Know What's Happening in Management Consulting
Know What's Happening in Management Consulting
Management Consulting Pulse
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EMAIL DIGESTS
Daily
Every morning
Weekly
Tuesday recap
Ram Charan unveils AI‑driven manufacturing playbook for cash‑flow gains
Renowned advisor Ram Charan released a manufacturing playbook that uses AI to generate immediate cash‑flow improvements. He urges CEOs to map the entire value chain, pinpoint cash traps and apply low‑cost AI tools such as ChatGPT analysis of vendor data to achieve roughly ten‑percent savings quickly. The framework also calls for aggressive pricing and a reassessment of China‑related dependencies.
The episode dives into Greg McKeown’s *Essentialism*, arguing that in an age of GenAI the real scarcity is disciplined choice. It emphasizes living by design, applying the 80/20 principle, and making strategic trade‑offs—essentially deciding what not to do—to focus on high‑impact work. The host shares personal experiments, practical heuristics like “Hell yeah or no,” and coaching prompts to help listeners identify their core strengths, eliminate low‑value tasks, and protect their time. The overall takeaway is that saying no deliberately frees the bandwidth needed for meaningful, creative contribution.
70% of business transformations fail. Not because of strategy. Because of culture. Big vision announced. Great slides shared. Everyone agrees. Two weeks later? Same behaviors. Strategy sounds good in meetings. Culture shows up on Monday morning. If leaders don’t model change… If incentives don’t shift… If standards aren’t enforced… Nothing changes. Without cultural alignment,...
The Data Integrity Gap: From “Big Data” to “Reliable Physics”.. click to learn everything you need to know about issues you likely don't know you have or will soon have in your organisation.. https://t.co/LrOOv5lGcm
In this episode, the host details his AI agent R Mini Arnold (RMA), a Mac Mini‑based system that uses Anthropic’s Claude models to automate tedious knowledge‑worker tasks such as presentation assembly, personal CRM building, and note‑file organization. He demonstrates how...
Why I told my employer to give a client their money back by @Timothy_Hughes https://t.co/l6WPjtF7eI @DLAIgnite #SocialSelling #DigitalSelling #Sales #SalesTips #SalesLeader #Salesforce #Leadership #Marketing #RevOps #SalesEnablement #MarketingStrategy https://t.co/gq0sgyx50W
Part of the issue is that certain influencers are pitching OpenClaw and AI consulting as “easy money.”
Accounting firms are rapidly losing compliance work to AI and automation, prompting a shift toward advisory services. Experts advise firms to prune low‑margin clients and replace them with high‑value, advisory‑ready relationships. Scaling requires moving from ad‑hoc consulting to structured, team‑based...
British Cycling went from losing to winning by improving 1% in everything. They cleaned bikes better, fixed sleep habits, tracked hand washing, and small gains stacked up. In business, a 1% lift in price, margin, and cost control can drive a 27%...
Optimization isn’t about cutting corners. It’s about sharpening them. This year, we reduced operational costs by 15% , no layoffs, no drop in quality. What changed? • Process Mapping → Exposed bottlenecks • Smart Automation → Freed the team for high-impact work • Lean Waste...
Ryan McCormack’s February 2026 Operational Excellence Mixtape warns that change fatigue is eroding continuous‑improvement efforts. He urges leaders to anchor teams to core values, embed quality as the operating architecture, and use process confirmation to lock improvements into daily work, citing Toyota’s...
Resistance to new software is common, especially when users want to stick to old processes. This dynamic often leads to project delays and cost overruns. Adapting to new tech requires careful change management. #ProjectManagement #ChangeManagement https://t.co/SgQrPEUnQD
Nvidia reportedly invested $30B in OpenAI, its own major customer. The chip maker powering AI now has equity in the models running on it. When hardware becomes equity, your AI vendor list has a silent shareholder at the table. Source: https://t.co/KNtNLIRTOQ
Korn Ferry is partnering with the LA28 organizing committee to recruit roughly 5,000 employees for the 2028 Summer Olympics, targeting agile skillsets and strong soft‑skills. The firm is shaping an employee value proposition that brands the roles as a “job...
AGI is in the noise bucket this week. Lakehouse architecture? Up 400%. While the industry debates the AI endgame, data infrastructure quietly becomes non-negotiable. The boring skills win again.
"Navigating the High-Stakes World of Critical Infrastructure & Asset Management with Quarterbac" From missile room to board room: getting to know Dave Robinson, CEO/Foudner of Quarterbac. Get the inside scoop from this inspiring thought leader interview: https://t.co/bP6BdAH637
Surgery centers are expanding rapidly, but growth brings regulatory, staffing, and technology challenges that can overwhelm internal teams. Without a structured plan, new service lines often trigger credentialing, supply chain, and workflow gaps, leading to delays and cost overruns. Ambulatory...
At this point, in any call, it is likely someone is AI transcribing, whether they tell you (& whether that is legal or not). We really need clear norms & rules about how these transcripts can be used, since AI makes...
Big signal for enterprise AI 👇 @AnthropicAI + @Infosys are moving AI agents straight into regulated industries: Telecom, financial services, compliance-heavy environments. It’s all about making AI operational with the latest proven practices. Why this matters: Enterprise AI adoption was never blocked by model...
Emerging retail brands are shifting logistics from a cost center to a strategic growth lever by redesigning their middle‑mile networks. AI‑driven consolidation, real‑time routing and intelligent zone‑skipping cut empty miles and reduce touchpoints, directly lowering operating costs. Faster, more predictable...
A little behind the scenes from recording the Profit Streams Podcast with Luke Hohmann, discussing transient advantage and how you manage uncertainty in portfolio decision-making. #Podcasts #TransientAdvantage #profitstreams
Leaders often dismiss formal strategy as bureaucratic, yet the article argues that this skepticism creates a "strategy deficit"—a gap between the choices an organization makes and the clarity it communicates. Drawing on 30 years of advisory work, the author outlines...
Recent research in the Academy of Management Journal shows that the speed of a leader’s response to employee feedback shapes perceptions of authenticity. Rapid behavioral changes are often judged as insincere, while gradual adjustments are seen as genuine growth. The...
I once worked with a company that sold frozen ready meals to elderly customers. They wanted better website conversion rates. Straightforward brief, right? We did user research and found the real problems had nothing to do with the website: - Customers were...
New research from Qualtrics and Celonis shows that employee resistance is no longer the primary obstacle to AI adoption; instead, organizational readiness is. While 52% of workers regularly use AI and 89% of leaders view AI as a competitive opportunity,...
The latest Let\'s Grow Leaders podcast episode shows how leaders can convert petty team conflicts into measurable productivity by mastering the right communication techniques. It introduces simple, empathy‑driven phrases and three diagnostic questions that help identify whether a teammate needs...
In episode 7 of Lean Coffee Talk, hosts Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh discuss how to select meaningful KPIs, blend change management with Lean, and extract customer‑value lessons from a Starbucks cup stopper. They compare immersion versus percolation coffee brewing to...
Executives are pushing return‑to‑office (RTO) mandates even as they pour billions into AI initiatives that automate tasks traditionally done on‑site. Recent research shows RTO does not improve productivity, innovation, or team cohesion, but it does erode morale and increase turnover....
Reputation isn’t built through narration; it’s built through contribution. What you say about yourself expires quickly. What you do for others compounds quietly. In complex systems, trust travels peer-to-peer, not top-down. Service is not charity, it’s strategy. It creates advocates...
Clients hire us for S/4HANA projects because we act as an extension of their team. We have the expertise to implement S/4HANA, but without the typical system integrator agenda. We focus on your success, not just project size. #S4HANA #Consulting...
The Multifamily Collective’s daily tip highlights that most operational initiatives falter because employees don’t adopt new tools, not because the tools are flawed. Effective change management begins by clearly communicating the rationale behind each change and involving staff early in...
Slow decision-making is the primary reason digital transformation initiatives stall. Delays happen when assumptions of quick decisions don't match reality, often a symptom of excessive consensus-based leadership. #DecisionMaking #DigitalTransformation #Leadership https://t.co/3e5ADMz5P3
42% of enterprise AI projects fail. The culprit? Data readiness (or lack thereof) @PureStorage @PureStorageUK #ArtificialIntelligence #Innovation #Technology #Tech #TechNews https://t.co/fgDiy1Ew0X
Internal audit has evolved from a compliance watchdog to a strategic partner driving organizational transformation. Auditors now embed in steering committees, use real‑time risk mapping, and apply AI‑powered tools to ensure changes align with long‑term goals. Modern audit platforms automate...
Human management may be messy at times, but is AI any better? Here are six tips from business leaders and questions to weigh whether AI has what it takes to lead. (My latest in @forbes) https://t.co/zSHyx8Su64
2026 is the year AI accountability gets real. No more hiding behind "pilot mode." If you can’t map AI spend to the P&L, your seat at the table is at risk. 💺🔥 See the roadmap: https://t.co/dJs86sTyRD #CXOtalk #Leadership #FutureOfWork
Brian Solis, Head of Global Innovation at ServiceNow, urged energy executives at the Baker Hughes Annual Meeting to view artificial intelligence as a tool for workforce augmentation rather than mere automation. He introduced the concept of “AI Darwinism,” arguing that...
Just as fear and panic will cause businesses pull back spending and bring about a recession, the fear and panic being spread about AI is causing managers to pull back on hiring. (My latest in @forbes) https://t.co/5oeVL6Kwyj
This new C-suite role is more important than ever in the AI era - here's why https://t.co/5dBV9IFx4d via @ZDNET
Mergers and acquisitions are fundamentally change initiatives, yet many firms neglect dedicated change management. Appointing a specialized change manager transforms integration from ad‑hoc tasks into a value‑creation engine, especially after the deal closes. A proven methodology—interviews, surveys, reporting, action plans,...
The SaaS market, the App Store, even enterprise suites, as a set of discrete “apps” that we choose from is an increasingly outdated concept. Soon, it will be a profoundly irrelevant concept. AI will relentlessly dissolve apps into capabilities. Sure, 20-30% of them...
Most UX teams have a bottleneck problem. You've done the research. You know what users need. But every time someone across the organization has a question about users, they have to come to you. You become the gatekeeper. Not by choice. Just...
Large enterprises now standardize clean, cloud‑first technology architectures, yet many digital transformations still miss their business targets. The piece explains that the failure stems not from technical flaws but from architecture being sidelined during day‑to‑day decision making, where cost, risk...
From isolated experimentation to embedded capability, culture, process, and incentives as the true transformation levers In boardrooms across industries, the same slide appears with reassuring regularity: a grid of successful AI pilots. A fraud model that lifted detection rates. A...
My latest research: The Great CIO Platform Reset: Why Agentic AI Is Forcing a 2026 Reckoning https://t.co/5nUzVNyJb8 Bottom line: AI agents are reshaping enterprise platform strategy.
AI is fundamentally reshaping consulting by replacing lengthy analysis and PowerPoint‑heavy engagements with faster, outcome‑focused projects. Firms are leveraging in‑house and public AI tools to accelerate insight generation, while clients increasingly use the same technology, shifting value from “what is”...
#CIOChat Q4: Endgame: Is the future cloud-first, cloud-smart, or cloud-selective? What does your next-gen operating model look like across on-prem, edge, sovereign cloud, hyperscale? What strategic capability must CIOs rebuild, refactor, or pay down tech debt to make it work? https://t.co/eKYQWD41ZW
#CIOChat Q3: Data residency, sovereignty mandates, and geopolitical risk are rapidly reshaping architectural decisions right now. Are we entering a “sovereign stack” era? How are you balancing hyperscaler scale with regulatory exposure and enterprise control? https://t.co/VK5lLC7gA0
Executive-led cyber risk management has shifted from traditional IT‑centric frameworks to a leadership‑first model that aligns digital hygiene with corporate governance. In remote‑first environments, the loss of a centralized perimeter expands the attack surface, making every executive login a potential...
#CIOChat Q1: For a decade, “cloud-first” was treated as doctrine. With the “public” prefix unsaid. Are CIOs now quietly reassessing that orthodoxy? What signals (cost volatility, lock-in, latency, resilience, or control) made you question assumptions we once considered settled? https://t.co/Eecmzn4rTh
I’m excited to keynote at @xRedThreadx on March 14, 2PM at the LINE Hotel. I’ll share how leaders can outthink disruption—and build what’s next. Looking forward to connecting with fellow Outthinkers and innovators. #RedThreadX #Innovation #Strategy #Leadership #Outthinker https://t.co/FwYxqch81L
