{"id":924943,"date":"2026-10-12T03:16:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T03:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/924943\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T03:16:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T03:16:19","slug":"glass-cliff-controversy-mckinsey-removes-senior-leader-after-dismissive-remarks-about-challenges-facing-women-in-the-workplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/924943\/","title":{"rendered":"Glass cliff controversy: McKinsey removes senior leader after dismissive remarks about challenges facing women in the workplace"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Colin<\/p>\n

Updated October 12, 2026 \u2014 10:50am,first published 8:17am<\/p>\n

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Global consulting giant McKinsey & Co has dumped senior Australian partner Chris Bradley from his leadership role at the firm\u2019s research arm after he posted online comments questioning the uphill battle female executives face in the workplace.<\/p>\n

The firm confirmed that he had been removed from his board role at the McKinsey Global Institute, its high-profile business and economic research unit. Bradley \u2013 a board member of Sydney-based conservative think tank, The Centre for Independent Studies \u2013 remains a senior partner at the firm.<\/p>\n

\"McKinseyMcKinsey partner Chris Bradley called the glass cliff \u201ca very convenient way to always be a victim in the rain\u201d in the deleted posts and generally questioned whether the concept even existed.Peter Rae<\/p>\n

The decision came after an internal review sparked by Bradley\u2019s LinkedIn back-and-forth last month with one of the authors of a new book that discusses the workplace \u201cglass cliff\u201d for women. The comments were deleted and McKinsey previously distanced itself from Bradley\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing 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,\u201d McKinsey spokesman Taylor Burns said. Bradley also served as a leader on some internal committees, Burns said.<\/p>\n

McKinsey confirmed that Bradley has declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"A\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Bradley called the glass cliff \u201ca very convenient way to always be a victim in the rain\u201d in the deleted posts and generally questioned whether the concept even existed.<\/p>\n

McKinsey has long sought to advance the conversation about challenges women face in the workplace. The company has published a \u201cWomen in the Workplace\u201d<\/a> study, compiled with Sheryl Sandberg\u2019s Lean In advocacy group, for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

Bradley is the author of A Century of Plenty and the father of three daughters, according to his McKinsey profile.<\/p>\n

He is also a board member of Opportunity International Australia, a charity which says it provides \u201cfinancial solutions and training to empower people living in poverty to transform their lives, their children\u2019s futures and their communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

A 2020 report from McKinsey about women working in healthcare references the term \u201cglass cliff\u201d when outlining hurdles cited by women of colour.<\/p>\n

\"AuthorAuthor Julia Carreon accused Bradley of displaying \u201cwilful ignorance\u201d and said she hoped this was a \u201cteaching moment for Mr Bradley and McKinsey\u201d.Vanessa Kay<\/p>\n

Bradley also wrote in the recent LinkedIn exchange that \u201cwe 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?\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s LinkedIn post, saying: \u201cAren\u2019t people from McKinsey & Company supposed to know these things?<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand you ARE the establishment, but this is surprising.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to Carreon, Bradley said: \u201cI am not going to start researching glass cliffs as I don\u2019t think it ranks in the top 1000 problems of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Following 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.\u2019<\/p>\n

McKinsey spokesperson Taylor Burns<\/p>\n

Carreon accused Bradley of displaying \u201cwilful ignorance\u201d and said she hoped this was a \u201cteaching moment for Mr Bradley and McKinsey\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a LinkedIn post on Monday morning she said his comments \u201cshowcases exactly what Shannon Nutter and I hoped to expose in our new book Walking on Broken Glass: the absurd amount of energy women are forced to spend proving our own experiences are real.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"RBA<\/a><\/p>\n

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Close\"ColinColin Kruger<\/a> is a senior business reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated October 12, 2026 \u2014 10:50am,first published 8:17am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":924944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-924943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=924943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/924944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=924943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=924943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=924943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}