Instead of the "consulting is done" chatter, let's talk about skills and problems instead
About a year ago, I was accidentally interviewing - with someone in my network - for a role that my contact was beginning to look for someone to fill.
The role was a "Strategic Initiatives Manager" - which sounded a lot like the kind of suitably vague role that would pique the interest of any ex-consultant.
He said that this role was effectively one of 5 employees who were deployed across the business to fight fires on behalf of the C-Suite. I nodded along, and asked, as you often do in these chats, "is this a new role, or is it replacing someone?"
The answer was clear: "We just need another one. We have more fires."
In periods of change, consultants usually get a few more gigs. The generalist skillset of thinking outside the box, finding a new angle, adapting and creating a new path forward continues to be sought out - all things that many consultants love doing. But with AI likely to readily and easily replace many of the junior consulting roles - from Analyst to Researcher - conversely to the above interview, consultancies are rightly beginning to be concerned about what their demand might look like going forwards.
I didn't take the job - and took the position of Head of Growth at Freshminds instead. And anyone working in Growth (and building a Growth Strategy) knows that my current role is rooted in relationships and conversation - whether it’s with prospective clients, existing ones, thought leaders, or just brilliant people I'm lucky to have in my network. You're constantly learning from the market, and often there are correlations between the conversations.
Lately, though, it’s felt less like there is an invisible string connecting them and more like a game of ping pong.
One minute, I’m in a conversation where the value of the generalist skillset - often (fairly or not) equated with consulting - is more relevant than ever. Ten minutes later, I’m deep in a discussion about the critical importance of niche expertise and specialist skillsets, and how the role of the generalist consultant is quickly being made redundant.
In one coffee recently with a consultancy, I had both. They needed specialists from academia in the US in two specific topics, and in the same breath stated "but I need some junior consultants, too. They only need to know a bit about X. But I need to be confident that they can produce a slide deck and talk to clients without me there."
So when I read The Economist's piece on McKinsey last week (and then another this week), both somewhat nodding to the death of MBB, I feel we're missing a beat. I'm not saying the articles are incorrect - I agree with the analysis - but I just think we're having the wrong debate. We're very much seeing it as a binary discussion; consulting is either in, or out. We're seeing Consulting Directors either defending the premise of consulting, or other consultancies evangelising their new workforce model to be the consultancy of the future. Both don't feel quite right - consulting is a medium, not a "thing."
What is changing?
What's changing is obvious - the problems consulting firms' clients are facing, and how they might readily solve future problems using AI instead. They're new problems, and I could hazard a guess that not many consultants on a BCG bench have yet seen a rollout of AI-enterprise strategy and therefore software end-to-end. Because, quite frankly, not many have done it yet. Euan Blair's point from his recent video series at Multiverse has stuck with me - that the way we are currently using AI in organisations, is like using an iPhone for just texting and calling. We're playing with it like a toy, even though - when fully exploited - it will instrumentally change everything in many organisations, from processes, to workforce structure, to delivery.
Yes, I agree that the analyst at £1000 a day is likely to be replaced by AI soon. But the medium of consulting will continue to exist, and certain skills, both technical and soft, will still be in demand.
Where are the potential wins?
This is an opportunity for other players. Take Palantir. Its revenue in 2024 was £3bn, which is negligible in comparison to McKinsey's $16bn in the same year. But its growth is 48% YoY, compared to McKinsey's 2%.
ChatGPT has just introduced its own take on consultancy, adding it to its organisational structure to aid with client development and rollout. They've noticed something pretty crucial - businesses are struggling to take advantage of AI, as Euan's comment alludes to - and do not know where to start.
As the Economist notes, these organisations are in the trenches with their customers anyway; they may as well consult them through the rollout. And they will be in high demand by others to show them the way. Software companies, just by their very nature (speaking to their customers 24/7), are consulting day in, day out. Sounds a lot like project-based, consulting work to me.
The model, in many respects, still holds; expert consultants who have done this before in a sector will know how to deliver. They will bid for the work, win the work, repeat. Whether that's a software company with a consulting arm, or a consultancy firm working with software providers, organisations will still face a problem that they need to bring skills in to help with.
And in that vein, I think my accidental interview still holds. Businesses still have fires - they just look quite different, and the skills to map out how to work through them will be different, too.
