A McKinsey & Co. senior partner’s online comments questioning some challenges that women leaders face in the workplace have prompted a rebuke from his employer.
McKinsey said it was “disappointed” and doesn’t endorse the remarks made by Australia-based senior partner Chris Bradley on LinkedIn related to the so-called workplace “glass cliff” for women. The term was coined by academics to describe the phenomenon where women leaders are more likely to be offered chief executive officer jobs at struggling companies.
In an online back-and-forth with one of the authors of a new book that discusses the glass cliff, Bradley called the concept “a very convenient way to always be a victim in the rain” and generally questioned whether the phenomenon exists.
“This exchange was inconsistent with our views and the standards we expect,” a McKinsey spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “The comments were made in a personal capacity and have since been deleted. We stand by our research and leadership on these topics.”
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. It surveys about 9,500 employees from 124 organizations; participants consistently report that women leaders face stronger resistance than men and are more likely to have their judgement questioned. A 2020 report from McKinsey about women working in healthcare even references the term “glass cliff” when outlining hurdles cited by women of color.
Bradley also wrote in the recent LinkedIn exchange that “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?”
Julia Carreon, co-author of the book, titled “Walking on Broken Glass: Navigating the Aftermath of the Glass Ceiling,” responded to Bradley’s remarks in her own LinkedIn comments.
“Aren’t people from McKinsey & Company supposed to know these things?” said Carreon, a former Wall Street executive. “I understand you ARE the establishment but this is surprising.”
“I am not going to start researching glass cliffs as I don’t think it ranks in the top 1000 problems of the world,” Bradley said in response to Carreon.
Carreon accused Bradley of displaying “willful ignorance.”
Bradley, one of a handful of directors at the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), the firm’s business and economic research arm, didn’t respond to a request for comment. In an emailed statement Monday, Carreon said, “I hope this is a teaching moment for Mr. Bradley and McKinsey. Women are done being told that what happens to us at work isn’t real.”
Proponents of the glass cliff theory say women are more likely to get an opportunity to be CEO when a company is in crisis or turnaround mode. Researchers cite examples like Michelle Gass at Kohl’s Corp., Marissa Mayer at Yahoo Inc. and more recently, CVS Health Corp. chief Karen Lynch.
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.
Michelle Ryan, one of the two academics who coined the term “glass cliff” in 2005, said that her research shows men and women interpret the concept very differently.
“While women recognize the phenomenon and interpret it as malign, men are more likely to deny the phenomenon exists or downplay it as being much more benign,” said Ryan, who is now a professor of social and organizational psychology at the Australian National University.
Bradley has been with the firm for more than two decades, according to his McKinsey biography. As well as co-authoring a book and his role with McKinsey Global Institute, he previously led the firm’s strategy and corporate finance practice across Asia. He’s also a director of Opportunity International Australia, a microfinance organization focused on empowering women, according to its website.
Carreon, a former wealth management executive at Citigroup Inc., sued the firm earlier this year, alleging that she was sexually harassed by one of the bank’s top leaders. Citigroup has previously said that the lawsuit “has no merit.” Carreon left the bank in 2024.
Photograph: McKinsey Senior Partner Chris Bradley; photo credit: Leigh Vogel/Getty Images
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