Few professions epitomize high-status knowledge work like strategy consulting. For decades, consultants built empires on frameworks, matrices, and structured problem-solving. But in the AI era, that foundation is eroding. The role is splitting into two extremes: strategic visionaries who invent, own, and execute transformational strategies, and framework factories who apply templates—and are increasingly automated.
AI does not disrupt both equally. It amplifies visionaries while commoditizing template appliers. The result: a profession once defined by frameworks must now be redefined by vision.
The top 5% of consultants operate not as framework users but as industry-shaping strategists. They are partners in transformation, accountable for measurable outcomes, and capable of reframing entire markets.
Who they are:
CEO-Level Strategists: Think at enterprisescale, setting long-term value creation agendas.
Implementation Leaders: Own execution, not just recommendations.
Strategic Partners: Work alongside leadership to deliver measurable outcomes.
What makes them elite?
They invent new frameworks, rather than applying existing ones.
They take implementation accountability, tying their work to execution.
They focus on long-term transformation, not short-term slides.
They deliver measurable business outcomes, not just conceptual models.
AI amplification advantages:
Data-driven insights at scale: AI expands analytic horizons beyond human capacity.
Faster strategic modeling: Scenario planning accelerates with machine computation.
Global market analysis: Broader, real-time datasets inform strategy.
Execution orchestration: AI helps implement strategies, not just design them.
Visionaries who embrace AI don’t compete with it; they orchestrate it. AI becomes a lever for faster, deeper, and broader strategic insight.
The Commoditized Tier: Framework Factories
The 80% majority of consultants operate as framework appliers. They rely on well-established templates to deliver structured recommendations. This was once the bread and butter of the industry; in the AI era, it’s exactly what machines do best.
Who they are:
McKinsey Template Users: Apply tried-and-true frameworks without tailoring.
BCG Matrix Appliers: Lean on standard tools like growth-share matrices and five forces.
PowerPoint Producers: Package insights into decks, with little accountability for outcomes.
What makes them vulnerable?
Reliance on pre-made frameworks instead of novel thinking.
Lack of execution responsibility—leaving outcomes to clients.
Dependence on pattern-based reasoning, which AI automates at scale.
Production of reports and deliverables, now easily generated by AI.
The AI threat:
AI applies frameworks faster, with broader datasets.
Pattern recognition becomes cheaper, faster, and more accurate with machines.
Framework factories face direct competition with AI tools that can run more comprehensive analyses, generate professional decks in minutes, and simulate strategies across infinite scenarios.
The Split: Vision vs. Template
AI makes the consulting divide clear:
Visionaries: Create frameworks, own execution, shape industries. AI amplifies them.
Framework Factories: Apply frameworks, produce reports, leave execution behind. AI replaces them.
Where consulting once thrived on codified knowledge, it must now thrive on inventive strategy and accountable execution.
The Collapse of the Middle
For decades, the consulting middle flourished. Competent practitioners could advance steadily by mastering frameworks, applying them reliably, and producing polished deliverables. AI destroys this safety net.
Standard frameworks are now automated.
Deliverables (slides, analyses, benchmarks) are instantly replicable.
Clients demand accountability, not just frameworks.
The safe middle of consulting disappears, leaving only visionaries or commodities.
Strategic Imperatives for Consultants
For consultants, survival requires transformation:
Own implementation. Tie recommendations to measurable outcomes, not slide decks.
Adopt AI as a co-strategist. Use AI to analyze data, model scenarios, and orchestrate execution.
Focus on CEO-level challenges. Work at the scale where frameworks are insufficient, and strategic vision matters.
Elevate from “advisor” to “partner.” Clients will increasingly hire those who own results, not just produce recommendations.
Real-World Implications
Consulting Firms: Must reinvent their value proposition. The era of charging premium fees for framework application is ending. Firms must shift to outcomes and transformations.
Corporate Clients: Will demand partners who take accountability, not slide decks. AI tools reduce the need for “framework-only” engagements.
Individual Consultants: Must evolve into strategic visionaries, or risk commoditization as AI eats templated consulting.
Strategic Visionaries (5%): Elite thinkers who invent frameworks, shape industries, and take accountability for outcomes. AI amplifies their reach and effectiveness.
Framework Factories (80%): Template appliers and report generators who rely on codified knowledge. AI replaces them outright.
The consulting middle—the safe haven of competent but unoriginal framework users—is collapsing. Strategy in the AI era is no longer about applying models but about inventing, owning, and executing them.
The lesson is simple: become a visionary partner, or be replaced by a framework engine.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
