean.
From an individual perspective, that shows up in familiar ways: your resume, your experience, your credentials. These are the signs. What people believe those things say about how you will perform are the signals.
But it works the other way too.
When you turn the lens on organizations, signs are what they state. The paths they describe, the roles they highlight, the priorities they put in writing. Signals are what their decisions and outcomes reveal over time.
And every once in a while, those two things tell completely different stories.
Last week, while working on an article about women in finance, I ran into a perfect signs-versus-signals contradiction.
The signs and signals didn’t match.
Our VP of Marketing recently pulled together research for a USA Today piece on women in finance. It publishes in June, but for production reasons the copy was due a few weeks ago.
At the time, the story seemed straightforward: when women get access to finance roles, especially P&L and CFO roles, they advance, they lead, and companies benefit.
One stat we highlighted: an analysis of Fortune 500 companies shows an average 6% stock price boost after the appointment of a woman CFO.*
Another: 10% of women CEOs in the S&P 500 served as CFO immediately before becoming CEO, compared with 6% of men.**
The CFO path works for women. Great headline.
But in the window between submitting the piece and now, I found reports that point to a different story: fewer women are entering CFO roles. Tenure is shorter once they get there. And fewer are being appointed in the first place.
From the Crist|Kolder Associates 2025 Volatility Report:
- Women’s share of CFO roles across the Fortune 500 and S&P 500 has slipped from 18.5% in 2023 to 16.5% in 2025.
- In the Consumer sector, the number of women CFOs dropped from 30 in 2023 to 17 in 2025.
From the Bloomberg CFO Briefing:
- In the FTSE 100, the average tenure for women CFOs is two years, compared with 4.5 years for men.
- In Q4 of 2025, 95% of incoming S&P 500 CFOs were men.
From the Global CFO Turnover Index:
- Globally, women accounted for 21% of incoming CFO appointments in 2025, down from 26% the year before, even as overall CFO appointments hit a seven-year high.
fewer women are entering CFO roles. Tenure is shorter once they get there. And fewer are being appointed in the first place."
So here we are.
The sign says the CFO role is one of the strongest, most evidence-backed pathways to the C-suite for women.
The signals show fewer women are being appointed, and the ones who are aren’t staying as long.
What gives?
Because if the most viable path to CEO for women is harder to access and harder to stay in, then the issue isn’t ambition or capability.
It’s how the role is evaluated. How readiness is interpreted. Who gets backed through volatility. And whose short tenure gets read as risk instead of context.
The data is telling us something important. The question is whether companies are willing to read what it’s actually saying. Because pathways don’t stay open simply because organizations say they value them. They stay open when companies continue signaling that women belong in them, especially when conditions get harder.
