McKinsey strips partner of leadership role over posts questioning women challenges

Global consulting giant McKinsey & Co. removed a senior partner from his leadership role at the firm’s research arm after he posted online comments questioning the uphill battle female executives face in the workplace. Chris Bradley, one of a handful of directors at the McKinsey Global Institute, its high-profile business and economic research unit, was removed from that role, the consulting firm said in a statement Sunday. He remains a senior partner at the firm and is based in Australia.

The unusual decision came after an internal review sparked by Bradley’s LinkedIn back-and-forth last month with one of the authors of a new book that discusses the workplace “glass cliff” for women. The comments were deleted and McKinsey previously distanced itself from Bradley’s remarks. In his deleted posts, Bradley remarked that the glass cliff “a very convenient way to always be a victim in the rain” and generally questioned whether the concept even exists.

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The term glass cliff was coined by academics to describe the phenomenon in which female leaders are more likely to be offered chief executive officer jobs at struggling companies. Proponents of the theory say research shows that women are more likely to get an opportunity to be CEO when a company is in crisis or turnaround mode. Julia Carreon, a former Wall Street executive and co-author of the book Walking on Broken Glass: Navigating the Aftermath of the Glass Ceiling, commented on Bradley’s LinkedIn post, saying: “Aren’t people from McKinsey & Company supposed to know these things?

“Following our conduct review process, we have removed the partner from his leadership roles, including at the McKinsey Global Institute. His public comments fell well short of the standards we expect at our firm,” McKinsey spokesman Taylor Burns said in an emailed statement. Bradley also served as a leader on some internal committees, Burns said.

Over the past decade, women CEOs of Russell 3000 companies left after an average tenure of 6.2 years versus 8.9 years for men, according to Exechange, a researcher that tracks corporate leadership changes and scores them on the likelihood that the exit was forced or voluntary. In examining the reasons for CEO departures over the same period, the research firm found that women were more likely than men to be forced out. Just one in 10 S&P 500 companies are led by female CEOs.

McKinsey has long sought to advance the conversation about challenges women face in the workplace. The company has published a “Women in the Workplace” study, compiled with Sheryl Sandberg’s LeanIn advocacy group, for more than a decade. A 2020 report from McKinsey about women working in healthcare even references the term “glass cliff” when outlining hurdles cited by women of colour.