What is a "glass cliff"? McKinsey Demotes Senior Partner Over Remarks About Female CEOs

McKinsey has removed senior partner Chris Bradley from his senior roles after his comments on LinkedIn questioning the “glass cliff” phenomenon drew criticism. Bradley, who is based in Australia, was until recently one of the few directors of the McKinsey Global Institute, an arm of the business and economic research consultancy.

His resignation from leadership roles took effect on October 11. He remains a senior partner in the firm.

A McKinsey spokesman said Bradley’s comments did not meet the standards expected at the company.

“Following our conduct review process, we have removed the partner from his leadership roles, including at the McKinsey Global Institute. His public comments did not meet the standards we expect at our firm,” McKinsey spokesman Taylor Burns said Sunday.

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

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What caused the controversy?

The controversy followed an exchange on LinkedIn between Bradley and author Julia Carreon.

Friend Carreon shared a post about the “glass cliff” phenomenon, which describes a situation where women are appointed to senior leadership positions in organizations that are already struggling.

Bradley challenged the concept in his response to the post.

“This theory is a very convenient way to always be victimized in the rain and empowered in the sun,” he wrote, “I don’t start researching glass cliffs because I don’t think they’re among the world’s 1,000 biggest problems.”

In another post, Bradley asked whether female leaders faced a significant disadvantage when taking on difficult roles.

“We used to have a problem with women advancing to CEO (Chief Executive Officer), but now we have a new problem that the jobs they’re getting are too hard? Is that really the case?”

His remarks about women CEOs were seen by many as disparaging. Subsequently, the posts were deleted.

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What is a “glass cliff”?

The term “glass cliff” describes a pattern in which women are more likely to be appointed to leadership positions when an organization is experiencing a crisis, declining performance, or other significant problems.

This concept was created in 2005 by British psychologists Michelle K Ryan and Alexander Haslam from the University of Exeter.

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

This concept suggests that women who break into senior management may face different challenges than those faced by leaders appointed under more favorable circumstances.

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

While the glass ceiling refers to the barriers to achieving leadership roles, the glass cliff focuses on the circumstances under which these roles are offered and the risks that leaders may inherit.

This distinction is central to the debate over Bradley’s comments: the glass cliff is a specific hypothesis about executive appointments and organizational performance, rather than the claim that every female CEO appointee is built to fail.