EXPOSED
The bulk of this job — interview synthesis, process mapping, benchmarking, cost models in Excel, and the 60-slide findings deck — is exactly the text-and-spreadsheet work generative AI now produces at draft quality in minutes. What survives is the part that requires being in the room: extracting what executives won't say in a survey, brokering agreement between departments that don't want to change, and owning a recommendation when it costs someone their headcount. There is no license, no signature requirement, and no personal liability, so the only real moats are client trust and accountability for the call.
Mixed — a routine tier and a judgment tier. An 8 reflects that the deliverable chain — coding interview notes, building the as-is/to-be process map, running the benchmarking pull, the activity-based cost model, the org chart redesign scenarios — is now draftable by a model faster than you can open the workbook, while the workshop facilitation, the stakeholder interviews where the real constraint is disclosed off-record, and the steering-committee negotiation still require a person present, which is why it sits mid-band rather than at 4.
Fully desk- and screen-based. A 4 is the ceiling for a job done from a laptop in a client conference room or on Zoom; the only physical element is walking a plant floor or warehouse during a time-and-motion study or Gemba walk, and even that is observation you could delegate to the client's own supervisors.
No licence, no signature requirement. A 2 is right because no state licenses management consulting, CMC certification from IMC USA is voluntary and rarely a bid requirement, and when a restructuring recommendation destroys value the client's own officers and board carry the fiduciary exposure — your engagement letter caps your damages at fees.
Some relationship component. An 11 recognises that repeat and referral work is the commercial engine of this trade and that partners are hired by name for turnaround and post-merger integration mandates, but a large share of the market is competitively bid RFPs, staff-augmentation rate cards, and internal-consulting groups where whichever analyst is on the bench gets assigned — so the relationship is a real asset, not the product itself.
Meaningful discretion. A 12 fits work where you choose which cost driver to attack, which sites to close, and which function absorbs a 15% headcount reduction, and then defend it under executive cross-examination — but the decision is signed by the CEO or board, not you, and much of the engagement runs on the firm's standard diagnostic methodology rather than open-ended calls.
Chief Executives SAFE
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