The Future of Consulting

The pandemic transformed a range of industries by forcing many companies to embrace digital transformation and enable remote or hybrid working conditions. Similarly artificial intelligence is causing firms and individuals to question how they work and what they do.

As the consulting industry dives deep into these trends, it provides a moment to reflect on what it means to be a consultant, and more importantly what the future of consulting is.

As a profession, consultants are incredibly diverse, and consulting firms come in all shapes and sizes. Yet what consultants have in common is the professional focus on adapting, learning, and leveraging the opportunities that are available. Consultants should be ahead of the pack, offering guidance, and helping others achieve their goals and dreams.

This is why we offer our vision of the future of consulting, embodied by the 5 Cs:

1. Conversation. True, honest and heartfelt dialogue. No more one way, top down corporate communication, advice and consulting.
2. Collaboration. Goals are articulated, pursued and achieved as a team, in a true partnership, power with, not power over.
3. Cooperation. Acknowledging the strengths and competencies as well as the weaknesses and dysfunctions of others, with respect and empathy. This enables an additive process that benefits all and encourages mutual learning and mentoring.
4. Continuity. Today’s markets and societies are remarkably elastic and too fast for consultants to be here today and gone tomorrow. Success is achieved and maintained through ongoing engagement and monitoring in order to be able to act promptly if the situation requires it.
5. Compassion. We all come from different places and have difficult struggles that should engender a compassion for each other and the world around us. Consultants were once associated with cutthroat tactics, but if we are to respond to the crises we face, compassion needs to be the guiding principle for all consulting work.

What do you think?