Nothing new to say?

More great stuff on consulting firms' thought leadership effectiveness (or the lack of it!) from Fiona Czerniawska, featured in a recent issue of Management Consulting News.  Her report, White Space 2007, examines "the most, the best and the worst [thought leadership] material produced by top global consulting firms." 

The focus this time is HR consulting firms, including Towers Perrin, Hay Group, Hewitt, and Mercer, among others.  Czerniawska concludes HR firms "struggle to find anything new to say" about issues on which they focus their attention.

With both the quantity and quality of their thought leadership in decline, the HR firms badly need to invest more time and resources in this business-critical activity. If they don’t, they may lose market share and business to firms with a broader base of consulting offerings.

Czerniawska's point is a strong one, but nevertheless, I hear and see so many professional firms struggling with this issue.  But it's a no-brainer:  figure out what your clients' biggest struggles are, then research cutting edge solutions (or test some that clients haven't thought of!) and publish the findings.   

This is classic Research and Development, but it's a serious challenge for most professional firms.  It requires them to get better at overcoming their internal hurdles, and to focus more externally on their clients.   Many firms are having real problems in this arena! 

But as Czerniawska rightly implies, it usually takes a competitor's encroachment before real muscle is applied to making headway.