Strategy consulting has undergone a structural shift. As large firms pivot toward multiyear transformation work, AI now completes much of the analytical labor that once trained junior strategists. The result is thinner strategy capacity inside the very firms historically relied on for insight. Leaders increasingly report polished deliverables that lack original discovery, competitive intelligence, and context-specific hypotheses.This gap is widening just as strategic decisions are becoming more complex — with faster competitors, volatile policy environments, and rising board scrutiny. A new model is emerging: broad, subscription-based intelligence that strengthens situational awareness, paired with senior-led boutiques that deliver deep primary research and original thinking. Together, they restore the clarity and foresight executives can no longer count on from traditional strategy providers.
Really appreciate this. You’re exactly right about the monoculture risk. Most firms think they’re “modernizing” research when they’re actually locking past consensus into the machinery. The real divide emerging isn’t AI vs no AI, it’s firms that can still generate fresh hypotheses vs those that can mainly remix historical priors.
The teams that will deliver true strategy wins to clients will pair broad AI-assisted scans with a small group that knows how to interrogate anomalies instead of sanding them down. That’s where the real discovery capacity gets rebuilt.
Really appreciate this. You’re exactly right about the monoculture risk. Most firms think they’re “modernizing” research when they’re actually locking past consensus into the machinery. The real divide emerging isn’t AI vs no AI, it’s firms that can still generate fresh hypotheses vs those that can mainly remix historical priors.
The teams that will deliver true strategy wins to clients will pair broad AI-assisted scans with a small group that knows how to interrogate anomalies instead of sanding them down. That’s where the real discovery capacity gets rebuilt.