Management consulting giant McKinsey & Company has stripped one of its directors at its business and economics research arm of his leadership role after his post on LinkedIn about the battle female executives face in the workplace.

Chris Bradley, a senior partner in Australia, was removed from leadership roles after an internal review of his social media comments, as Bloomberg first reported.

Last month, Bradley had a back-and-forth on a LinkedIn post, now deleted, with one of the authors of a new book discussing the workplace “glass cliff” for women. The term ‘glass cliff’ is used when women and people from underrepresented groups are appointed to leadership roles during periods of crisis.

Bradley called the glass cliff “a very convenient way to always be a victim in the rain” and questioned whether the concept even exists.

A report last September showed that women made up less than 20 per cent of senior leadership roles at UK financial services businesses.

Partner comments fell ‘short of the standards’

McKinsey spokesperson Taylor Burns confirmed to City AM that “his public 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,” Burns said.

He has been at the ‘Big Three’ firm for over 27 years, focused on clients across the retail, mining, telecoms and media industries.

He remains a senior partner at the firm. However, his company profile was updated on Monday to show that he was removed from his leadership role at McKinsey Global Institute, where he led research on the economic and business issues most critical to the firm’s clients.