You've seen the LinkedIn posts. The big firms are shedding staff, your revenue feels harder to hold onto, and three prospects in a row have mentioned bringing more work in-house. The narrative writes itself: consulting is dying, and AI is holding the knife.

Except the market isn't shrinking so much as splitting in two. While mid-market firms get stuck between two worlds, unable to move fast enough in either direction, something is happening at both ends that the doom posts miss entirely. And the firms winning right now share one trait that might surprise you, especially if you've been trying to position yourself as a one-stop shop.

This episode is for boutique consultants and independent practitioners who keep hearing the market is dead but suspect there's more to the story.