The interesting question is not whether they are capable of having that meeting. Most of them are. The question is what gets in the way.

In my last article, I explored whether engineers make good consultants. The short answer is yes, with the right support at the right moments. This one picks up where that left off. As technical consultants become more senior, business development becomes an increasing part of their role. And many find that transition genuinely difficult, in a way they did not expect.

There are three common gaps they need close:

1. The Mindset Gap

The starting point is not skill. It is mindset.

A software salesperson who has been selling for years has developed a relationship with rejection. They have heard no enough times that it stops carrying much weight. For a technical consultant who has built their reputation on delivery excellence, that relationship does not exist. Being turned down, being exposed, putting yourself forward and being rebuffed: these feel like much higher-stakes moments.

And so the easier path is to stay close to the work already in front of you. Focus on delivery. Let the results speak. Hope someone notices.

The problem: hope is not a good sales strategy (more on that, here.)

The good news is that mindset is workable. When we run business development programmes for technical consultants, shifting mindset is usually the first conversation. Creating the right framing and environment to achieve the shift isn’t easy, but we have to get people to a place where they are willing to at least give business development a genuine attempt.

2. The Knowledge Gap

If someone has good structured thinking, strong communication, and solid analytical capability (which the vast majority of engineers do), they have most of what they need to sell consultatively. The next gap is usually knowledge: specifically, the ability to talk at a business outcome level rather than a technical one.

Technical consultants think and talk in technical terms. That is their natural register. But conversations with a CFO or a COO require a different vocabulary. Business risk, strategic priorities, organisational impact. These are the terms that land at that level.

The bridge between the two can be thought of as a benefit or metrics ladder. If a consultant has spent months reducing a client’s system downtime, or compressing the time it takes to complete a business process, that is a technical metric. This can be a comfortable place to stay. But what is the business outcome of that change? Faster time to market. Improved customer satisfaction. Risk mitigation. Revenue capture.

Being able to move comfortably up the ladder is a skill that can be practised. It makes a significant difference to confidence going into senior conversations when you can use the executive-level framing and language they are likely to respond to.

3. The Authority and Relationships gap

Ultimately, there are three things that drive consistent sales performance: delivery, relationships, and authority.

Technical consultants almost always have delivery covered. They have typically won work through excellent execution, natural follow-on projects, and client retention. But relationships and authority tend to be underdeveloped.

Authority is a function of both what you know and how visible you make that knowledge. Most technical consultants have earned the credibility. The problem is they do not publicise it. They do not post, they do not speak, they do not write. They know more than enough to be seen as an authority in their field, but they are largely invisible outside the accounts they work on.

Building personal brand feels uncomfortable to a lot of people. It can feel like self-promotion, like blowing your own trumpet. But done well, it is simply making your expertise visible. And it does not have to start with a keynote or a polished article. It can start with one connection request to a contact who has gone quiet, or one post on a topic where you have something genuine to say.

The key is to start small and build momentum. In my experience, once a technical consultant starts to see results from these activities, even modest ones, it becomes easier to continue. The initial barrier is usually just beginning.

So yes, engineers can make excellent consultative sellers. The raw material is almost always there: strong analytical thinking, genuine domain expertise, and the credibility that comes from years of delivery. What tends to be missing is a willingness to be seen, the ability to speak at a business outcome level, and some deliberate effort to build relationships beyond the immediate engagement.

These are all learnable. They require a different kind of practice from what technical consultants are used to, and they benefit from structured support. But for consulting firms with strong technical talent, developing that talent into effective business developers is one of the higher-return investments available.

If this challenge is familiar in your firm, I would be glad to talk through what we have seen work. Do get in touch.

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Thank you for reading The Skilled Consultant. If you haven’t yet subscribed, please do so to receive all our articles direct to your inbox.
There are several other ways you can interact with Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training….

1. Connect with Deri Hughes (Founder & MD) on LinkedIn

2. Connect with Colin Mann (MD) on LinkedIn

3. Book a 30 minute intro call with Deri Hughes

4. Book a 30 minute intro call with Colin Mann

5. Stay informed about our free workshops and webinars - follow Honeycomb on LinkedIn or visit our website.

That distinction matters more than it might first appear. A consultant displaced by AI knows they have been displaced. A consultant who has stopped thinking, but remains in post and continues producing work, is a much more dangerous situation: for the firm, for the client, and for the individual’s own development.

The workflow that should be non-negotiable

Colin Mann (MD at Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training), hosted a webinar recently with Adrien Foucault, founder of Spaik and former McKinsey consultant, on how AI is reshaping consulting (you can watch it here).

Adrien described the necessary AI workflow for consultants in simple terms: prompt, validate, write up. You use AI to generate a first pass. You then apply judgment to what it produces, checking it against primary sources, testing the logic, catching errors. Then you write up and present.

It is obvious when you say it. It is clearly right. And it is not consistently what is happening.

Adrien described seeing - in his advisory work across consulting, private equity, and investment banking - the validate step being compressed or cut entirely.

The sequence in practice is becoming: prompt, write up.

Why the validate step is missed

Some of this is pace pressure. Consulting has always operated at pace, and AI compounds this rather than relieving it. When a client expects faster turnaround because AI can produce faster outputs, the temptation is to deliver it. The consultant who generates in twenty minutes what previously took two hours does not spend the remaining time on careful validation. They move to the next deliverable.

Some of it is the nature of the technology itself. Large language models generate outputs with a fluency and apparent authority that makes them read as correct even when they are not. Every major model carries a disclaimer that it can and does make mistakes. The problem is that AI-generated content does not read like mistakes. It reads like polished, confident work. That is a specific cognitive trap, and it is a harder one to avoid than it sounds.

I’m reminded of some advice I got years ago from Richard Webster, a Bain Partner I worked closely with. We were talking about writing a good ‘answer-first’ (Bain jargon for a strong hypothesis, which we used to guide the work we did for clients). He cautioned that when you get very good at writing an answer-first, you can start to believe it, and when you believe it, you can fall into the trap of not actually doing the work as well as you should to test it. AI tools are giving everyone a near-instant and convincing answer-first.

And some of it is a culture problem. If a firm has not built explicit expectations around validation, then cutting the validate step is not experienced as a failure of rigour. It is experienced as efficiency.

The costs are bigger than they first seem

The consequences are becoming visible. Deloitte Australia had to refund clients on projects where AI-generated content contained incorrect quotes, incorrect names, and incorrect legal text1. This is not a marginal or theoretical risk. It is a reputational and commercial one with real financial consequences, and it is a direct result of AI-generated output moving to client without sufficient review in between.

A recently published research study, AI makes you smarter but none the wiser (Fernandes et al., 2026)2, puts hard numbers on the mechanism. In two large-scale studies, participants using ChatGPT to complete logical reasoning tasks performed better than those working unaided. But they also significantly overestimated how well they had done, by around four points on a twenty-question test. AI improved their output and impaired their ability to judge it, simultaneously.

There is a detail in the findings that consulting leaders should note. Participants with higher technical knowledge of AI were more confident in their self-assessments, and less accurate. More AI-savvy did not mean better or more self-aware. The people in your firm who are most capable with the tools may also be the least likely to catch their own errors. Training your team to use AI well is necessary. It is not, on its own, sufficient.

Then, beyond immediate error risk, there is a slower and more structural cost that concerns me. Junior consultants develop judgment by doing analysis, not by supervising AI doing it. The research, the synthesis, the model-building: these are not just tasks to be completed. They are the mechanism by which people learn to think like consultants. When those tasks are routinely delegated to AI without meaningful engagement with the output, the development pipeline is going to produce people who can operate the tools proficiently but who have not built the expertise, judgement, and critical thinking capacity that consulting rests on.

What does that mean for your firm in five, ten, fifteen years’ time? The quality problem will not stay at the junior level.

The conversation firms are not yet having

Most of the current debate about AI in consulting centres on adoption: which tools to use, which workflows to automate, whether to build or buy, how to manage the change. These are important questions. But the quality conversation is lagging behind the adoption conversation, and that gap has consequences.

What does the QA process look like in an AI-augmented team? Who is accountable for validating AI-generated outputs, and how is that accountability made explicit rather than assumed? What does it mean for a senior consultant or partner to sign off on work when the methodology behind it is less visible than it used to be?

These are not questions for the future. They are operational questions for now. The firms that are answering them clearly are building a meaningful and durable advantage over the ones treating adoption rate as the primary metric of progress.

What a real commitment looks like

In the webinar, Adrien described ‘leadership commitment’ as one of the key unlocks for AI adoption, but not in the way firms usually frame it. The commitment he described is not, “we encourage you to use AI.” It is, “this is how I use AI in my own work, and here is what I expect from our outputs as a result.”

The second version is significantly harder than the first. It requires senior team members to have developed a view on what rigorous validation looks like in their context, and to model it consistently, not just mandate it from a distance.

That is the conversation worth having. Not whether to adopt AI, but what quality means in an AI-augmented firm, and how you protect it as pace and volume increase.

This will be an interesting time to look back on. The race is underway, and I’d wager the winners will be those who approach it like the tortoise, not the hare. A firm that produces more, faster, while eroding the rigour that made its work worth commissioning, is making a very poor trade.

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Join our AI Masterclasses in May

Honeycomb and Spaik are collaborating to run two open AI Masterclasses in central London this May.

Thursday 7th May — AI Applications in Consulting
A hands-on day for junior to mid-level consultants focused on practical AI skills: how to use AI effectively and responsibly across everyday consulting workflows.

Friday 8th May — Creating Value with AI in Consulting
A strategic session for senior consultants and leaders on business value, implementation, and what AI means for the future of consulting.

FIND OUT MORE AND BOOK YOUR PLACE HERE

Useful resources

The Consulting People Report 2026, by Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training and New Minds. A people playbook for consulting leaders which includes 5 concrete moves you can deploy now to emerge from 2026 with clarity, momentum, and a consulting team fit for the future. DOWNLOAD HERE.

The State of AI in Consulting 2025, by Spaik. Explores how leading firms are navigating AI’s twin impact: generating 20-40% revenue from AI projects while transforming internal operations. DOWNLOAD HERE.

Thank you for reading The Skilled Consultant. If you haven’t yet subscribed, please do so to receive all our articles direct to your inbox.

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There are several other ways you can interact with Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training….

1. Connect with Deri Hughes (Founder & MD) on LinkedIn

2. Connect with Colin Mann (MD) on LinkedIn

3. Book a 30 minute intro call with Deri Hughes

4. Book a 30 minute intro call with Colin Mann

5. Stay informed about our free workshops and webinars - follow Honeycomb on LinkedIn or visit our website.

But there’s a pattern I see often. The engineer joins a consultancy, gets promoted quickly through the junior grades, is clearly one of the team’s strongest performers, and then, somewhere around Director level, something stops working. Not for everyone. But for enough people that it is worth understanding why.

So, the short answer to the title question is: yes, and no. Brilliant junior consultants, often. Natural senior leaders and business developers, not always.

Why engineers thrive in the early years

The skills at the core of consulting - framing a problem, breaking it into logical components, building structured analysis, working to tight deadlines in complex multi-stakeholder environments - are things that engineers are trained in from day one.

A structural engineer working on a major infrastructure programme learns to use product breakdown structures the way consultants use issue trees. They understand, from the ground up, how to move things forward in organisations with complicated governance, multiple stakeholders, and competing priorities. Anyone who has worked on a programme like HS2 will recognise that environment. You learn to use formal structures and informal relationships in equal measure, because neither alone is enough.

Our analytical capabilities are often exceptional. I have worked alongside engineers whose backgrounds transferred directly into consulting work in ways that surprised even them. The mathematics, the structured thinking, the comfort with complexity: it turns out to be the same.

Add a generally strong work ethic, an allergy to missing deadlines, and the ability to explain complicated things clearly to non-specialists, and you have someone who can do a lot of what consulting requires from the moment they walk in.

Where the plateau starts

The problem is not about introversion or about people skills in general. That is a caricature, and an unhelpful one.

The problem is more specific. As a consultant becomes more senior, the expectation shifts, from technical delivery towards client impact, influence, and relationship development.

Two things that came naturally as a junior consultant start to feel less comfortable.

The first is elevating the conversation. We are trained to go deep. When we are in a room with a client, we can provide enormous value by engaging on a technical level. But our more senior clients often care less about the technical outcome and more about the strategic or commercial one. Making that shift requires a different kind of curiosity, and a willingness to leave the territory where you feel most confident.

The second is building genuine human connection. Not rapport, not professional courtesy, but the kind of intimacy that underlies trusted advisor relationships. We want to help by solving a problem. I recognise that impulse in myself. The difficulty is that being a trusted advisor sometimes requires the opposite. It requires the ability to hold space, to resist the urge to provide an answer, to let someone talk without steering them toward a logical conclusion. Some situations do not lend themselves well to someone who wants to solve a problem, provide an answer, and apply logic. In fact, those three things taken together describe an engineer fairly well and, for much of my career, they described me. In those moments, what the situation actually requires is something more intangible.

Getting comfortable with ‘failure’

As seniority increases, so does the expectation around sales and business development. Everything above applies here, but now there is an additional factor.

We are not used to failing.

That is not a criticism; it is the point. If you are designing a bridge, failure is not an acceptable outcome. Engineering education, professional standards, and the nature of the work itself all create people with high standards, high accuracy, and a deep discomfort with getting it wrong.

Business development does not work like that. You will not win every bid. The ratio of effort to outcome in sales can be humbling, even when you have done everything right. Learning to sit with that, to reframe a missed opportunity as simply not yet being successful with a particular client, is a real psychological adjustment. It held me back too, for longer than I would like to admit. A fear of failure, I think, is what holds a lot of technically talented engineers back from fully stepping into senior commercial roles.

What consulting firms can do

First, anticipate the plateau. Engineers often move through junior and mid-level grades at pace, which can mask the development needs that will matter at Director level and above. If someone with an engineering background is clearly talented, it is worth having the conversation early about what seniority will require - before the plateau, not after.

Second, train, coach, and role model the human side. Many senior consulting leaders do this naturally, but are less deliberate about passing it on. Feedback in the moment, noticing when someone has jumped to a solution rather than letting a conversation breathe, can do a lot of work.

Third, introduce business development awareness early. Not necessarily the mechanics of proposals and pitches, but the culture of building relationships with commercial intent, and the normalisation of not winning every time.

The engineers who become outstanding trusted advisors do exist. I like to think I’ve made a lot of progress along that road. But I had specific experiences and specific support that made the difference. The goal is to make that development more deliberate, and to give more of your talented technical people the chance of getting there.

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Thank you for reading The Skilled Consultant. If you haven’t yet subscribed, please do so to receive all our articles direct to your inbox.
There are several other ways you can interact with Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training….

1. Connect with Deri Hughes (Founder & MD) on LinkedIn

2. Connect with Colin Mann (MD) on LinkedIn

3. Book a 30 minute intro call with Deri Hughes

4. Book a 30 minute intro call with Colin Mann

5. Stay informed about our free workshops and webinars - follow Honeycomb on LinkedIn or visit our website.

It’s the industry’s challenge du jour. If AI agents are doing the research and analysis, and workflows become more streamlined, consulting firms may well conclude they don’t need a bottom-heavy resourcing model. Where then do our industry’s future Managers and Partners come from?

Let’s start by bringing in a dose of reality.

Very few firms have actually moved to a diamond model yet. Very few are systematically using AI to redesign workflows end-to-end. Most firms are still in the realm of individual consultants using individual tools for individual tasks. Someone chucks something into ChatGPT, or Claude, or Copilot to help them do a task a bit faster.

This is not yet a structural problem.

So, the question we should ask today isn’t, “How do we adapt to fewer juniors?”
It’s, “How do we design the role of juniors deliberately before the structure shifts under our feet?”

The role of juniors is evolving, not disappearing

The classic pyramid model has been around since consulting began. Partner at the top, senior manager beneath, then consultants and junior consultants at the base. The size varies, the leverage changes, but the logic has endured.

Now we’re starting to see experimentation with something closer to a diamond.

Under the Partner you have subject matter experts (SMEs). You have people building and operating AI agents. And the junior role shifts from:

Research. Analyse. Write up.

to:

Prompt. Validate. Write up.

That is a new skillset. Prompting and validation are techniques to be learned and they require judgement. But in many ways, the fundamentals haven’t changed at all.

Juniors still need to sort the wheat from the chaff. They still need to pull up to the key insight. They still need to persuade clients to share information. They still need to work extremely fast to solve extremely complicated problems.

The mistake is to look at this shift and only see productivity and cost efficiency.

Because you miss two critical roles that juniors will play in the ‘2026 and beyond’ consulting firm.

1. Replication: the AI skill nobody talks about

People talk a lot about validation when it comes to AI. Very few talk about replication – and replication is critical.

AI models hallucinate. They generate inconsistent outputs from consistent inputs. They can produce something that looks convincing but is fundamentally flawed.

So part of the QA process must involve replication. A second person rerunning the logic. Rechecking the prompts. Reproducing the analysis independently.

If you design your future team assuming one junior does ‘Prompt. Validate. Write up.’, you may miss the fact that you also need ‘Replicate. Finalise.’

By a different person.

If you don’t factor replication into your QA process and your resourcing model, two things happen:

• You become under-resourced at the junior level.

• You introduce client risk into your system.

Ironically, the firms that take AI most seriously may find they need more junior capacity, not less.

2. The two-way apprenticeship model

The second shift is cultural. The classic apprenticeship model is simple: juniors learn from seniors. They shadow. They receive feedback. They develop judgement through exposure.

But in the current environment, seniors also need to learn from juniors. That’s not a comfortable idea for everyone, but it’s increasingly necessary.

In The Consulting People Report 2026, we highlighted that AI, hybrid working, and generational shifts are likely to hit the senior team harder than the junior team. Seniors must unlearn and relearn long-entrenched behaviours. They must build capabilities they haven’t needed before.

Your juniors can be a secret superpower in that transition.

There are two dimensions to this.

• Technology fluency

  Many senior leaders - particularly those in their late 40s and above - are not digital natives. Many millennials are not AI-native either. Gen Z are further ahead, and Gen Alpha will be further still.

  If you view your juniors as a source of expertise on tools, workflows and digital habits, there is real value there. This requires explicit design. Structured moments where seniors are learning from juniors about AI use cases, digital behaviours, emerging norms.

• Generational understanding

  Repeatedly in conversations with consulting leaders, we see the mismatch between Gen X and Millennial leaders and Gen Z or Gen Alpha juniors. Expectations around work-life balance, flexibility, hybrid working and what is “reasonable” at work have shifted.

  It takes a curious, self-aware leader to lean into that gap rather than dismiss it. But if you see your junior team as a source of insight into how these generations think and operate, there is enormous value. Not just internally but also in how you advise clients who are grappling with the same generational shifts.

You may need more juniors than you think

If you look at juniors purely through the lens of productivity, you might assume the base of the pyramid shrinks. If you factor in replication and two-way apprenticeship, you may conclude something different:

• You still need junior capacity for robust QA.

• You need junior expertise to support senior capability shifts.

• You need to invest in juniors deliberately for medium and long-term leadership development.

The model will shift - that seems inevitable. But the apprenticeship model is not disappearing. It is becoming more reciprocal, more deliberate, and more complex.

What do you see happening in your firm?

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Thank you for reading The Skilled Consultant. If you haven’t yet subscribed, please do so to receive all our articles direct to your inbox.
There are several other ways you can interact with Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training….

1. Connect with Deri Hughes (Founder & MD) on LinkedIn

2. Connect with Colin Mann (MD) on LinkedIn

3. Book a 30 minute intro call with Deri Hughes

4. Stay informed about our free workshops and webinars - follow Honeycomb on LinkedIn or visit our website.

If you are yet to download your copy of the report, you can do so here:
The Consulting People Report 2026

In this session Caroline shares the four major themes from CPR26, grounded in original research with consulting leaders:

1. The Senior Team Tipping Point
   AI is changing consulting fast – but it’s senior leaders, not juniors, who will be most exposed.

2. The Changing Shape of the Firm
   While AI plays a role, shifting talent tenure and client demands are also reshaping firms. Many are moving from traditional pyramid structures to diamonds or pods, with greater focus on experienced consultants and hybrid teams.

3. Hybrid by Design
   Hybrid working is now the default. But it brings risks to culture, learning, and wellbeing. Firms must deliberately design for connection, not assume it will happen.

4. The Future is Human
   In an AI-enhanced world, it’s the human skills – empathy, communication, judgment – that will define great consultants and trusted advisors.

Deri then introduces the five-part Playbook – practical guidance for consulting firm leaders navigating the year ahead:

1. Stay client and strategy-led

2. Operationalise culture deliberately

3. Lead on expertise and quality

4. Upgrade human skills

5. Automate and experiment (especially with AI)

He shares practical examples, including how some firms are experimenting with pod structures that blend consulting and technical roles, and how junior consultants can still add critical value in an AI-enabled model.

Finally, they respond to many insightful questions from the live audience, including:

- How can we replicate “learning by doing” if AI is now doing the doing?

- How do we maintain quality when AI-generated outputs aren’t always consistent?

- What support do mid-level managers need as they lead hybrid teams and navigate new delivery models?

- Where will our future managers come from if the traditional junior pipeline is shrinking?

- How can firms stay agile in people planning when AI is changing the shape of work so quickly?

DOWNLOAD CPR26 NOW

Thank you for reading The Skilled Consultant. If you haven’t yet subscribed, please do so to receive all our articles direct to your inbox.
There are several other ways you can interact with Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training….

1. Connect with Deri Hughes (Founder & MD) on LinkedIn

2. Connect with Colin Mann (MD) on LinkedIn

3. Book a 30 minute intro call with Deri Hughes

4. Stay informed about our free workshops and webinars - follow Honeycomb on LinkedIn or visit our website.

It shows up time and again in our consulting training - starkly in business development and sales work, but it’s equally essential in delivery, internal leadership, and firm-building. We consider it one of the six factors that underpin performance at every stage of a consulting career.

This article explores what discipline really means in consulting, why it’s so hard to maintain, and what mechanisms can help.

Excellent delivery is underpinned by discipline

Let’s begin with the delivery space. There’s the obvious stuff: being rigorous in analysis, ensuring our insights are based on reliable data, and applying proper QA processes.

But there’s also discipline in the basics, like preparing well for client meetings. Most consultants know they should set a clear purpose, outcome, structure, and timing (POST) for every meeting. But when you look at your calendar and ask how many of your own meetings have this, discipline is often found wanting.

Delegation is another key area. As pressure mounts, we can slip in two ways:

• Under-delegating, because it feels faster to do it ourselves (even though it isn’t in the long run).

• Over-delegating, because we don’t have time to give proper direction or support we default to a hands-off, overly empowering style, and hope for the best.

Similarly, most leaders know they should create stretch opportunities for their team and follow up with coaching and feedback. But do we do this consistently? And when feedback is required in the moment, are we disciplined enough to offer it?

In business development, discipline often beats skill

In BD and sales, discipline often matters more than skill. The real challenge isn’t knowing what to do. It’s doing it. Repeatedly.

Take network nurturing: many consultants know they should build and maintain relationships over time. But it requires consistent, often unglamorous, effort. The “3-2-1” model we sometimes share is a good example. After a networking event:

• Within 3 hours: make initial contact (ideally on LinkedIn).

• Within 2 days: send a follow-up (e.g. an article you discussed).

• Within 1 week: send something more substantial (e.g. a proposal to meet).

This process isn’t complicated. But it requires discipline. Too often, we return from a great event and dive straight back into delivery. The moment is lost.

The same applies to visibility. Having a consistent digital presence builds credibility. But posting regularly, with a cadence that reinforces your brand, takes discipline.

Without discipline, the internal work never gets done

Then there’s the work we do for the firm: internal initiatives, compliance, proposition development, content management. These almost always come third.

• First priority: client delivery

• Second: BD and sales

• Third: everything else

Consequently, the initiatives most critical to firm-wide resilience sit in the “important but not urgent” quadrant. They languish.

It takes discipline (and often good leadership) to carve out time, drive momentum, and engage others to care about it too.

Why discipline breaks down

Some of the reasons are obvious: being busy, competing priorities, lack of time.

But others are more subtle:

• The payoff is too far away
  Many of these actions don’t offer immediate results. That makes them easier to deprioritise.

• Our inner game slips
  When our energy, motivation or confidence is low - whether due to life outside work, sleep, or just the long winter - our self-talk changes. We rationalise, “It can wait.” “It’s not that important.”

• Fear
  Delegating, posting on LinkedIn, or nudging a senior contact all carry perceived risk. Fear leads to avoidance. Avoidance erodes discipline.

So what helps?

We need to think about systems and support. Here are some practical mechanisms that help consultants stay disciplined:

1. Rhythm and routine

   Just like regular gym-goers, many consultants succeed because they operate on rhythm. Setting times in the week for key BD or internal activities helps build that routine.

2. Prompted structure

   E.g. syncing CRM reminders with diary holds can make a big difference. A prompt in Slack + 15 minutes in your diary = higher follow-through.

3. Executive support

   A great EA doesn’t just manage your inbox. They know your internal tasks and prompts, and help nudge you when things are slipping.

4. Mutual accountability

   A peer who holds you to account (and vice versa) is hugely powerful. No one wants to be the one who let the team down. This is your gym buddy effect at work.

5. (Emerging) AI assistance

   We’re starting to explore how AI tools can help. Imagine systems that spot when your LinkedIn cadence drops, or detect CRM tasks going cold before you do. There’s promise here and we’ll share more as we test.

One final thought

Discipline isn’t just about personal willpower. It’s about designing environments, routines, and relationships that make the right thing easier to do than the easy thing.

That’s what we need more of in consulting: not heroic individual effort, but shared systems of discipline. It can seem like more effort to put those in place, but once they are, you reap the benefits for a long time to come.

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Thank you for reading The Skilled Consultant. If you haven’t yet subscribed, please do so to receive all our articles direct to your inbox.
There are several other ways you can interact with Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training….

1. Connect with Deri Hughes (Founder & MD) on LinkedIn

2. Connect with Colin Mann (MD) on LinkedIn

3. Book a 30 minute intro call with Deri Hughes

4. Stay informed about our free workshops and webinars - follow Honeycomb on LinkedIn or visit our website.

We brought in a leading expert to help unpack the challenge: David A. Fields, author of The Irresistible Consultant’s Guide to Winning Clients. In this session, he explores why rainmakers are so rare and what it really takes to grow them from within.

David started with some home truths:

1. Rainmaker dependency is a real risk…and a growth cap

David kicked off with some sobering data: in most firms under $50M, 90% of revenue is driven by just three people. The risks are clear - losing one of them can halve your income. But beyond that, the reliance on a few individuals sharply limits a firm’s growth, valuation, and resilience.

2. Most attempts to ‘buy’ business development don’t work

Hiring in external salespeople with a “golden Rolodex” rarely delivers, especially for boutique and mid-sized firms. The sale of consulting is relational, expert-led, and trust-based. Unless you’re in a commoditised, low-fee market, external BD hires are unlikely to succeed.

This perspective aligns with Prof. Daniel Muzio’s research on hiring rainmakers. We were fortunate to host a webinar with him in October 2025 called Why Your Superstar Senior Hire is Likely to Fail. Click here to watch that one.

3. Consultants are not coin-operated

Incentives and targets alone won’t shift behaviour. As David put it: “The incentives piece doesn’t work…consultants get into the business to solve problems, to help clients, not just to make more money.” If your strategy relies on dangling bigger bonuses, you’ll likely be disappointed.

4. Skills training is essential, but not sufficient

Standalone skills training, delivered in isolation, won’t make someone a rainmaker. Colin Mann, MD Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training agreed: “You’re going to have a fun day together and people will…go back to their desk and do whatever they were doing before. We have evidence of a broader programme (working), which seeks to develop the mindset component, motivation, inner game, self-understanding of where they’re trying to get to career-wise…then combining it with skills training, expectation setting and incentives.”

5. You can’t just tell people to “do what I do”

Many founders try to mentor others into rainmaking. But the traits that made them successful - entrepreneurial drive, risk tolerance, appetite for rejection - are rarely shared by the broader consulting team. In short, people who join consulting firms are not like people who found consulting firms.

So what does work?

David offered a proven 10-step roadmap for building internal rainmakers:

1–7: Foundation building (for the firm)

• Committing to a 3-year investment (yes, really)

• Ensuring delivery confidence so BD doesn’t feel risky

• Clarifying positioning and messaging

• Modelling the right mindset from leadership

• Selecting and supporting the right people

• Assigning responsibilities

• Rebalancing expectations (lower utilisation, higher BD time)

8–10: Skill-building (for the individual)

• Relationship development skills (Year 1)

• Pursuit and opportunity management skills (Year 2)

• Leading BD and coaching others (Year 3)

During the webinar David explores each of these in more depth, and responds to a number of interesting questions from the live audience.

If you’re serious about creating a scalable, resilient business development engine inside your firm, the message is clear: you can’t shortcut it, but it is possible.

If you want some help to figure out what that might mean for your firm, please get in touch. We are always happy to chat.

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There are several other ways you can interact with Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training….

1. Connect with Deri Hughes (Founder & MD) on LinkedIn

2. Connect with Colin Mann (MD) on LinkedIn

3. Book a 30 minute intro call with Deri Hughes

4. Stay informed about our free workshops and webinars - follow Honeycomb on LinkedIn or visit our website.

Let’s say you’ve got a revenue target of £1 million and your typical consulting project sells for £100,000. Simple maths suggests you need to sell 10 projects. But that’s only part of the story. You also need to factor in:

• Conversion rates at each stage of your sales process

• Timing - when work needs to be sold and delivered i.e. if you win 10 projects in September, you likely won’t deliver them all by year end.

This short guide gives you a practical model to plan backwards from your number, step by step.

Reverse engineer your sales behaviours

Most consulting projects start with a proposal. So the first step is understanding:

• How many proposals you need to send

• At what average value

• And with what expected conversion rate

If your proposal-to-project conversion rate is around 50%*, then to win 10 projects, you’ll need to send 20 proposals over the year.

*50% is a sweet-spot conversion rate. If you’re achieving 75–80%, you may be pricing too low. If you are only getting 20–30%, your proposition may be unclear, or perhaps you’re sending cold/underprepared proposals.

But you can’t send a proposal until you’ve had a conversation about an opportunity. We call these opportunity calls - and we define them as any conversation related to a new piece of work not currently in your pipeline. These can be with a new prospect or a new person inside an existing client.

Not every opportunity call leads to a proposal. We typically find that about 60% of opportunity calls result in a proposal being sent.

Upstream from that, you need to look at enquiries or early-stage potential opportunities. Not all enquiries lead to an opportunity call. We typically see about 80% convert into a real conversation.

So, in this example, for every 10 projects you want to win:

• You may need to send 20 proposals

• Which means having ~35 opportunity calls

• Which requires ~45 inbound enquiries

Timing is everything

Of course, you then need to consider when each of those steps must happen and the phasing through the year. We find a good rule of thumb to be:

• A proposal should go in at least two months before you expect to recognise revenue

• An opportunity call should happen a month before that i.e. at least three months before revenue is booked

Your experience may be different, but it’s valuable to know the typical lag for your sector and cliental. Once you understand this, you can phase not only your revenue targets for the year, but your enquiries, opportunity calls, and proposals targets too.

Then track them.

If your enquiries are lagging now, you are building up a problem for yourself in Q2, so get focused on some ‘top-of-funnel’ activity that will move you back on track.

If you’re not planning at this level of detail, you’re trying to hit a sales target with a strategy of hope. And hope is not a good strategy.

“Failing to plan is planning to fail”

If you haven’t got a 2026 plan yet, take an hour and write down your best guess at:

• Your project volume and average value

• Your proposals target

• Your opportunity calls target

• Your enquiries target

• Your top-of-funnel activity plan

• How this all should be phased by month

If you want to pressure test your numbers with us, just drop a note in the comments.

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Thank you for reading The Skilled Consultant. If you haven’t yet subscribed, please do so to receive all our articles direct to your inbox.
There are several other ways you can interact with Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training….

1. Connect with Deri Hughes (Founder & MD) on LinkedIn

2. Connect with Colin Mann (MD) on LinkedIn

3. Book a 30 minute intro call with Deri Hughes

4. Stay informed about our free workshops and webinars - follow Honeycomb on LinkedIn or visit our website.

Their verdict? Despite a tough few years, consulting is entering a new phase. But the rules are changing, and firms that can’t adapt quickly enough may struggle to keep up.

This session drew on their conversations with hundreds of firms over the past year. Here are the key insights, especially relevant to firm leaders, proposition owners, and anyone thinking hard about talent, AI, or growth strategy for 2026.

The double… triple… quadruple squeeze

Luk described 2025 as the year of the “AI double squeeze”, with many firms caught between falling revenue from smaller projects (as clients use AI to self-serve) and rising costs (as those projects are pushed up to seniors). Rob added a third pressure: clients expecting AI to be baked into larger projects, with lower fees or faster delivery as a result. And Deri pointed out a fourth: pressure to innovate service offerings using AI internally.

That makes four simultaneous pressures:

1. Revenue loss from smaller “order-take” projects

2. Increased delivery costs as seniors absorb work

3. Client price pressure on larger projects with AI expectations

4. Innovation pressure to develop AI-led services

The result? Many firms are seeing their traditional margin engines erode. And while this was visible in early signs before 2025, it became acute last year.

AI maturity come in three waves

Deri shared a simple frame for understanding how firms are starting to apply AI internally:

1. Efficiency – using AI to automate internal workflows and reduce delivery costs

2. Expertise – enabling faster knowledge access and onboarding through internal knowledge systems

3. New propositions – building new, AI-enabled client offerings (still rare)

Rob and Luk agreed that most firms are still early in this journey. Many consulting firms have advised clients on AI without yet transforming their own internal models.

Specialism wins in 2026

Asked how they’d build a new consulting business in 2026, Rob and Luk were clear: specialism wins.

“Twenty years ago, we set our business up on a four by four matrix - four sectors, four services. We thought that was quite tight. (Now), if you’re a single sector, single service…you’re certainly on the right tracks as far as I would be concerned”

That means:

• Go deeper than you’re comfortable with

• Lead with a high-stakes client issue

• Codify, repeat, and refine until you can predict outcomes

Luk also argued that new firms need to behave more like SaaS startups: hire senior people early, pre-invest in building credibility, and test quickly. Both he and Deri stressed that codification is key to unlocking AI’s potential — without repeatable data, AI offers little leverage.

The changing talent model

A shift from pyramid to diamond-shaped teams is changing the role of juniors and the way firms invest in them.

• Juniors are still vital, but AI skills will increasingly be their differentiator

• The old model (bringing them along and billing for learning) no longer holds

• Firms will need to invest directly in development, not expect clients to subsidise it

• The future is a two-way apprenticeship: juniors help seniors stay tech-current, while learning judgment and delivery

“It’s the senior folks who are going to have to adapt way more than they’ve realised yet to everything related to AI: AI delivery, AI quality assurance, managing Gen Z and then Gen Alpha people entering the workforce and all of the differences there.”

What matters in 2026: A final checklist

Here’s what the panel agreed will define successful firms this year:

• A narrow, high-stakes proposition in a growing niche

• Clear sector specialism — and language to match

• Outcome-based pricing, but only where results are repeatable and proven

• Internal AI use: not just talking the talk

• Investment in human capability: especially trust, empathy, and resilience under pressure

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Thank you for engaging with The Skilled Consultant. If you haven’t yet subscribed, please do so to receive all our articles direct to your inbox.
There are several other ways you can interact with Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training….

1. Connect with Deri Hughes (Founder & MD) on LinkedIn

2. Connect with Colin Mann (MD) on LinkedIn

3. Book a 30 minute intro call with Deri Hughes

4. Stay informed about our free workshops and webinars - follow Honeycomb on LinkedIn or visit our website.

It sounds like a natural evolution. But in reality, it’s often where good consultants start to feel overstretched, unclear, and on the back foot. Delivery still needs to happen. The quality still has to hold. And yet, time spent on project work is time not spent growing the business or building client relationships.

I’ve been there myself. You go from being the person who does the thing, to the person who has to make sure other people are doing the thing — and doing it well across multiple teams, clients, and workstreams. If you’re not careful, you end up back in the weeds, just with less time and more pressure.

So how do you lead across multiple projects, protect quality, and still create space to step up into your new role?

“I can’t step back - I’m accountable”

This is one of the most common phrases I hear from people.

I get it. Most of us have spent years building our reputations by delivering. Letting go of that core activity feels risky. But your role is shifting. It’s no longer about what you can personally deliver but what your team can deliver, with your support.

That means you have to manage differently. Oversight has to replace ownership. Support replaces control. You’re still accountable, but the way you carry that responsibility has to evolve.

There are two critical enablers that make this work:

1. Delegating well

2. Establishing layered oversight

1. Delegate well: look for low-risk, not low-effort

When people start delegating, they often focus on low-effort tasks: admin, formatting, quick bits of work. But the real unlock comes from delegating low-risk, high-effort work; things that don’t need your expert judgement, but take up a lot of your time.

Then, how you delegate matters as much as what. You have to give your team the authority to own their work. That includes decisions. If you hold on to every decision, you have to stay across every detail. You’ll inevitably become a bottleneck (and exhausted!).

If the idea of relinquishing control is giving you the jitters, it may help to follow a delegation checklist such as this:

There’s a mindset shift here, too. Someone doing the task differently from how you would isn’t necessarily a problem. In fact, they might do it better (this happens more often than we like to admit!). And, even if it’s only 80% of what you’d have done, the time and development/growth gains (for you and your team) are usually worth it.

2. Establish layered oversight: a system for confidence

Delegation only works if there’s a system that keeps you confident in what’s going on, without dragging you into everything.

In my first career, I worked in aircraft engineering. Junior technicians were often trusted with critical inspection tasks. There was no blind trust or abdication of responsibility - people’s lives were on the line. But it worked, thanks to the layered assurance system.

First, we had strong systems: checklists, training, and clear documentation. Then, spot checks: experienced engineers would drop in, check a few tasks, and catch issues early. And finally (most importantly), the culture supported it. You were expected to own your work, ask for help, and flag problems early.

That mindset maps surprisingly well into consulting. You don’t need to inspect every deliverable, but you do need to:

• Have a plan that’s visible and actively used, a basic risk register, or a simple reporting system.

• Build in review moments that don’t rely on memory or goodwill e.g. spot checks, reviewing a sample of reports weekly.

• Create a team culture where quality, honesty, and trust sit side by side and people feel confident to surface concerns and questions.

All three layers matter. Together, they create the conditions for you to lead across multiple projects without being constantly pulled back into detail.

Build a rhythm that works for you and your team

Oversight doesn’t have to mean lots of heavy meetings. I’ve seen people run this well using a simple weekly rhythm:

• A light-touch check-in on Monday: “What’s on this week? What’s got you worried?”

• A midweek review of something in progress: “Let’s glance at the draft now, not at the final hour.”

• Friday reflection: “What worked? What do we need to tune for next week?”

This rhythm gives you good visibility without micromanaging. It also gives your team clarity about when and how you’ll be involved, which means fewer ad hoc interruptions, and more focused support.

Other tools I’ve seen work:

• A short escalation matrix: what needs to come to you, and when

• A shared quality checklist: what “good” looks like for key deliverables or meetings

• A rolling delivery tracker: just enough to spot drift before it becomes a problem

These don’t need to be heavyweight processes. Think of them as scaffolding — enough structure for people to do their best work without you hovering over them.

Can you handle the white space in your diary?

When we get deeper into this stuff in training programmes, it often becomes clear that the real barrier to progress isn’t practical, but emotional.

Creating space in your diary can feel uncomfortable. If you’re not fixing things, chasing deliverables, or solving client problems, what are you doing? If your value has always come from being dependable in delivery, stepping back can feel like a loss of identity.

And then it’s harder to avoid the lurking internal voice that says, “You should be using that space for business development.”

The majority of consultants experience resistance stepping into sales and BD. It feels unfamiliar, it’s less structured and more relational, and you don’t get the same direct feedback. All in all, it can feel ambiguous and exposing.

“I don’t really want to create time because it means I’m then a bit exposed to having to demonstrate success in BD.”

Tackling that fear - recognising that (quietly, perhaps subconsciously) you are holding yourself back by keeping busy with what you know - can often be the biggest unlock.

We have lots of resources which dive further into sales processes and psychology. If you’re interested in learning more, our webinar Consulting Sales Demystified could be a good place to start - CLICK HERE to watch on demand.

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Thank you for reading The Skilled Consultant. If you haven’t yet subscribed, please do so to receive all our articles direct to your inbox.
There are several other ways you can interact with Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training….

1. Connect with Deri Hughes (Founder & MD) on LinkedIn

2. Connect with Colin Mann (MD) on LinkedIn

3. Book a 30 minute intro call with Deri Hughes

4. Stay informed about our free workshops and webinars - follow Honeycomb on LinkedIn or visit our website.

So what’s the ambition the leaders of these teams have?

They want to change the way these experts engage with clients. To shift from ‘expert’ to ‘consultant’ and then to ‘trusted advisor’. Typically that means getting their heads up from the detail, understanding the commercial context clients operate in, and building relationships that go beyond the technical. It means making more strategic recommendations to more senior people. Ultimately, it means influencing the direction of bigger programmes of work and being trusted with earlier stage conversations and longer-term planning.

And some of these team leaders have even loftier ambitions. They want their technical folks to go further than just ‘trusted advisor’, to get to…

(whisper it quietly or you’ll scare them off)

…‘sales person’

How can we tell this is a scary topic? Because “Sales” frequently gets rebranded to “BD”. In fact, the very word can provoke a reaction like saying someone saying “Voldemort” at the Leaky Cauldron pub.

It’s a perfectly understandable goal. These are high-performing experts doing exceptional technical work who have deep trust from their clients. Clients who often come back wanting more, even without the consultant proactively driving sales. Their leaders see the potential to do even more, even bigger, even better work with those clients - if only these technical folks would start shifting more towards being sales people.

But, that ambition often runs into resistance. And for good reason.

What gets in the way?

I asked the question below in a LinkedIn poll recently. The majority felt that this transition was entirely possible, particularly for someone whose personality is naturally suited to sales.

The reality is, however, that personality can be a blocker for some technical consultants when it comes to seeing themselves as effective salespeople. Many deeply technical people aren’t especially drawn to human interaction.

I say that without judgement. It’s an observation, but it makes sense. These are people who’ve spent their careers building deep expertise in a specific domain. They often identify much more strongly with the work itself than with the people around it. Their interests tend to be system- or topic-centred, rather than relational. They’re more drawn to things than people, broadly speaking. But, as we all know, people buy from people.

When they’re suddenly asked to become more ‘consulting-capable’, it can feel like an identity mismatch. And when that shift is stretched further to include sales conversations, it often results in wholesale rejection. The transplant doesn’t take.

My advice: Don’t leap straight to sales

Trying to take someone from deep technical expert to salesperson in one step rarely works. Unless someone already has a natural interest in commercial conversations, that kind of leap tends to get people defensive and reluctant rather than enthusiastic.

The language doesn’t resonate. The behaviours feel performative. The whole thing lands as inauthentic. Resistance is often the result.

Behind that resistance can be deeper stuff. Insecurity about how others might perceive them. Concern they’ll be exposed if the conversation moves outside their domain of expertise.

Fear of rejection.

Even a shift into a ‘trusted advisor’ space, which may feel like the middle ground, can be a stretch. It asks people to open up, to move from content into conversation, to initiate meetings without an immediate deliverable, or to engage clients beyond the boundaries of the work itself.

For some, those are deeply uncomfortable behaviours.

If you’d love your team to go on this journey, first ask yourself, “What is it reasonable to expect in terms of a shift on the axis from ‘deep technical delivery expert’ to ‘broad client relationship expert’ to ‘salesperson’?”

Start with motivation

Before you begin any kind of skills development or capability programme, you need to get underneath the behavioural ask and solve for desire.

Why would someone want to change? What might motivate them to try?

If you skip this step and go straight into capability-building, there’s a significant risk that people show up to training disengaged. I’ve seen it many times. They sit in the room, but because they haven’t chosen to be there they are cynical, suspicious, and searching for reasons why it won’t work. It really is an uphill struggle.

Simply, you won’t get meaningful change until the people in the room are choosing it for themselves, and that requires you to get deep into their motivations.

One of the most effective tools we’ve found to unlock this is the use of mindset statements.

This means creating the space for people to talk honestly about:

• What they believe their role is

• What they want their role to be

• And what kind of mindset it will take to thrive in that role

With those statements documented we ask the participants to make a commitment. Are they bought into trying to operate from that mindset? And to shifting their behaviours where needed?

The tone of this session matters. It has to be open, transparent and safe - a place where people can share what feels uncomfortable or uncertain. Where debate can happen over what is or isn’t a reasonable expectation for that role. Where people can say “I don’t want to do that” without fear.

The outcome isn’t a slide deck or a framework. It’s a shared commitment: This is the job I’m signed up to, and I know what that will take.

The easiest way to get started with mindset statements is to brainstorm with the team and aim to get to 10 - 12 statements that cover a given role. These will typically be “I statements” (phrases that start with “I”). This is important as each person is owning these things for themselves. It drives commitment.

We find a set of sentence stems is a useful way to get into this brainstorm. Get people to write down as many phrases as they can think of, starting with these words.

It can help to organise those against the sections of your competency framework, giving you 4 or 5 groups of phrases. Synthesise them down to an initial set and then discuss each one in turn.

The trick is to finetune the expectations. Say you’re talking to some Senior Managers and aiming to pin down exactly what they are - and aren’t - responsible for. In the domain of Sales the group may have written down things like:

• It’s my job to deliver great work so clients come back for more

• I’m responsible for staying in touch with my clients after a project ends

• I drive new leads for the firm by regularly publishing new insights

• I don’t need to create new opportunities yet

You can then debate which of those are true and which aren’t. Refine them. Iterate to a version everyone round the room is prepared to buy in to.

Ultimately you’ll end up with something like this:

That process is super powerful. Your technical experts will start to see themselves differently, and be more accepting of help. Those people who might have shown up to training cynical, suspicious, and searching for reasons why it won’t work? Now they want to be there as they are bought into the ‘What’ and keen to learn the ‘How’.

If you want to get your technical experts on that journey from world-class at delivery to trusted advisors and revenue generators - even identifying as salespeople - you must get the mindset right first. Mindset statements are a simple and powerful tool to drive that.

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Thank you for reading The Skilled Consultant. If you haven’t yet subscribed, please do so to receive all our articles direct to your inbox.
There are several other ways you can interact with Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training….

1. Connect with Deri Hughes (Founder & MD) on LinkedIn

2. Connect with Colin Mann (MD) on LinkedIn

3. Book a 30 minute intro call with Deri Hughes

4. Stay informed about our free workshops and webinars - follow Honeycomb on LinkedIn or visit our website.

We were delighted to welcome Maurizio Cuna (), Partner at Infosys Consulting and 20+ year consulting veteran, for a wide-ranging discussion inspired by his new book, Beyond Slides. As his title suggests, Maurizio argues that great consultants succeed not just through sharp analysis and communication, but through attitude, relationships, influencing, and professionalism.

All are things typically described as ‘soft skills’, but Maurizio highlights the misnomer:

This is a valuable listen for technically-strong consultants looking to grow their influence. Also, for managers and L&D leads supporting transitions into leadership, client ownership or business development roles.

Expect to discover:

• Why being technically brilliant is rarely enough
  At some point, someone else will have the same technical skills as you — plus something more. That “something” often decides who gets promoted, who gets invited back, and who builds lasting client relationships.

• The habits that compound into long-term impact
  Writing, reading widely, and developing a strong point of view aren’t just nice-to-haves. Done consistently, they help consultants clarify their thinking, grow their visibility, and contribute more effectively.

• Why trust is built through behaviour, not just competence
  Maurizio shares how he starts with trust, leads with generosity, and adapts to cultural context. The result: client relationships that last decades and teams that stay connected across continents.

• How to build connections as an introvert
  Many consultants are analytical introverts. The key is understanding your style and finding ways to connect that feel authentic, intentional, and grounded in real value.

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There aren’t many consulting Partners sharing their experience of twenty years in the industry. Maurizio does so on LinkedIn, X, and through his own newsletter on Substack - - with wit and intellect. I encourage you to add him to your feed. And here’s a link to his #1 Amazon best seller - Beyond Slides.

Thank you for engaging with The Skilled Consultant. If you haven’t yet subscribed, please do so to receive all our articles direct to your inbox.
There are several other ways you can interact with Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training….

1. Connect with Deri Hughes (Founder & MD) on LinkedIn

2. Connect with Colin Mann (MD) on LinkedIn

3. Book a 30 minute intro call with Deri Hughes

4. Stay informed about our free workshops and webinars - follow Honeycomb on LinkedIn or visit our website.

And we’re glad to help. We’ve built our business around supporting those moments.

But occasionally, someone lifts their head above the day-to-day and asks a different kind of question:

“How do I build a really capable consulting team for the long term?”

When that happens, I know we’re in a different conversation.

Because yes, there are specific skills and tools that can help close short-term gaps. But there are also a small handful of capabilities that simply can’t be shortcut. No quick fix, no two-day workshop, no templated course will build them overnight.

And yet, they’re exactly the things that set great consultants apart. They’re the foundation of reputation, resilience and leadership. And they take years of attention and investment to grow.

It’s a big commitment for a consulting leadership team to develop and hold a long-term philosophy like this, but I’ve seen those who do reap the rewards.

So, how do I answer that question? I say, “You need to think about four things:

1. Deep Expertise

The biggest reason why clients choose you

Expertise might seem obvious. But we often underestimate just how much clients value it.

Recent research shows that 85% of buyers choose their consultant based on how well they understand their business’s challenges and needs. 76% said that understanding trends affecting their industry was one of the most important qualities. That’s far higher than brand reputation or cultural fit.

In other words, clients want to know they’re in safe hands. And increasingly, that means working with someone who knows their world — not just someone who’s smart and adaptable.

But deep expertise doesn’t arrive fully formed with a new hire. It’s shaped over years. Through project exposure, yes, but also through deliberate learning, structured insight, and reflective practice. It takes more than “learning on the job” to build real depth.

Actionable takeaway:
Treat expertise as something to be cultivated, not assumed. Create knowledge-sharing rhythms. Write internal briefings. Curate reading lists. Use client stories to bring the industry to life. The goal is to accelerate learning without skipping depth.

2. Strong Network

Where the next project usually begins

It’s easy to talk about networking as something for senior people. But the seeds of a strong network are planted early and they’re one of the most valuable long-term assets a consultant can build.

Referrals and repeat work are still the number one driver of growth for most consulting firms. But trust-based relationships take time. You can encourage them and create conditions for them, but you can’t rush them.

As the saying goes:
It takes a long time to grow an old friend. Trust is built one single moment at a time.

And it’s not about LinkedIn connections. It’s about real professional relationships. People who understand what you do, trust how you work, and remember how you made them feel.

Actionable takeaway:
Encourage your team to stay connected with clients, collaborators, and peers from past projects. Support them to build habits around staying in touch. Give them space to take someone for coffee, and permission to treat relationships as part of the job, not a distraction from it.

3. Visible Authority

How you get found by people you don’t know yet

Being an excellent consultant is essential. But, if no one beyond your immediate circle knows that, it limits your impact…and your firm’s growth.

Visible authority means being recognised outside your network. It’s what makes you discoverable, referable, and trusted before the first meeting. It’s what allows your firm to generate warm leads without having to push so hard behind the scenes.

But here’s the truth: it doesn’t happen through one-off posts or ‘thought leadership’ drives. It’s built over time by consistently sharing what you know, with clarity, generosity, and relevance to your audience.

Actionable takeaway:
Start small, start early. Encourage junior consultants to write, share, speak, reflect. Support them to publish LinkedIn posts, join panels, speak at conferences, or even start their own podcast. Over time, these contributions build both confidence and credibility.

These first three foundations speak directly to the three ways that consulting leaders can grow revenue: delivery-led, relationship-led, authority-led.

The fourth speaks to the foundational necessity for trust…

4. Self-Awareness and Behavioural Agility

The lynch pin for high performance

This is the hardest to pin down, but arguably the most transformative when well developed. Let’s consider the two parts of this one:

Self-awareness means understanding how you show up - your default patterns, the impact you have, the assumptions you carry.

There are many ways to gain self-awareness, both formally and informally. It can be effective to ‘jump-start’ the journey by using assessment tools such as Discovery Insights or Vertical Mindset Indicator to explore the dimensions of your personality. If you are interested in this, here is a link to our webinar: Consulting Personalities - Understanding yours and adapting to your client’s

Behavioural agility is the ability to flex those patterns with intention. To respond to the moment appropriately and consciously, not just react in line with your habits.

In consulting, this might mean shifting between different Consulting Archetypes - from analyst to storyteller, from expert to transformer. Those shifts don’t just happen. They require reflection, range, and a willingness to look at yourself closely. I introduced this concept in a recent article: The 8 Consulting Archetypes - Your Map to Consulting Mastery and Client Success.

For many consultants, this sort of work starts late, if at all. But for those who discover it early it can become a superpower.

Actionable takeaway:
Begin with reflection tools: personality profiling, archetype models, mindset conversations. Encourage your team to talk openly about how they think, what they notice, and how they handle stress or ambiguity. Consider the feedback culture in your firm and look for ways to improve the quality and frequency of feedback shared between colleagues. Over time, these conversations unlock range and real growth.

None of these four capabilities are quick wins. But they are absolutely foundational if you want your team to thrive in the long term. It’s not every leader who lifts their head from the day-to-day firefighting to consider long-term capability building, but I’ve seen first-hand that it pays dividends for the ones who do.

So, a quick reminder of the four areas of focus:

• Deep expertise to build confidence and trust.

• Strong network to bring work and develop reputation.

• Visible authority to open new doors.

• Self-awareness and agility to turbo charge all-round effectiveness.

And the key takeaway? If you wait until someone’s about to make Partner to start developing these things, it’s too late. Begin early and you’re laying the foundations for something strong.

As ever, if you want to chat about what this may mean for your team, please find a time to do so: Book an intro chat here.

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Thank you for reading The Skilled Consultant. If you haven’t yet subscribed, please do so to receive all our articles direct to your inbox.
There are several other ways you can interact with Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training….

1. Connect with Deri Hughes (Founder & MD) on LinkedIn

2. Connect with Colin Mann (MD) on LinkedIn

3. Book a 30 minute intro call with Deri Hughes

4. Stay informed about our free workshops and webinars - follow Honeycomb on LinkedIn or visit our website.

In particular, confidence when engaging with senior clients.

Most of these consultants had been in their role long enough to have a solid grasp of the expectations. But when it came to working with senior clients they felt daunted, out of their depth, and in some cases, genuinely anxious.

That didn’t surprise me. In many industries (and certainly in my background in the military), senior figures are kept at arm’s length. You follow the chain of command and might go years without direct interaction with someone very senior. If and when it does happen, it’s a big deal.

Now, as consultants, conversations with senior clients happen more frequently. Often, they are just part of the job. And while that’s one of the best things about the role, it can also be intimidating.

So how can we help consultants feel more confident and credible in those moments?

Three confidence-crushing fears

When you dig down into what makes these interactions nerve-racking for new consultants, three consistent answers emerge:

1. The fear of wasting senior client’s time
   Am I using their time well? Will this senior client feel I’ve wasted their time and not added any value?

2. The fear of being asked something I don’t know
   What if I don’t know the answer? What happens if I’m asked something technical, or something I haven’t come across before?

3. The fear of being put on the spot
   What do I do if I’m asked to comment or commit to something that’s not really within my role?

Let’s look at each of those.

What if they think I’m wasting their time?

Much of this fear can be addressed with good ‘meeting hygiene’. We train people to use the POST framework (Purpose, Outcome, Structure, Timing) to shape a meeting. It’s worth sharing this meeting structure in advance so they know what to expect.

Consider pre-wiring too. That might mean sending key slides or highlights ahead of the meeting to save time and get everyone up to speed.

When the meeting begins, take a moment to check in. Ask what’s on their mind. Is there anything in particular they want to discuss? Even if they say no, you’ve shown that you’re focused on their priorities. That alone builds credibility.

Then, lead with the answer. Consultants often feel the need to walk through their process, but most senior clients are more interested in insight than methodology. Focus on what you’ve found, not what you’ve done. Even if your conclusion is still developing, it helps to share your best working view upfront, with any caveats clearly stated.

As the meeting progresses, stay high level. Talk through the categories or principles before diving into detail. That gives you the chance to watch their reactions and ask if there’s an area they’d like to explore further. It also helps avoid the risk of overwhelming them with information that may not be relevant.

What if I’m asked something I don’t know?

Senior clients can be prone to asking something broad, adjacent to your scope, or entirely unrelated to your current project. It might just be curiosity, or it could be a deliberate test.

By way of example: a consultant was working on a capital delivery project and reporting to their senior client on timeline, costs, and risk. The client unexpectedly asked for their view on digital transformation opportunities in infrastructure. Not part of the current project, but not irrelevant either.

To ensure something like this doesn’t become a ‘deer in headlights’ moment, it helps to shift your mindset.

You don’t need to have the perfect answer, but you can always facilitate a high-quality conversation.

The easiest way to do this is get curious. Ask why they’ve raised it. What are they hoping to achieve? Why now? Is it something they’re struggling with? What’s the consequence if it isn’t addressed?

These kinds of follow-up questions can lead to rich, value-adding discussions without needing much subject knowledge. They also give you time to think, to draw on what you might have read, or to bring in the firm’s broader experience.

You can practise this. Ask a colleague, a friend, or partner to pose a question about something you know little about. See how long you can keep the conversation going through questions alone, and notice how much you find out.

And there’s another practical step you can take too: predict what they might ask. Think about their role, their industry, their company. See if they are engaging with things on LinkedIn. Do some basic research and develop a viewpoint.

AI can be a helpful assistant in this. Here’s a prompt you could try to get some insights:

I’m meeting a client who is [role and team] at [company name]. Please research the organisation’s business environment - strategy, financials, leadership, people, operations, and external pressures. Then summarise the implications for my client given their responsibilities in their role.

What if I’m put on the spot?

The third fear is usually founded in being asked to commit or agree to something on the spot. And this one can loom large if that something is outside your scope or responsibility.

It could be a request for additional work. It could be a decision the client expects you to make. Whatever you say in response, it feels like there’s a risk. Say yes when you shouldn’t, and you might end up taking on work you can’t deliver. But, say no too abruptly, and you risk creating tension and damaging the relationship.

Here, internal preparation matters. Think about your role, your permission space, and the kinds of decisions that need escalation. Know what you can comfortably say yes or no to in the moment.

And importantly, don’t feel pressure to respond straight away. A simple, “Let me take that away and confirm,” is often the best option. It gives you time to check and respond with clarity, and that in itself signals professionalism.

Your energy matters more than your expertise

To close, I want to return to something I’ve written about before (see The Tricky Transition from Industry to Consulting).

You’re not always hired for your deep industry knowledge. Sometimes, you’re not hired for it at all. Often, the value you bring lies elsewhere - in your ability to engage, to build momentum, to help the client move forward.

In a recent training session in South America, I asked a group why they thought clients brought them in. One consultant answered: “Because we bring youthful energy.”

That stayed with me. Whether or not you feel youthful, if you consistently bring energy, curiosity and determination, senior clients will see your value.

And that should give you all the confidence you need.

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Thank you for reading The Skilled Consultant. If you haven’t yet subscribed, please do so to receive all our articles direct to your inbox.
There are several other ways you can interact with Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training….

1. Connect with Deri Hughes (Founder & MD) on LinkedIn

2. Connect with Colin Mann (MD) on LinkedIn

3. Book a 30 minute intro call with Deri Hughes

4. Stay informed about our free workshops and webinars - follow Honeycomb on LinkedIn or visit our website.

“What you leave behind matters even more now.”

Consultancies have always aimed to deliver value. But clients are increasingly (and rightly) demanding more: more demonstrable impact, more proof of change, and more capability that lasts beyond the end of a project.

Perhaps, “What am I leaving behind?” is one of the most important questions consultants can ask themselves today. Yes, AI is disrupting the sector, but the job of consultants is still to add value to their client.

In this noisy world, I think it’s a question that cuts through. It’s not about what you delivered. It’s not about what you recommended. It’s about the legacy you create in your client’s organisation once you’ve gone.

Here are five things I believe every consultancy should aim to leave behind.

1. Change that actually happens

If an organisation hasn’t changed in some tangible way — behaviour, structure, technology, process — it’s hard to argue that value has been delivered.

That might seem obvious. But even at the strategic end of the spectrum, we often mistake agreement for commitment to action. The report gets signed off. Everyone nods. And nothing happens.

For real change to take root, you need buy-in across multiple levels of an organisation. And not just a moment of consensus, but a committed and sustained ‘Yes’ from every key decision-maker.

This is where the ‘7 Types of Yes’ framework can be useful to surface whether some people are just nodding along. If you don’t have a room of ‘Type 1’ and ‘Type 2’ yeses, the proposed change doesn’t land. And nothing is left behind.

Read Agreement isn’t the same as commitment for more on the 7 Types of Yes

In more operational contexts, new ways of working and new technology have to be embedded. There’s a growing recognition that traditional ‘technology-agnostic’ consulting isn’t good enough. It often results in a recommendation, and clients don’t need another recommendation. They need working solutions. That might mean actually designing and implementing an application. Where in the past consultants have been known for leaving behind a PowerPoint deck, they now need to be known for the systems and tools they embed.

Actionable takeaway: Ask yourself — what visible, lasting change would a client still feel six months after you’ve left?

2. Measurable value, not just potential

Consultancies often talk about the potential value of a programme, but less often about what’s been realised or created.

That’s changing. As data quality improves, so does the ability to baseline, benchmark and track the results of a project. ‘Value’ is no longer something you point to in the distance. It’s something you should (and now can) measure and demonstrate.

One simple but powerful test of your value proposition is this: could it work on a contingent fee basis? Even if you wouldn’t actually contract that way, it forces a clearer articulation of what’s being delivered. If you can’t explain how your client will know value has been created, why should they believe it?

Time and materials may always have their place, especially for speed and simplicity. But consultancies that can tie their impact to measurable results will set a higher standard and likely win more trust.

Actionable takeaway: Design your propositions as if you had to prove ROI. If value isn’t measurable, it may not be value at all.

3. An upskilled, not dependent, workforce

The best consultancies don’t hold all their cards close to their chest and operate to create dependency, but recognise the need to upskill the client team along the way. They create capability. And in a world where knowledge is increasingly commoditised, that’s a key differentiator in itself.

Sharing methods, tools, and approaches signals an abundance mindset. It reflects a belief that lasting client success is the best route to long-term relationships. And when clients see their own teams operating with new skills and confidence, they’re more likely to re-engage — not less.

Actionable takeaway: Be intentional about capability-building. Don’t just share the answer. Share how you got there and embrace an abundance mindset.

4. A team that feels inspired

Building on the above, the most transformational consulting projects leave people upskilled and inspired. Your job is to raise the bar (for individuals and the organisation) and inspire people to reach it. If you can create a feeling of belief and optimism, and stir up the energy needed for change, that will create a legacy that far outlives your time there.

This is harder to achieve (and measure) but it’s worth aiming for. When your work shifts not just the how, but the why of an organisation, it becomes part of how people think and feel. That’s not something AI can replicate.

Actionable takeaway: Don’t underestimate the importance of the emotional impact you make. People remember how your work made them feel. Consider this and plan for it.

5. Trusting relationships

Relationship-building is a given in most consultancy work and we all know strong relationships are a route to future sales. But they’re also a litmus test for the quality of what’s been delivered.

When clients trust you, it usually means they’ve seen real value and real change. A sense that you understood what mattered to them, and not just at an organisational level, but personally.

Creating this kind of relationship requires more vulnerability and intimacy. It means paying attention to what clients hope to get out of a project (professionally and personally). It means delivering outcomes that elevate both the business and the individuals within it.

Actionable takeaway: Ask clients what they want to get from the engagement. Support them to achieve it.

Final thought: Great outcomes require great clients

There’s one final point worth naming. We tend to think about these outcomes as dependent on the skills, knowledge, and excellence of the consultant. But, in truth, it also takes great clients and great client leadership.

The intelligent client principle has been around for a while. That idea of understanding what you’re buying and demanding value, balanced with a real intent for collaboration, openness to trust, willingness to embrace change and take on some risk, and commitment to lead and role model through that.

If I think about the best projects I’ve worked on, through the lens of ‘what did I leave behind?’, one thing they have in common is they were the best clients I’ve ever worked with.

So, I guess the final thought is this: If you want to do great work, pick your clients carefully. At Honeycomb, we’ve learned to say ‘no’ to a handful who aren’t set up in a way which will enable us to deliver our best outcomes.

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Thank you for reading The Skilled Consultant. If you haven’t yet subscribed, please do so to receive all our articles direct to your inbox.
There are several other ways you can interact with Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training….

1. Connect with Deri Hughes (Founder & MD) on LinkedIn

2. Connect with Colin Mann (MD) on LinkedIn

3. Book a 30 minute intro call with Deri Hughes

4. Stay informed about our free workshops and webinars - follow Honeycomb on LinkedIn or visit our website.

The second option sounds faster, but it’s riskier than most leaders realise.

In most cases, hiring stars is detrimental to performance. They can unsettle teams, stall momentum, and quietly erode culture…all while costing a small fortune.

In this session, Deri Hughes was joined by Daniel Muzio - Professor of Management at The University of York, whose research findings on this topic have recently been featured in Harvard Business Review and The Economist - to explore why senior hires fail, what makes the difference, and how firm leaders can take a more deliberate, evidence-based approach to hiring.

The myth of the star hire

For most consulting leaders, the logic is intuitive: add a top-performing senior person, and your firm gets stronger. You gain immediate access to their skills, experience, market profile, and their ‘black book of contacts’.

But the research tells a different story.

Daniel’s longitudinal study of over 3,000 top-performing lawyers across 100+ firms found that lateral hires were associated with a 9% decline in performance the following year. In fact, firm performance dips for up to 4 years after a star hire, and most firms (and stars) won’t wait that long for results.

This isn’t because the individuals aren’t capable, but because the context into which they are hired isn’t usually set up for success.

Star power is rarely portable

One of the most common failure points is assuming an individual’s past success will automatically translate into future results.

In reality, high performers are often embedded in high-performing systems - supported by tight teams, tuned workflows, generous reputations, or firm-wide positioning. When they move, much of that context doesn’t come with them.

In consulting, this shows up when:

• A rainmaker joins a new firm, expecting their clients to follow and they don’t.

• A senior hire struggles to land internal referrals, because they’re not yet trusted or understood.

• New team dynamics quietly erode confidence and performance, even among existing staff.

The lesson? Before hiring someone new, consider how much of their success is individually driven vs context-dependent, and how replicable that context is in your firm over what time period.

From individual fit to system fit

Most firms vet senior hires on expertise, gravitas, and network. Far fewer assess the likely impact on team morale or firm-wide trust, or consider whether their compensation culture promotes collaboration.

Daniel and Deri explored the emotional side of hiring and the jealousy, defensiveness, or resistance that can arise when a new senior figure lands without internal buy-in. When hires are parachuted in by senior leadership, without team involvement, resistance increases. But when the team leads or contributes to the hiring decision, trust - and success - rises.

It is also clear that the wrong structures can block success. Deri shared examples of “eat-what-you-kill” firms where partner-level compensation was so siloed that internal referrals became a threat rather than a collaboration. New hires were seen as competition, not colleagues.

Ultimately, even the most compelling individual can’t thrive if the system around them isn’t set up for success.

When hiring a star can work

Despite the headline finding, the study also uncovered conditions under which superstar hires can succeed. The best-case scenario?

• The hire joins a high-performing team

• That team is already rich in other ‘stars’

• The team sits within one of the firm’s core areas of strength

• The star is hired along with their support team who help create that all-important context for success.

In these situations, the newcomer is absorbed into a strong and confident culture, where others feel secure, generous, and able to collaborate. Importantly, they’re less likely to be perceived as a threat and more likely to benefit from internal referrals, shared routines and onboarding support.

In short, stars don’t turn around struggling teams. But, they can help consolidate existing excellence.

The key takeaway?

The message isn’t “never hire senior people.” But you should “handle with care.”

Senior hires bring disruption. Sometimes that disruption is energising and expansive. Other times it’s corrosive and costly. The outcome depends not just on who you hire, but how, why, and into what.

As Daniel put it:

“Every star hire contains both risk and opportunity. The job of leaders is to tip the balance deliberately towards synergy and away from disruption.”

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Thank you for engaging with The Skilled Consultant. If you haven’t yet subscribed, please do so to receive all our articles direct to your inbox.
There are several other ways you can interact with Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training….

1. Connect with Deri Hughes (Founder & MD) on LinkedIn

2. Connect with Colin Mann (MD) on LinkedIn

3. Book a 30 minute intro call with Deri Hughes

4. Stay informed about our free workshops and webinars - follow Honeycomb on LinkedIn or visit our website.

“What’s the so-what of this slide?”

“We’re under pressure for this deadline - we didn’t get the data from the client in time. On reflection I should have engaged them earlier and helped them see why it mattered”

“We want to build a feedback culture, but we’re all just a bit too nice”

Sound familiar? Consulting is a complex job. You have to wear a lot of hats. Bring your experience; but ground it in the latest data. Come up with creative ideas; but make sure they are practical. Build trusted relationships with your clients; but speak the truth when it’s needed.

I’ve been wrestling with this for a while. I founded a business committed to training and developing consulting teams, and there’s an undeniable complexity in being a consultant. My mission is to help you simplify and spot different ways to be successful.

That’s where this new concept comes in: The Consulting Archetypes.

This isn’t another consulting competency framework. It’s not about skills. This is an approach we haven’t seen in consulting before. I’m excited to share it.

What are Archetypes?

Archetypes are timeless patterns of human behaviour. Psychologist Carl Jung introduced them as “universal images” that show up in stories, myths, and relationships. These are ways humans behave, consciously or unconsciously.

You can think of them as energies, or ways of being - a mindset you can step into when you need it.

Outside of consulting I support people on their personal growth journeys, particularly through an organisation called the Mankind Project. Through that work I discovered Robert Moore and his articulation of the Warrior / Lover / Magician / Sovereign archetypes - something I’ve found powerful personally in many situations.

Moore argued that each of us carries these energies, and that maturity comes from accessing them consciously rather than being unconsciously ruled by them.

After finding this useful in my personal life I started seeing similar archetypes in my consulting work - a profession where success is rooted as much in how you show up as it is in what you know. Inspired by Moore’s work I developed the Consulting Archetypes to help you with the unique demands of being a consultant.

As consultants we move through very different contexts: running a SteerCo meeting, designing a new operating model, coaching a junior team member, handling ‘scope creep’ with a client, crunching data, leading a project room, and many more.

Each situation demands a different mode of being. Often we will default to the one or two modes that feel most natural - our comfort zone. An Analyst who stays buried in the numbers even when the client needs a story. A Deliverer who hits deadlines but forgets to nurture their team. A Storyteller who wins the room but drifts away from pragmatic reality.

By naming these archetypes, we give ourselves a new language:

• To recognise our defaults

• To stretch into new behaviours consciously

• To coach our colleagues by saying, ‘For this meeting, you’ll need to step into Storyteller mode’

Ultimately, by mastering the Consulting Archetypes and using them consciously, we can become powerful and confident in all the consulting situations we find ourselves in.

The Eight Consulting Archetypes

Here’s an introduction to the eight Consulting Archetypes. They create a natural tension, as no-one can be all eight at the same time. They sit on axes, or the points of a compass, representing a balance of priorities between ideas and execution, people and content.

The ‘North star’ is the Sage - the experienced and trusted advisor, who has built good judgement over many years.

Opposite the Sage is the Deliverer - the consultant who rolls their sleeves up and gets things done. In the South, they are outward facing.

In the East we have the Nurturer - the caring consultant who helps people grow and builds close connections.

The Nurturer is contrasted with the Challenger in the West. A Challenger says what needs to be said in pursuit of honesty and truth.

For those familiar with the Radical Candour model of feedback, you may recognise that compassionate Radical Candour requires a balance of Nurturer and Challenger in equal measure.

Then we have the Analyst - gathering novel information and crunching data to solve problems that haven’t been solved before.

They sit in contrast to the Storyteller - the one who pulls information into a narrative that grabs attention, wins hearts and minds, and inspires people to take action.

That shift - from Analyst to Storyteller - is a classic challenge for junior consultants. The push to get to the ‘So what?’ and build out a punchy, clear, slide deck to summarise weeks of complex work.

On the final axis we have the Innovator - the creative mind, redefining what’s possible, breaking down limiting beliefs, and challenging existing paradigms.

And in tension with that, the Orchestrator - tasked with bringing people on the journey and aligning everything as a Project Manager would.

You will have a natural strength in two or three of the 8 Archetypes. You will also have opportunity to develop others. For each of the Consulting Archetypes there are skills you can develop, behaviours you can practice, as well as the mindset to step into.

Can anyone truly master all eight? Perhaps not. But the best consultants have figured out how to bring the archetype they need when they need - and that’s a powerful tool.

Too Much or Too Little?

If knowing which archetype to step into is a skill, consciously choosing how much of it to employ is mastery. Every archetype has shadow sides - too much or too little and you risk causing harm.

Here’s some examples that may resonate with you:

• The Analyst:

  • At their best, brings clarity and truth

  • Overdone - they become an Ocean-Boiler drowning in detail

  • Under-used - they drift into a Guesstimator, making assumptions without facts or believing their hypothesis before they’ve tested it

• The Challenger:

  • In balance, voices hard truths at the right time, in the right way so they land

  • When too much, they can be a Wrecking Ball, crashing through relationships

  • Or, when too little, they become a Peacemaker who fails to land the messages others need to hear

We can all slip into the shadow sides of an archetype - they’re part of the territory. By naming them we make it easier to catch ourselves and rebalance. Over time, you’ll begin to get clear on what it feels like to be in balance and using your chosen archetype the right amount, not too much or too little.

In future posts I’ll explore the shadow sides further and delve into what happens when we overuse or underuse an archetype.

Why this matters

For individuals, the Consulting Archetypes give a mirror: What’s my default? Where am I strong? Where do I need to flex?

For teams, they give a shared language: We’ve been too deep in Deliverer mode and we’re not taking clients with us - how can we bring more Storyteller to the next workshop?

And for leaders, they offer a coaching tool: For this client, we need some creative thinking - less Analyst, more Innovator.

Jung believed archetypes live in all of us, waiting to be expressed. Moore argued that maturity comes from holding them in balance. For consultants, I believe this is true.

The question is not, ‘Which archetype are you?’.

It’s, ‘Which archetype does this situation call for — and can you step into it consciously?’

Try this: Reflect on your last client interaction. Which Archetype was strongest for you? How did that influence the outcomes of that meeting? Could another Archetype have led to a different result?

This is the first time I’ve shared the Consulting Archetypes concept publicly. I’m fortunate to be able to test it with the 2k+ strong consulting community who will receive this article and I’d truly value your thoughts to help me refine it further. What has it brought up for you? How could you see it being useful in your consulting work?

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Thank you for reading The Skilled Consultant. If you haven’t yet subscribed, please do so to receive all our articles direct to your inbox.
There are several other ways you can interact with Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training….

1. Connect with Deri Hughes (Founder & MD) on LinkedIn

2. Connect with Colin Mann (MD) on LinkedIn

3. Book a 30 minute intro call with Deri Hughes

4. Stay informed about our free workshops and webinars - follow Honeycomb on LinkedIn or visit our website.

As someone who works closely with consulting firms, I’ll admit I’m a little nervous about the changes AI is bringing. But nervousness doesn’t mean pessimism. AI is going to have a major impact on consulting — just as it will in virtually every other sector — and the real question is not whether it will change consulting, but how we adapt and thrive within that change.

The Reality of Modern Consulting

Many of the more inflammatory ‘consulting is dead’ pieces portray the industry as a bloated team of outsiders producing a slide deck, whilst leaving the hard work of implementation to the client. Such work may have existed in the past, but it’s far from the reality today.

Smarter, more demanding clients have already forced a transformation in consulting, requiring:

• Greater efficiency in project teams,

• Direct access to genuine expertise,

• Support for implementation, not just strategy,

• Shared accountability for outcomes, with consultants putting skin in the game.

Most consultancies now operate across a spectrum, from strategy formulation to hands-on implementation of technology, processes, and people-related change. The value they deliver is judged not only by the quality of recommendations but also by the tangible, sustainable impact achieved in partnership with clients.

Some Things Should Be Automated

I recently heard from one of our clients, who was bidding for public sector work, that they were ‘allowed’ to use AI in preparing their proposal, but only if they declared where and how. They wouldn’t ‘be marked down for it’.

My reaction? They should be marked up for it.

The public sector, perhaps more than any other, should be demanding the most efficient, suitably augmented consultants that modern technology allows (provided safe use, data protection, and confidentiality are all assured).

That principle applies to consulting more broadly. The AI conversation shouldn’t just focus on what can be automated, but what should be. Used responsibly, AI can:

• Accelerate research,

• Help structure complex problems,

• Improve clarity in communication and reporting,

• Increase the speed and precision of deliverables.

This frees consultants to focus on their true differentiators — delivering insight, engaging deeply with clients, and solving complex human problems. Of course, there’s always the risk of over-reliance on AI, much like students who might be tempted to let AI write their essays, but that’s an argument for responsible adoption, not avoidance.

The Human Edge: Trust, Influence, and Authenticity

No matter how advanced AI becomes, consulting will always hinge on one core truth: clients act when they trust their consultant.

At Honeycomb, we often refer to The Trust Equation (from The Trusted Advisor, David H. Maister):

We need to be realistic about how AI is going to play into these 4 components and how that will impact client relationships. Where do you think humans will continue to have the edge?

• Credibility (knowledge and expertise) - clients value the lived experiences and nuanced judgement that human consultants bring, but AI’s ability to process vast amounts of data and provide consistent, evidence-based insights may soon rival, or even surpass, human credibility.

• Reliability (doing what you say you’ll do) - will remain as vital as ever, but AI already outperforms humans in some scenarios. Machines don’t forget, miss deadlines, or need sleep. They execute tasks consistently and accurately, making them a clear winner on reliability in consulting delivery.

• Low self-orientation (focusing on the client’s needs above your own) - AI tools are programmed to serve the client’s needs without personal agendas, which can make them appear more selfless. We’ve likely all experienced the feeling of an LLM telling us we’re an all-round excellent individual who they are ‘proud of for asking such insightful questions’. Can a human consultant who also needs to navigate their own goals, such as career advancement or financial compensation, rival the AI sycophant?

• Intimacy (building personal connection and empathy) - will grow in importance. Building genuine connections, understanding client fears, and addressing their challenges with empathy is where consultants must shine. AI cannot replicate the warmth and humanity of a trusted advisor.

In a world where AI can generate well-structured strategies for many firms, and increasingly be relied on for knowledge, I’m betting on the the real differentiators needing be truly human qualities such as:

• Gravitas: commanding attention and respect.

• Vulnerability: creating space for honest, human dialogue.

• Authenticity: genuine passion for the client’s sector and challenges.

• Adaptive archetypes: the ability to recognise and step into the most effective consulting persona for a given situation.

Being self-aware enough to switch between archetypes is becoming a vital skill. Sometimes you need to be the expert, projecting authority and confidence. At other times, being the learner — curious, open, and willing to be guided — is far more effective. You might need to act as the listener, drawing out insights from others, or the supporter, empowering and encouraging the client’s own people to shine. The key is knowing which archetype to adopt, and when, to build trust and make progress.

What This Means for Training the Next Generation

For us as a training firm, these shifts bring to light a few priorities:

1. Strengthen the timeless skills

   New consultants still need to master core capabilities such as structuring problems, communicating clearly, and framing solutions, without leaning on AI as a crutch.

2. Build the AI-augmented consultant

   We must prepare consultants to use AI responsibly to boost speed, insight, and creativity while protecting confidentiality and quality.

3. Emphasis on the soft skills

   We are placing greater emphasis on trust-building, interpersonal connection, influence, gravitas, and the agility to move fluidly between consulting archetypes. In an AI-enabled future, these will define the best consultants.

The Bottom Line

Consulting isn’t dying, it’s evolving. It always has, though I accept right now it’s at a faster rate. AI is rightly exposing the limited value of weak, surface-level strategy work. The “bloated team and expensive PowerPoint” model is no longer tolerated by clients. But in doing so, it also shines a light on what great consulting really looks like: helping clients solve their most difficult problems, delivering lasting impact, and driving meaningful change.

The winners will be those who embrace AI’s capabilities and elevate the human skills — trust, influence, adaptability, and authentic connection — that technology cannot replicate.

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Thank you for reading The Skilled Consultant. If you haven’t yet subscribed, please do so to receive all our articles direct to your inbox.
There are several other ways you can interact with Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training….

1. Connect with Deri Hughes (Founder & MD) on LinkedIn

2. Connect with Colin Mann (MD) on LinkedIn

3. Book a 30 minute intro call with Deri Hughes

4. Stay informed about our free workshops and webinars - follow Honeycomb on LinkedIn or visit our website.

She stared at me, frustrated, and left the room.

What I’d failed to realise is that being helpful doesn’t always mean offering a solution. In that moment, what my wife needed wasn’t guidance; it was empathy. She just wanted to feel heard. And my eagerness to share my knowledge and fix things ended up being counterproductive.

This scenario is a common one for many consultants who have built a career on being an expert. We see it especially with that first move into a leadership role.

At Honeycomb, we often talk about four major transitions in a consultant’s career:

1. Deliver – building foundational skills and delivering great work

2. Manage – taking on responsibility for clients and teams

3. Lead – stepping into more senior leadership roles

4. Grow – shifting focus to business development and firm-building

This article focuses on that third transition: Lead. By the time consultants reach this point, they are typically high performers. They’ve built credibility and delivered solid results. But the jump into leadership isn’t just about doing more of the same. It’s about changing how you add value.

And that change is not always intuitive.

The Pitfall of Experience

When you’ve accumulated deep technical knowledge and years of delivery success, it’s easy to fall into a common trap: assuming your value lies in knowing the answers.

But leadership in consulting is less about being the smartest person in the room and more about creating space for others (clients and colleagues alike) to find their own path forward.

This shift requires a new skillset and, more importantly, a new mindset.

Our foundational leadership development programmes at Honeycomb typically cover:

1. General Leadership Skills

Leadership fundamentals are likely to be in place (e.g. situational leadership and coaching techniques) but we revisit these at a deeper level. We help people identify which leadership style to use, when, and with whom. This includes how to give constructive feedback and develop others, not just manage performance.

2. Enhanced Project Leadership

Project delivery doesn’t go away — it just becomes more complex. We work with leaders to build confidence in ambiguity. This means:

• Creating progress when it’s hard to plan

• Staying calm amid complexity

• Helping clients navigate uncertainty

In short, learning how to lead when the path ahead isn’t clear.

3. Mindset & Time Management

Many new leaders struggle to contribute to firm leadership because their calendars are full of delivery work. But the truth is: leading the firm is the job. We help participants reframe what their role actually is, shifting from being a great deliverer to being a leader of people, ideas, and change.

4. Creating Impact Through Trust

Perhaps the most powerful theme in leadership development is learning how to deepen your impact with clients.

This isn’t about being louder or more impressive. It’s about building trust.

Most consultants are strong on the rational aspects of trust:

• Credibility – knowing your stuff

• Reliability – doing what you say you’ll do

But we often underinvest in the emotional factors:

• Intimacy – creating safe spaces in conversation

• Low self-orientation – letting go of the need to be right or impressive

And it’s those emotional factors that separate Outcome 1 relationships from Outcome 2 relationships.

Outcome 1 vs. Outcome 2?

At the end of a project, let’s assume the work is excellent. Even so, we can end up in one of two places:

• Outcome 1: A transactional, competent vendor relationship

• Outcome 2: A trusted advisor relationship built on real human connection

Outcome 2 is where advocacy, re-engagement, and influence live. But you don’t get there through competence alone. You get there by showing up differently, through empathy, vulnerability, curiosity, and patience.

Ironically, the consultants who most need to develop emotional fluency are often the least likely to believe they do. Their logical brains have served them well and logic tells them they’re doing everything right.

But leadership isn’t always logical. It’s human.

My own career once plateaued because I didn’t understand this. I delivered great work, but my client relationships stayed at Outcome 1. I wasn’t creating trust, because I wasn’t showing vulnerability or empathy. I was showing answers.

Just like I did with my wife.

In that moment at home, I didn’t need to be smart or knowledgeable. I needed to be present. I needed to listen.

Leadership in consulting is the same. It’s not about being right and giving answers. It’s about being trusted and enabling progress.

That shift from logic to empathy is what truly marks the transition into leadership.

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Thank you for reading The Skilled Consultant. If you haven’t yet subscribed, please do so to receive all our articles direct to your inbox.
There are several other ways you can interact with Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training….

1. Connect with Deri Hughes (Founder & MD) on LinkedIn

2. Connect with Colin Mann (MD) on LinkedIn

3. Book a 30 minute intro call with Deri Hughes

4. Stay informed about our free workshops and webinars - follow Honeycomb on LinkedIn or visit our website.

The AI noise can be overwhelming. But for consulting firms, there’s no escaping that AI is a huge opportunity to build in a smarter, more scalable way.

Our expert panel discussion focused on 'OpsAI'. How can you embed AI into everyday ways of working to drive real value across client delivery and firm operations?

Honeycomb’s MD Deri Hughes is joined by two expert guests:

• Robert Streeter, CEO at TheAX.ai

• Ben Ford, Founder and CEO at Mission Ctrl

Together, they explore the real operational opportunities for consulting firms in the AI era, from small-scale efficiency gains to fundamental business model shifts.

What’s covered?:

• Where AI is already delivering operational value (beyond ChatGPT and note-takers)

• What it takes to codify your IP and why that’s critical for scale

• The path from traditional consulting to “consulting as a service”

• What stays human: relationship-building, influence, and expertise.

Hear the panel responses to numerous insightful questions from the live attendees across Teams and LinkedIn Live. And see if you agree with their take on ‘The Final Frontier of Consulting’.

Your superstar senior hire is likely to fail....we'll help you avoid that

When consulting firms look for growth, two strategies dominate: Build your existing team’s ability to sell, or hire a senior ‘rainmaker’ with a stellar reputation and a black book of contacts. The second option sounds faster, but it’s riskier than most leaders realise. In a 17-year study of 2,700 lateral hires, Prof. Daniel Muzio found that hiring stars leads to, on average, a 10% drop in performance the following year. So why do firms keep doing it? And what should they do differently?

On the back of his recently published HBR paper, 'Hiring a Superstar Can Backfire', we are delighted to be welcoming Daniel for a live webinar. We'll be asking him to share his research findings and offer grounded, practical advice on how to avoid this growth trap. Register now to join us.

Wednesday, 24th September @ 12.30pm - Register here for free

Thank you for reading The Skilled Consultant. If you haven’t yet subscribed, please do so to receive all our articles direct to your inbox.
There are several other ways you can interact with Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training….

1. Connect with Deri Hughes (Founder & MD) on LinkedIn

2. Connect with Colin Mann (MD) on LinkedIn

3. Book a 30 minute intro call with Deri Hughes

4. Stay informed about our free workshops and webinars - follow Honeycomb on LinkedIn or visit our website.