Every year, global organizations pour over $160 billion into consulting services, much of it aimed at strategic planning. The largest firms—McKinsey, BCG, Bain—are revered for their ability to craft compelling, data-rich visions of the future. But what happens when these grand strategies land in environments unequipped to implement them?
Too often, the result is a glossy, high-fidelity deliverable that lacks a realistic path to transformation. It’s the equivalent of receiving a detailed architectural blueprint for a skyscraper—with no construction crew, no permits, and no materials on-site. This phenomenon is not just frustrating—it’s a systemic failure with real costs.
The High-Fidelity Trap
Big firms specialize in what we might call “strategy theater”: the production of meticulously designed roadmaps, rich in insight but devoid of traction. These strategies tend to check all the boxes: market analysis, financial modeling, organizational alignment, innovation pipelines. And yet, research shows that 70% of all strategic initiatives fail to meet their objectives (McKinsey & Company).
The problem isn’t in the thinking. It’s in the doing.
Big firms often exit after the strategic planning phase, leaving clients with elegant PowerPoints and no practical roadmap for transformation. Internal teams are left to interpret the playbook, fill in the operational gaps, and figure out how to bring theory into action—often without the needed capabilities, culture, or capacity.
How Saulsberry Group Addresses It: At Saulsberry Group, we don’t just hand over a strategy and disappear. Our Transformation Management Program is specifically designed to ensure that every strategy we craft is supported by clear implementation pathways, embedded change agents, and dedicated project oversight. We stay engaged until the results materialize.
Execution as the Differentiator
Transformation is messy. It requires cross-functional collaboration, behavioral change, resource reallocation, and most importantly, relentless follow-through. In contrast to big firms, newer, more agile consultancies are bridging the gap by embedding with clients through implementation—not just strategy.
These firms understand that change happens at the edge—where people, processes, and platforms collide. They offer not just ideas, but operators. Not just plans, but partners.
A Harvard Business Review study found that companies with strong executional capacity outperform their peers by 60% in revenue growth and profitability. Execution isn’t just a phase; it’s the oxygen of transformation.
How Saulsberry Group Addresses It: Execution is at the core of our model. We incubate innovation within our clients’ ecosystems, co-creating practical pilots that generate traction and momentum. Our consultants don’t just advise—they embed. They lead transformation efforts alongside your internal teams to ensure ideas turn into action.
The Illusion of Readiness
When clients engage big-name consultants, there’s often an implicit assumption: that they’re ready for change. That assumption is rarely tested. Organizational readiness isn’t about appetite—it’s about infrastructure, decision rights, change management capabilities, and leadership alignment.
Without a readiness assessment baked into the strategic process, even the best plans falter. For example, a PwC survey revealed that 83% of executives struggle with strategy execution, citing a lack of clear communication and ownership.
How Saulsberry Group Addresses It: We begin every engagement with a proprietary Strategic Readiness Assessment—evaluating culture, capacity, leadership alignment, and existing infrastructure. We don’t assume readiness—we measure it, and tailor our interventions accordingly.
The Cultural Disconnect
Big firms tend to operate with a level of abstraction that distances them from the cultural dynamics of their client organizations. Their consultants may never walk the factory floor or sit in on regional sales calls. As a result, their strategies often lack nuance—overlooking the friction points and power structures that can derail implementation.
By contrast, boutique consultancies are often closer to the action. They listen more deeply, adapt more fluidly, and align more tightly with client teams. They serve not just as architects, but as builders and co-pilots.
How Saulsberry Group Addresses It: Our approach is rooted in deep partnership. We embed with client teams, listen at all levels of the organization, and design interventions that are not only strategic but culturally congruent. We believe culture isn’t a barrier to strategy—it’s the medium through which strategy succeeds.
A Call for Consulting 2.0
The future of consulting belongs to firms that can bridge vision with velocity. This means rethinking what clients are really buying—not just brilliance, but ballast. Not just strategy, but sustained support.
Clients should demand partners who are accountable not just for ideas, but for outcomes. This means consultants who understand how to drive adoption, manage resistance, prototype solutions, and adjust in real-time.
Consulting 2.0 is gritty. It’s iterative. It’s co-created. It doesn’t hand over a report and walk away. It rolls up sleeves, builds coalitions, and drives measurable change.
How Saulsberry Group Leads Consulting 2.0: We offer a new consulting model—one built for velocity, not vanity. Through our Agile Execution Framework, we help clients move fast, pivot intelligently, and execute with precision. We don’t just consult; we co-create. We don’t just strategize; we mobilize.
Conclusion: Moving Beyond the Mirage
High-fidelity strategy without execution is a mirage—compelling from a distance, but ultimately unfulfilling. In an era where disruption is constant and agility is everything, organizations need more than visionary decks. They need partners who can get in the trenches, stay through the turbulence, and make transformation real.
To thrive, organizations must invest not just in thinking, but in doing. The age of strategy theater is ending. The era of high-impact execution has arrived.
Ready to break through the mirage? Take our free Strategic Readiness Survey to assess your organization’s capacity to implement transformation. Visit https://saulsberrygroup.co/transformation-readiness-survey to begin.
