AI disruption in consulting: messy now, predictable later

Summary: AI disruption always looks cleaner in hindsight than it feels while you are living through it. Scott Anthony’s (Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth) Fortune analysis on the patterns of disruptive change aligns closely with what we hear each week from consulting leaders across the UK, Germany and Switzerland. Disruption feels chaotic in the moment, but the underlying patterns are familiar. Consulting is now moving through those patterns at speed.

Disruption starts at the edges

Anthony notes that disruptive technologies rarely scale first in the most advanced markets. He highlights that early transistor adoption took off in hearing aids, not communications networks. His point is simple: disruption grows where the alternative is “nothing at all.”

We see the same in consulting. AI adoption is quickest in emerging markets, mid-market firms and internal strategy teams. These groups experiment faster, ship quicker and build domain-specific playbooks. This mirrors our previous Strat-Bridge analysis on how AI is reshaping delivery expectations and weakening the old pyramid assumptions.

Business models decide who survives

Anthony argues that the real engine of disruption is the business model. His examples are McDonald’s Speedee Service System and the real estate model that followed. Technology mattered, but the business model created scale.

The same dynamic is now reshaping consulting. AI tools are becoming baseline infrastructure. The differentiator moves from “who uses AI” to “who builds a model around AI that clients want to buy.” Our earlier blogs on partner hiring and AI delivery models highlighted this shift: firms with strong IP, productised assets and repeatable AI-enabled workflows gain traction. Firms relying on brand and distribution alone face pressure.

The messy middle inside firms

Anthony describes how the early automotive boom created chaos until norms and rules caught up. He calls this the “messy middle”—the phase when disruption exposes system weaknesses faster than institutions adapt.

Consulting is firmly in that middle. Analyst work is automated before firms reshape their leverage models. Manager roles stretch. Principals carry pressure from both sides. Promotion paths tighten. In previous Strat-Bridge pieces, we highlighted how AI compresses entry-level layers and increases the need for mid-career operators with sector depth and judgment. That pressure is rising, not easing.

There is always a twist

Anthony uses the printing press to show how technologies often help incumbents before undermining them. The Church embraced the press, then watched it accelerate challenges to its authority.

The consulting twist may follow a similar pattern. Firms are using AI to accelerate delivery and win work. But clients are learning the same tools. Once they can generate baselines, test ideas and run scenarios internally, they will expect more from advisers. As we wrote in our earlier blog on AI and partner value, judgment and persuasion become the true differentiators. Routine work is no longer defensible.

The second twist is internal. If consultants rely too heavily on AI for framing and analysis, the muscle of independent judgment atrophies. That weakens the long-term partner pipeline.

It still comes down to people

Anthony argues that AI adoption is not a technology problem but a behavioural one. His example of DBS Bank shows how digital transformation only scaled once habits and culture shifted. He writes that “nothing changes unless people’s behavior changes.”

Across our searches, this point is evident. Firms that invest in culture, incentives and capability building progress faster than those that treat AI as a cost exercise. Clients also recognise this. They want advisers who understand technology but specialise in decision support, alignment and execution.

Implications for consulting in 2026

AI does not remove the need for structured thinking, judgment or the ability to persuade. It removes excuses for not being outstanding at them.

For firms:

• Treat AI as core infrastructure, not an add-on.
• Build models around repeatable, AI-enabled delivery assets.
• Strengthen the manager and principal layer. They hold the system together.
• Be explicit about the human edge you offer that AI will not replicate.

For senior consultants:

• Use AI daily so you understand where it fails and where it accelerates work.
• Anchor your value in framing, synthesis and influence.
• Choose firms by business model, not brand alone.

The bar rises from here. Consulting is not being replaced. It is being rewired.

Ben Appleton

Ben Appleton is the founder of Strat-Bridge, a specialist executive search partner to the strategy consulting industry. He works with global consulting firms and senior leaders across the UK, Germany, Switzerland, and beyond — helping them build capability at the Partner and Director level.