Inverting the Consulting Pyramid

The consulting pyramid isn't being flattened.

It's inverting completely.

The consulting model was built as a pyramid:

→ Partners at the top setting strategy and selling work

→ Managers in the middle coordinating teams

→ Associates at the bottom doing analysis and slides

This shape determined everything:

→ How clients were served (with armies of junior talent)

→ How value was created (through billable hours)

→ How careers progressed (up-or-out promotion paths)

→ How knowledge flowed (from the top down)

Now, the pyramid is flipping upside down:

→ Small, elite teams drive client engagements

→ AI systems handle what armies of analysts once did

→ Partners work directly with technology, not just people

→ Value moves from billable hours to outcomes delivered

Client engagements are transforming:

→ From static deliverables to continuous partnership

→ From "trust our analysis" to "let's co-create solutions"

→ From quarterly check-ins to real-time collaboration

→ From knowledge transfer to capability building

The source of leverage has fundamentally shifted:

→ Old model: More junior people = more leverage

→ New model: Better technology = exponential leverage

A partner who once needed 15 individuals to serve a client can now deliver more value with 3 senior consultants and AI.

The innovator's dilemma has legacy firms trapped:

→ Their partner profits depend on the pyramid model

→ The governance trap protects the status quo

→ Changing compensation structures breaks the model

→ EY's failed $700M Project Everest shows how insiders block structural change

These incumbent firms aren't resisting change out of ignorance; they're trapped by their success.

Mastery of the old game is exactly what stops them from playing the new one.

The hardest thing in business isn't climbing to the top. It's having the humility to start again at the bottom.

Those who embrace returning to zero have this deep sense of freedom.

They see change as opportunity, rather than threat.