Global consulting firm McKinsey & Co. has removed senior Australian partner Chris Bradley from his leadership role at the McKinsey Global Institute following an internal review of his online comments dismissing workplace challenges faced by women.
The decision came after an internal conduct review sparked by a LinkedIn debate between Bradley and the co-author of a newly published book discussing the glass cliff
phenomenon. While Bradley remains a senior partner at the firm and retains his base in Australia, McKinsey stripped him of his directorship at its high-profile economic research arm and removed him from leadership positions on internal firm committees in a statement issued on Sunday.
Chris Bradley Defends Deleted LinkedIn Posts on Corporate Glass Cliffs
The controversy unfolded on LinkedIn during a back-and-forth exchange concerning corporate leadership structures and gender equity. Academic research defines the glass cliff as a phenomenon where female leaders are more likely to be offered chief executive officer jobs at struggling companies facing acute financial crises, turnaround pressures, or crisis modes.
During the online discussion, Bradley dismissed the concept outright and criticized the discourse surrounding it, describing the theory in deleted posts as a very convenient way to always be a victim in the rain
while generally questioning whether the concept even exists.
“we once had a problem of female advancement to CEO, but now we have a new problem that the jobs they get are too hard? Is this actually a thing?”
Chris Bradley, McKinsey senior partner, via The Age
When challenged further by book co-author Julia Carreon, Bradley responded that he was not going to start researching glass cliffs because it did not rank among the top 1000 problems of the world. The posts were subsequently deleted, but not before drawing sharp public rebuke.
McKinsey Conduct Review and Public Response From Leadership
McKinsey acted swiftly after the exchange, placing the matter under an internal review process that culminated in the removal of Bradley’s executive responsibilities.
“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,”
Taylor Burns, McKinsey spokesman, via The Age
Burns confirmed that Bradley also served as a leader on some internal firm committees and lost those duties as well. Bradley couldn’t be reached immediately for comment outside of normal business hours.
For more than a decade, McKinsey has published a Women in the Workplace
study, compiled with Sheryl Sandberg’s LeanIn advocacy group (referred to as Lean In in some company materials). Surveys of about 9,500 employees from 124 organisations consistently report that female leaders face stronger resistance than men and are more likely to have their judgement questioned.
Author Reactions and Corporate Data on Executive Tenures
Julia Carreon, a former Wall Street executive and co-author of Walking on Broken Glass: Navigating the Aftermath of the Glass Ceiling, sharply criticized Bradley’s initial remarks on the platform.
Corporate data compiled by Exechange—a research firm that tracks corporate leadership changes and scores them on the likelihood that the exit was forced or voluntary—indicates measurable structural disparities in executive departures. 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. Research examining historical departures found that just one in 10 S&P 500 companies are led by female CEOs, and that female leaders were more likely than men to be forced out.