The Transformation Illusion
Management consultancies have perfected the art of selling transformation. It’s a billion-pound industry built on promises of reinvention, disruption, and bold new futures. And yet, year after year, study after study, the data tells a different story:
- 70% of business transformations fail. (McKinsey)
- Only 30% of executives believe their transformation was successful. (Harvard Business Review)
- Over £3 trillion has been wasted on failed change initiatives in the last decade. (Forbes)
Yet the same consultancies keep selling the same dream—and executives keep buying it.
The Theory Factory: When Advice is the Product
Let’s be clear: if a company wants purely theoretical models, the big consultancies are a perfect fit. Their frameworks are robust, their methodologies are polished, and their teams are full of smart, ambitious people.
But here’s the catch: advice isn’t action.
These firms sell intellectual property—ideas, not execution. Their value lies in the creation of strategic blueprints, not the actual business of making things happen. That’s why so many transformations stall once the consultants leave: the plan was never built to be implemented, just to impress in the boardroom.
The Hidden Cost of Theoretical Transformation
This isn’t just an academic issue. Failed transformations come with real-world consequences:
- Employee disillusionment: Workers have seen it all before—new strategies, new structures, new mission statements. When transformation efforts repeatedly fail, morale and trust erode.
- Budget black holes: Companies pour millions into consultant-driven change projects, only to find themselves no better off than before—except with a thinner wallet.
- Competitive stagnation: While companies wrestle with endless theoretical redesigns, their competitors move faster, execute better, and capture market share.
Transformation Should Be About Outcomes, Not Optics
At COGENT, we don’t believe in transformation theatre. We believe in results.
✔ Execution-first strategies: If it can’t be implemented, it’s not worth the paper it’s written on.
✔ Practical over theoretical: We work alongside leadership teams, not in isolation from them.
✔ Tangible, measurable change: If it doesn’t move the needle, it’s not transformation.
If you need a report, the big firms are excellent at that. If you need action, impact, and change that actually sticks—well, that’s a different conversation.
Transformation shouldn’t be an expensive illusion. It should be real.
#consulting #business #transformation #leadership