Boeing just pulled a classic corporate America move and promoted a woman to clean up its mess

• Boeing named Stephanie Pope the new CEO of its commercial airlines division on Monday. 
• The promotion is part of a gendered pattern researchers identified years ago: the "glass cliff."
• When male leaders have led a company into a crisis, they're often replaced by women.

Stephanie Pope knows Boeing well: a third-generation employee, she joined the company in 1994.

In January, Pope was named Boeing's chief operating officer, a newly created role in which she reported directly to the CEO and oversaw BCA, Boeing's defense, space, and security division, and Boeing Global Services.