The Consulting Crash That Isn’t Happening

From the Dossier

Entry 24 of 26. Section D: Counter-narratives and industry defenses. Back to the Dossier

Summary

A rebuttal to Nocera’s Free Press piece, arguing that “consulting” is two distinct markets: large management-consulting giants are vulnerable to AI and federal cuts, but specialized boutique firms serving government and nonprofit clients on governance and policy work are entering their strongest growth period in decades.

Source description

A rebuttal to Joe Nocera’s Free Press piece (item 17). The author does not dispute McKinsey’s headcount losses or Accenture’s layoffs; the piece accepts those facts but argues the “industry apocalypse” framing collapses a bifurcated market into a misleadingly uniform decline story.

Credibility assessment

The piece accepts the factual claims about McKinsey’s headcount losses and Accenture’s layoffs: it disputes the interpretation, not the evidence. Under Rule 5, the author’s own stake in specialized/boutique consulting is not fully disclosed, which is a limitation. However, the core argument, that the industry is bifurcating, has empirical support and is worth considering as a counterpoint.