Peter Winick discusses how big consulting firms buy rather than build thought leadership capabilities. Large professional services firms are shifting from billable hours to higher-margin digital products, creating opportunities for independent thought leaders to develop IP that consultancies will acquire.
So how come these huge companies that are spending huge dollars, quote unquote, training, when you peel back the curtain, they're not even training, they're just exposing their employees?
Well, I would say there's a couple pieces there.
Now, is that thought leadership? Because that's what I'm adding to the conversation. I'm saying, guys—
That's a perspective. If we had some research behind it, and so that is a kernel that could be evolved into some thought leadership, right? So for example, Most professional services firms today are following the mantra of what software firms have done for a long time, which is do we buy it or do we build it? So the Microsoft of 30 years ago was building stuff that no one could build. Why? Because they had these great minds and these great resources and great whatever. Now it's an amazing company, but it's a, I don't know what, $100 billion fat, bloated, bureaucratic whatever that is probably not the center of entrepreneurship it was 30 years ago. But they got cash, man, right? So if you're doing something cool with software, they can buy you, and they can buy you at a big premium. That's cool. Professional services firms, consultancies, the Deloites of the world, the Accentures of the world, the Ernst Youngs of the world, they used to invest more time and energy into the development of internal thought leadership. They've become more billable-hour-focused, more client-billable-centric. So they'll see somebody out there doing some really, really cool stuff in a space that they know their clients could use, and they'll just go out there and buy it, right? 'Cause I either have cash or I have the resources to invest in the development of thought leadership. It is a prime time right now to be developing thought leadership for the specific purpose of being acquired by a large professional services firm, if you understand their history, how they're trying to be embedded. And what I would add to that is consulting firms are selling analog dollars, right? I'm selling a body doing some stuff at some multiple. If I'm lucky, it drops 20% to the bottom line. A lot of the consulting firms are trying to migrate as many of those analog dollars into digital dollars, right? How do they buy tool-based companies, assessment-based tools? Those things drop 70, 80 points to the bottom line. It's just a better— not every dollar is created equally. Bomb.
Yeah. Well, I happen to agree that's a bomb, but I don't know if you listen, but I decide when they're bombs. But that was one. You nailed that one because that is a bomb.
