{
  "id": 11543803,
  "title": "What a McKinsey partner’s commentary on women CEOs reveals",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/02/what-a-mckinsey-partners-commentary-on-women-ceos-reveals",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-10-02T22:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Fast Company",
    "slug": "fast-company",
    "url": "https://www.fastcompany.com/91617576/what-a-mckinsey-partners-commentary-on-women-ceos-reveals"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In a LinkedIn post promoting her new book, Julia Carreon, a former executive at Citigroup and Wells Fargo, unintentionally sparked a debate that highlighted a compelling argument for her work. The book, titled \"Walking on Broken Glass: Navigating the Aftermath of the Glass Ceiling,\" explores the concept of the \"glass cliff,\" a term used to describe how women are often placed in leadership positions during difficult times for a company. In the post, Carreon's friend cited an example of the glass cliff, using it to promote her book. However, Chris Bradley, a senior partner at McKinsey, questioned the premise of the glass cliff in his response to the post, suggesting it was a convenient excuse for women to be perceived as victims. McKinsey, where Bradley serves as a director of the research arm, the McKinsey Global Institute, distanced itself from his comments, stating that the exchange was inconsistent with the company's values and expectations. Bradley's remarks, however, are not uncommon, as Michelle Ryan, one of the researchers who coined the term \"glass cliff,\" revealed that men often minimize or dismiss this issue. Sociologists have found that women are more likely to be appointed to leadership roles during challenging times, but they are also given shorter timelines to turn things around and face more blame, even when the company's problems existed before their appointment. The public nature of Bradley's comments on a professional social media platform is particularly troubling, as it demonstrates a lack of accountability for such behavior. Women who hold high-ranking positions in corporate America often overcome significant obstacles, and they are held to a different standard than their male counterparts. This incident reveals the persistent challenges women face in attaining and maintaining leadership roles, as well as the need for greater accountability from leaders like Bradley.",
  "summary": "Julia Carreon didn’t anticipate that a LinkedIn post promoting her new book would spark an exchange that made a persuasive case for why she wrote the book in the first place. Carreon, a former executive at Citigroup and Wells Fargo, had drawn on her experience climbing the ranks of Wall Street to write Walking on Broken Glass: Navigating the Aftermath of the Glass Ceiling , which was published in…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}