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Future of Leadership and Consulting in the Age of AI: A Decade On

Exactly ten years ago, on July 3, 2015, we published the first version of Future of Leadership in the Age of AI. At that time, most discussions about artificial intelligence revolved around automating blue-collar jobs and routine manual tasks. Our contrarian view – based on hands-on experience implementing early AI systems in a large organization – was that AI would impact knowledge work even more profoundly. We envisioned AI evolving into super-smart pattern recognition and prediction machines, capable of augmenting or performing many cognitive tasks traditionally done by white-collar professionals. In other words, AI wouldn’t stop at the factory floor; it would move up the org chart into offices and boardrooms. This perspective was unusual then, but it has since been proven correct. In fact, as one early article presciently noted, AI’s effect on the workplace “will not be limited merely to repetitive, production line-type jobs” and is “increasingly entering the realm of highly trained knowledge workers”. We even argued that managers and executives would eventually work alongside AI, and that’s exactly the world we now see around us. (And have even published a comic on this topic at Working With AI).

The Future of Consulting in the Age of AI

For the Big 4, this moment represents not just a challenge but an existential threat. Their traditional models, deeply rooted in hierarchical structures and slow-moving and risk-averse processes, leave them especially vulnerable to the pace of AI-driven change. If these firms cannot embrace AI and adapt quickly enough to meet the demands of a flipped industry—redefining their value proposition, overhauling their delivery models, and rethinking their leadership structures—then perhaps their time has passed.

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