A senior McKinsey partner was stripped of a leadership position after dismissing research on discrimination against women leaders. The controversy raises a question about how leaders should respond when confronted with ideas that challenge their beliefs.

Chris Bradley, a senior partner at McKinsey & Company, was removed from his leadership role at the McKinsey Global Institute, the firm’s business and economic research unit, following an internal review. “His public comments fell well short of the standards we expect at our firm,” McKinsey spokesperson Taylor Burns said to me via email. Bradley did not respond to a request for comment.

Bradley remains a senior partner in McKinsey’s Sydney office. His removal from the Institute resulted from his posts in a LinkedIn exchange about the “glass cliff,” a phenomenon in which women are more likely to be appointed to leadership positions during periods of organizational crisis.

Although the LinkedIn exchange has since been deleted, Julia Carreon, coauthor of the new book Walking on Broken Glass: Navigating the Aftermath of the Glass Ceiling and one of the principal participants in the discussion with Bradley, shared screenshots of the conversation with me.

In the exchange, Bradley suggested that the theory was a convenient way for women to portray themselves as “victims” and indicated that he wasn’t interested in researching it further. The incident was particularly striking because his employer, McKinsey, has spent more than a decade documenting women’s workplace challenges through its annual Women in the Workplace reports, produced with LeanIn.Org.

His questioning of the glass-cliff research wasn’t the problem. Scientific findings should be open to scrutiny, and evidence for the glass cliff is mixed, with some studies finding little or no evidence of the phenomenon. Instead, the larger issue is how skepticism is expressed, particularly when it concerns women’s experiences of discrimination.

Men and women don’t always agree about the extent of gender discrimination, particularly in the workplace. A 2023 Pew Research Center survey found that 59% of women considered gender discrimination a major reason there aren’t more women in top business leadership positions, compared with just 39% of men. These different perceptions help explain why conversations about discrimination can become contentious, and why leaders need to approach them with an open mind.

How Leaders Express Disagreement Matters

When the subject is gender discrimination, disagreements can be perceived as a dismissal of women’s experiences. How leaders handle these conversations can determine whether the conflict leads to productive discussion or leaves women feeling unheard and disrespected.

Psychological research offers suggestions for how leaders can express their skepticism in a respectful way. For example, one set of researchers established the importance of “conversational receptiveness,” or the willingness to thoughtfully engage with opposing views. The researchers found that people who communicated receptiveness were perceived as more persuasive and desirable collaborators, even when they continued to disagree.

Specifically, the researchers identified phrases that signaled openness, including acknowledging another person’s perspective (“I understand”), finding common ground (“I agree with”) and expressing uncertainty rather than absolute certainty (using words like “might” or “somewhat”). Experiments showed that people using more receptive language were viewed more favorably by those who disagreed with them.

Although the research examined disagreement more broadly, these strategies could be useful in sensitive conversations about gender discrimination. For example, when discussing research on discrimination, a leader might respond, “I understand why that would be concerning. I’m not sure the research supports that conclusion, but I’d be interested in seeing the evidence.” Such a response acknowledges the concern while leaving room for further discussion

“Healthy skepticism is essential to good research, and no body of research should be beyond scrutiny,” Carreon told me via email. “But there’s a difference between intellectual curiosity and intellectual arrogance.”

Curiosity Encourages Employees To Speak Up

Another study found that expressing curiosity can have a positive impact. Across four organizational samples, researchers found that employees who perceived their leaders as more curious reported greater psychological safety, which was associated with greater willingness to speak up. Interestingly, curiosity seemed to matter even more for male leaders.

Carreon believes this willingness to learn is essential. “A good leader can absolutely challenge research on gender discrimination while taking women’s experiences seriously,” she said. “They do it by asking questions, examining the evidence, and being willing to discover that their assumptions are wrong.”

Leaders also need to recognize the limits of their own knowledge. Research suggests that leaders who demonstrate humility, acknowledging what they don’t know and remaining open to others’ perspectives, can create an environment where employees feel safer speaking up.

This can be especially important when discussing discrimination, because leaders may not have personally experienced the treatment being described. Acknowledging that limitation signals that leaders may not fully understand the challenges women face and that they are willing to consider evidence that challenges their assumptions.

Why Women May Hesitate To Discuss Discrimination

Productive disagreements require effort from both sides, and Carreon acknowledged that she might have handled parts of the LinkedIn conversation differently. “In hindsight, perhaps I could have done more than repeatedly suggest he look up the research,” she said. But she also questioned why the responsibility should have fallen on her.

“Women are exhausted. We’re tired of having to establish our credibility over and over, explain well-documented discrimination to people in positions of authority, and then be expected to remain endlessly patient and gracious while doing it,” she explained.

Carreon described how Bradley’s comments made her feel: "He was mocking the premise, and by extension, me.”

Discussing gender discrimination can be particularly difficult for women who worry that their concerns will be dismissed or ridiculed. When they feel mocked or belittled, they may be discouraged from speaking up again. Leaders don’t have to agree with every claim about discrimination, but they should be willing to consider the evidence and treat those raising concerns with respect.