McKinsey partner demoted for belittling women execs in online argument with feminist author

McKinsey stripped a partner of his director role after he got into an online fight with a feminist author and exec, suggesting women leaders are prone to play the victim at struggling companies.The consulting giant took away Chris Bradley’s coveted title at the McKinsey Global Institute in the wake of the LinkedIn spat with Julia Carreon, as Bloomberg first reported Monday.The fight centered on a post Carreon made referencing “the glass cliff,” an academic term denoting the idea that women and minorities are most likely to be appointed CEO to companies that are struggling.“This theory is a very convenient way to always be a victim in the rain and empowered in the sunshine,” Bradley, who’s based in Australia, scoffed on Carreon’s timeline, according to a screenshot of the exchange viewed by The Post.Carreon, co-author of the book “Walking on Broken Glass: Navigating the Aftermath of the Glass Ceiling,” shot back that the term was “coined by esteemed psychologists from Exeter 21 years ago.”She added that the McKinsey big could “simply enter this into [the] tool that is commonly known as AI” to find out more, instead of sniping at her.Carreon – a former Citigroup exec who founded advocacy group Fifth Wave Feminists – told The Post that Bradley’s comments undermined her and her co-author’s work.“It shows the McKinsey partners don’t live their values,” she said in a brief interview.Earlier in the LinkedIn exchange, Bradley wrote: “it sounds like you are saying 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?”“It’s not my job to educate you on what a Glass Cliff is,” Carreon replied.“Again, you work for McKinsley & Company — if you have the will you will be able to find the answer yourself.”“It’s funnier to go back and forth with you than talk to a bot,” Bradley told Carreon.The flareup prompted a review fr...