David A. Fields Consulting Group What’s the heaviest chain restraining your consulting firm’s growth (in revenue, margin, lifestyle, or all three)?
You already know the answer, because you’re a smart consultant:
Your perspective.
You may believe, and even eloquently argue, that your consulting firm is limited by your capabilities, the size of the market you serve, your buyers’ particular predilections, or your need to always be within one mile of an emergency hot chocolate.
However, the evidence is incontrovertible:
Your consulting firm’s success is bounded by the firm leaders’ self-perception.
You’re well aware that other consulting firms outperform your firm.
Other firms win more clients, or deliver more profit into their owners’ pockets, or afford more time off from work or achieve other heights your firm hasn’t reached (yet).
“Yeah, but they’re different because <fill in the blank>,” you protest.
You’re actually half right.
The two most reliable predictors of a consulting firm’s growth are:
- The market for the problem the firm solves.
- Executive leadership’s vision for the firm
I’ll bet rupees to rumballs* that most of the differences you chronicle between your firm right now and those more successful firms, when they were your size, boil down to those two things: market and vision.
Your consulting firm’s market and your vision are both perception limits.
They’re artificial and self-imposed by your consulting firm’s leaders. That’s you.
Your mental map of your consulting firm’s present and future business resembles the iconic, oft-imitated Saul Steinberg illustration: A New Yorker’s View of the World.
The path to the Hudson River is clear, if long, but the world beyond is depicted as unimportant, murky, poorly understood, and with no desirable route from here to there.
Similarly, the consulting world you’re most familiar with looms large and in devastating detail, whereas possibilities more than a few blocks away appear distant and unreachable.
Reexamine those far-away options and opportunities for your consulting firm.
Are they really so remote and inaccessible?
If you step back and correct your perspective to be more objective, you’ll realize more audacious goals are within reach.
To shift your perspective, I recommend you draw two Perspective Corrector Maps: one for your consulting firm and one for yourself personally.
A Perspective Corrector Map contains a central circle and four concentric rings, as described below.
The 5-Step Perspective Corrector Map
Step 1: Draw and Populate the Map
Draw a center circle and four, concentric rings around the circle.
In the consulting firm version of your map, each ring specifies your market, capabilities, offerings, and any other parameters you feel are relevant.
Now (center circle): This is your current, self-perception.
Near ring: Your firm could move here easily (i.e., within 12 months).
Middle ring: Your firm could only move here with some struggle (i.e., 3-5 years of effort) and investment.
Far ring: This isn’t impossible, but it feels close (5-10 years and substantial investment).
Outer ring: This is nigh on impossible.
Some of those consulting firms you admire—the ones outperforming your firm—live in the Near or Middle ring.
You could live there too.
Step 2: Choose a Compelling Future
Pick a spot on the map in the Middle ring; a compelling definition of your consulting firm’s market, capabilities and offerings in 3-5 years that’s possible, though challenging.
Step 3: Adjust Your Perspective, Reset Your Intentions
If you knew, without any shadow of a doubt, your consulting firm could reach that point in three years…
What would you do?
What investments would you make?
What changes would you set in motion?
What actions would you absolutely commit to taking during the next 12 months?
Step 4: Jump Into Motion
Commit now to the actions, changes and investments you outlined in Step 3.
Step 5: Overcome Your Resistance to Change!
Most consulting firm leaders give up on the idea of change very quickly.
Too quickly.
“Oh, my consulting staff has capability X, not capability Y, so we can only do X.”
The truth is, massive change is 100% possible.
I’ve seen consulting firms increase their average project size by 20x!
I’ve seen consulting firms pivot to entirely new markets with fundamentally new offerings.
How? By challenging their self-limiting definitions and beliefs.
Yes, with 20 or 200 or 2,000 staff, redefining your consulting firm becomes progressively harder, but not impossible.
Even an oil tanker can turn around in the open sea.
And you, my friend, are steering your consulting firm in an open sea of possibility.
It just takes time, effort and conviction.
Your future success isn’t as far away or difficult to attain as you think.
It’s your perspective that’s holding you back.
If you could change one self-perception about your consulting firm, what would it be?
Text and images are © 2025 David A. Fields, all rights reserved.
Wow! This is fantastic!
Glad you found it helpful, Aaaron. Thank you for sharing your reaction!
Good stuff as usual David!
The Trickle Down Law is in effect for us consultants too. A firm will never be better than its leader; i.e., the strengths and weaknesses of the leader become the strengths and weaknesses of the firm (wait, that me!).
All the best,
Right you are, Doc. We set the tone–for where the firm is headed, how it operates, the culture, the value we create. We also set the limits!
I appreciate you chiming in, Doc
I’m putting this on my June to-do list – thank you David!
Perfect, Olga. Please keep me apprised of how it works for you.
Similar to “absence blindness” I’ve started to notice what already exists, but I haven’t noticed. I ask myself: “what am I missing?” I’m often surprised by the amswer.
That’s an outstanding question, Jay. Asking someone else (or AI) what you’re missing can also be extremely helpful… as long as you’re willing to listen to the answer.
I’m glad you took the time to expand on the article, Jay. Very helpful.