Consulting leadership, examined at operating depth.
LEADERS IN CONSULTING follows partners, managing directors, founders, and specialist advisors through the practical mechanics of running consulting firms. The conversations favor operating models, client fit, valuation, AI change, culture, and the quiet discipline behind sustainable growth.
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LEADERS IN CONSULTING is a business interview show focused on the operating reality behind consulting firm leadership. It is not built for quick takes. The format gives partners, managing directors, founders, and specialist advisors room to explain how consulting firms grow, differentiate, sell, integrate, and adapt. Recent conversations return often to capability. Sometimes that means technical expertise, as in the discussion of autonomic consulting and client self-sufficiency. Sometimes it means organizational readiness, where a technology change fails less because of the tool than because the company is not prepared to operate differently. The show also spends serious time on transactions. Episodes on consulting firm valuations, acquisition logic, and early fit assessment frame M&A as a matter of equity story, strategic rationale, cultural compatibility, portfolio fit, and trust before due diligence becomes formal. Client relationships are treated with the same care. The German-language conversations emphasize listening, empathy, authenticity, and the difference between arriving with a rehearsed solution and giving the client enough room to define the problem. AI appears as both an opportunity and a structural risk. The episode on the consulting pyramid asks what happens to leadership development if firms remove too much junior work too quickly. Other episodes consider boutique models, aviation consulting, implementation-led transformation, and the personal resilience behind building a specialized firm. The style is measured and consultative. Questions often recap the previous answer before narrowing into a sharper operational point. That makes the show slower than a headline-driven business podcast, but more useful for listeners who care about how decisions are actually made. Its value lies in watching experienced consulting people reason through fit, focus, capability gaps, valuation, and change with relatively little drama.
Made for: The show is for consulting partners, managing directors, founders, and senior operators who think in terms of growth, positioning, delivery models, client trust, and firm value. It also suits advisors preparing for acquisition, AI-led delivery change, or sharper market differentiation.
What sets it apart: Its edge is the consulting-specific follow-up: broad claims are repeatedly brought back to buyer fit, organizational readiness, culture, operating model, and implementation. The show feels less like business commentary and more like a peer conversation inside the consulting industry.
The “LEADERS IN CONSULTING” show is dedicated to helping Partners and Managing Directors of Consultancies grow their business faster. If you want to learn best practices from other Leaders in Consulting, this show is for you. Each episode features an interview with a consultancy Partner, Managing Director or Thought Leader, discussing topics like: 1. How to set up a winning strategy for your consultancy 2. How to upsell and cross-sell more 3. How to win big whale leads and convert those to clients 4. Hiring and keeping valuable team members 5. How to become a thought leader by building your personal brand.
Based on 4 episodes we listened to · September 2026
It turns consulting growth into concrete choices about differentiation, client capability, culture, valuation, and deal fit.
LEADERS IN CONSULTING keeps its interviews close to decisions consulting leaders actually face: how a firm differentiates itself, judges acquisition fit, builds client capability, and turns expertise into trust.
Consulting's polite questions turn concrete fast, giving your next partner meeting fewer places to hide.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
The episode argues that lasting systems depend less on technical flair than on whether the client can change how it works.
This episode stays on a practical question: what counts as real capability when a consultancy is doing the heavy lifting. James Cawthorn treats capability as more than technical skill.
Good consulting starts by letting the client define the problem.
Leaders in Consulting treats consulting as an exercise in restraint: a solution should not arrive before the problem has been stated, and real listening has to be left room to work.
A focused look at how consulting firms build value before a sale.
Leaders in Consulting frames a clear question: what makes a consulting company more valuable, and what needs to be in place years before a sale.
A careful M&A conversation about deciding early, before diligence has to do the heavy lifting.
The episode frames early fit assessment as a practical M&A screen rather than a soft preference check. Alex Tress describes looking at collaboration, whether both sides would enjoy working together, and whether thinking and leadership styles align before an indicative offer is…
Consulting tools, career paths, and independent working life.
Stephen Dubner tests bourbon economics, Alzheimer's research, and money advice against hard data.
Daily business news with Kai Ryssdal, tracking Fed policy, oil shocks, and private credit.
Galloway rotates Office Hours Q&A, Raging Moderates politics, and China Decode geopolitics weekly.
Joel and Matt answer listener money questions weekly in the show's Ask HTM segments.
Sami interviews Christoph Hinz, Partner Transaction Services at Rödel, about building teams in Cologne, Hamburg and other locations without buying an established partner team.
Clients do not want dependency.
David opens by warning against showing up with a solution before hearing the problem.
The episode opens with a direct question about an equity story: what a consulting firm stands for now, what it should stand for in five years, and whether the operating model really matches that.
Alex Tress explains how early fit assessment shapes the first stages of a deal.
An interview with a consulting partner discussing implementation and transformation management.
An interview with a consulting leader discussing the role of a consultant as a sparring partner who asks uncomfortable questions to drive growth.
An interview with a consulting leader discussing AI's impact on the consulting industry and strategies for growth.
An interview with a boutique consulting firm founder discussing operating model flexibility, scalability, and risk mitigation for consulting leaders.
An interview with Julian Malher, Managing Director EMEA at Sears, discussing strategies for consulting firms to achieve audacious growth goals.
An interview with Ashish Khanna, Senior Managing Director at Verizon Business, discussing how to build a winning culture and strategy for consulting firms.
An interview with BCGX's Chief AI Officer discussing how AI impacts consulting and how leaders can adapt.
This episode features Melanie Marchant discussing how Zühlke Group develops AI competencies through internal experimentation to achieve significant time reductions in product discovery processes.
An interview with Antoine Moyon, Managing Director at ERP Success Partners, discussing his journey into consulting and his company's focus on ERP implementation and optimization.
An interview with a consulting partner discussing AI's role in projects and the future of consulting.