For the doomsayers who say consulting is dead in the age of AI, there’s some research out this month putting data (and a new label of “trendslop”) on what we kinda already knew:

LLMs are not strategists.

​This Fortune article released over the weekend highlights research from Esade Business School in Barcelona that tested 7 LLMs over 15,000 consulting-esque simulations and scenarios.

The hypothesis: across that amount of simulations and situation-specific details, there should be diversity in the analyses and the strategic solutions generated.

The actual result: an overwhelming deference to “modern managerial trends” aka ‘trendslop.’

This, of course, is a massive limitation to organizations that try to use LLMs as a cost-saving substitute for real strategic consulting and advisory services.

I'd argue it also mimics the arc of fleeting guru-of-the-month business advice, which existed well before the AI-era:

Catchy contrarian/disruptive strategy --> zeitgeist --> mainstream saturation --> repeat

(LLM-consulting will just cut out the disruptive ideas 😂)

But I think it also underscores what I was saying last week about finding the lane that keeps you guiding clients through truly bold and novel transformations, not just micro-optimizations.

Your clients can do the obvious stuff on their own.

Or better yet, with the help of their favorite tool.

They need you for the heavier lift.

💡

-Wes

P.S. Speaking of bold transformations...

Later this week I'll be previewing something I've been cooking up for a while -- a more comprehensive way to work together.

I'll be looking for the right first clients. Stay tuned. :)