McKinsey director demoted over ‘glass cliff’ remarks on women CEOs. The term explained

McKinsey has removed senior partner Chris Bradley from leadership roles after he questioned the glass cliff phenomenon

McKinsey has demoted a senior partner from his leadership role over comments he made on LinkedIn about women CEOs. Until recently, Australia-based Chris Bradley was one of a handful of directors at the McKinsey Global Institute, the firm’s business and economics research arm. Then, a social media spat over the term “glass cliff” led to his removal from the role on October 11. He remains a senior partner at the firm.

Chris Bradley was demoted by McKinsey over LinkedIn posts that have now been deleted.

A McKinsey spokesperson said that his comments ““fell well short of the standards we expect at our firm.”

“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 a statement Sunday.

Bradley also served as a leader on some internal committees, Burns said.

Here’s what happened

The controversy revolves around Bradley’s LinkedIn exchange with author Julia Carreon.

A friend of Carreon’s shared a post about the “glass cliff” phenomenon, in which women are appointed to top leadership roles at companies already facing difficulties.

Bradley commented on the post, questioning the very concept of glass cliff.

“This theory is a very convenient way to always be a victim in the rain and empowered in the sunshine,” he wrote, “I am not going to start researching glass cliffs as I don’t think it ranks in the top 1,000 problems of the world."

In another post, he wrote, “We once had a problem of female advancement to CEO (chief executive officer), but now we have a new problem that the jobs they get are too hard? Is this actually a thing?”

His remarks on female CEOs were considered disparaging by many. The posts were later deleted.

What does the term ‘glass cliff’ mean?

The glass cliff describes a situation in which women are more likely to be appointed to leadership positions when an organisation is facing a crisis or struggling with poor performance.

The term “glass cliff” was coined in 2005 by British psychologists Michelle K Ryan and Alexander Haslam of the University of Exeter.

Their research examined the performance of FTSE 100 companies before and after women joined their boards. They found that companies appointing women were more likely to have experienced poor performance in the months leading up to the appointments.

The term builds on the idea of the “glass ceiling”, which refers to invisible barriers that prevent women from reaching senior positions.