Boutique Consulting Club - Not In A Bubble

Last week a partner (whose consultancy is going through a dramatic transition period) asked me:

"Danilo, do you think consulting was in a bubble during the last few years? When you look at the macro, do you see the sector struggling in the next months/years?"

My answer was, "Absolutely not." In fact, I personally believe in the opposite.

Many other assets were in a bubble, and have seen dramatic market price reductions in the past few months (from public equities to real estate to high-risk alternative investments). But expertise is not one of those assets.

When the macro environment gets turbulent and money goes through what analysts call a "sector rotation", markets consolidate around value. And there's a lot of value in expertise.

The ability to combine specific knowledge and practical experience, helping other people and organizations reduce risk and take advantage of new opportunities. Advising them on how to best make the transition. On how to deal with external change by making the right internal changes.

If anything, the value of expertise is going up. Not down.

I don't believe anyone would disagree with it. The most interesting point for discussion here is another one: expertise is probably one of the world's most valuable assets, as long as it's properly presented, delivered, and monetized.

That's why to talk about this - and get your firm through a transition period - we need to about consulting business models. How your firm works now, and how can you adapt to a different market environment and new client demands?

If you haven't taken part in our survey on innovative business models yet, you can do it here. It takes about 6 minutes to complete, and you get the report for free once it's published.