Looking Ahead (2026 and beyond)

Outside of AI, what are the hardest strategic problems CEOs will face through 2026—and where do you think most leadership teams are underprepared?

The most significant challenge for Australian CEOs will be the macroeconomic and multi-level turbulence that the Middle-east war is going to cause.  Australia is more exposed compared to other similar countries, due to the trifecta of fuel import dependence, limited onshore manufacturing and physical distance separation.

It is a perfect storm – wherein reliability and resilience will be even more critical than price, executive decision windows will be compressed, and impacts will extend well beyond the supply chain (capital, pricing, demand, etc.) across a significant spectrum of the Australian economy.  Just as an example, a lack of helium transiting through the Strait of Hormuz and being produced in Ras Laffan in Qatar will constrain water processing for semiconductor manufacturing, which will in turn curtail AI and data centre infrastructure – this will be a medium-term downstream impact.  

Lifting productivity is another major theme for client CEOs, and it’s even more critical in this unstable macroeconomic environment.

Competitive Advantage

In an increasingly crowded “strategy + execution + tech” landscape, where does Kearney have a genuine right to win—and where do you consciously choose not to compete?

Clients continue to value and seek out consulting firms that will partner with them to deliver real results and transformational impact.  In any future evolutionary scenario for the consulting market, that core tenet will not shift.  And this is precisely where Kearney operates, in our sweet spot – at the intersection of strategy, execution and tech.  At Kearney, we continue to see strong demand in our traditional sectors of strength – telco/media, financial services, private equity, consumer goods/retail, mining and process industries.  We are leaders in the ANZ market when it comes to Strategic Operations, Procurement and Transformation, and are increasing our impact in Digital and AI, as well as pure play Strategy and Operating Model topics.

Even with AI, this need for consulting partners that will help clients to navigate the complexities and deliver value will be further accentuated.  We will not be pure tech execution by design – clients appreciate our independence and lack of conflict, and we are not looking to on-sell the big IT/BPO implementation programs.

Talent & Firm Building

Top-tier firms all claim to attract “exceptional talent”—but in practice, what truly differentiates those who can consistently hire and retain the top 1%? Where do most firms fall short?

The biggest factor in attracting, retaining and growing exceptional talent in any consulting firm is cultural fit. I’ve been at Kearney for over two decades across multiple countries, and seen multiple consulting firms - and the thing that continues to amaze me is the uniformity in culture. For Kearney, we pride ourselves on being genuinely collegial, collaborative and authentic. And you have to actively lead from the front in preserving and enhancing this culture, while providing individuals exceptional client experiences where they can learn and grow professionally, and follow their passion. It boils down to whether employees feel like they’re a part of the family or not, in the long term. Consulting is an exceptionally demanding profession, and you have to have a really good reason to start, and then to stay!

Diversity has been a priority for years—what have you learned about what actually moves the needle versus what is largely performative? Where is the industry still getting it wrong?

Diversity is a real challenge for consulting. The biggest issue is retaining and supporting our colleagues when they’re trying to balance the middle years in consulting with family. And there is potentially also a lack of proper awareness across partner groups on what the biggest challenges are, and what’s needed to improve.  At Kearney, we’re absolutely committed to materially shifting our gender balance over the next two to three years. This isn’t a short-term fix - it’s a focused, structural effort to strengthen representation across the pipeline and make sure it is sustainable.  We’ve just launched our ‘Success with Flex’ Umbrella program in 2026 to provide more comprehensive support to our employees - particularly for female talent navigating key life and career stages. This initiative is designed to create more structured flexibility, stronger sponsorship, and clearer pathways to career advancement for all life and career stages.  We are also sharpening our recruitment strategy to improve gender balance at all levels (entry to senior-experienced). These are just some of the actions underway.

Career & Capability 

What advice would you give a top-performing Associate today that would meaningfully differentiate them by the time they reach Partner?

• Be curious and don’t shy away from learning, build resilience and a distinct ‘otaku’ profile.  Have something interesting to say.
• Embrace AI and make it a friend.
• Stay anchored on relationships – with clients and internally.  
• Find joy in what you do, discover your ‘ikigai’.
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Client Demand Evolution

How has the nature of CEO and Board-level demand shifted over the past 2–3 years—from “what should we do?” to “how do we deliver?”—and where are clients still overestimating their own ability to execute?

Clients have more data and systems and tools than ever before, yet they continue to over-estimate their ability to drive change (and real transformation requires cross-BU collaboration). There is a tendency to pivot to partnering with firms that promise to deliver the end to end outcomes, beyond just the right conceptual answer.  This makes sense at one level, but our advice is to watch out for over-simplifying this though – it’s easy to just sign up to a big deal with a consulting provider that promises to do everything – but more often than not, it’s been empirically observed that these all-in models fail to deliver.  And lead to a poor rap for the consulting profession all round, in the medium term.  In our view, the clients that get most value from their consulting partners are the ones that are surgical in their asks, focus on measurable impact and seek the best independent advice for strategy, execution and tech.

AI & the Consulting Model

AI is compressing the traditional consulting pyramid—what does a high-performing team look like in 3–5 years, and how are you redesigning leverage, apprenticeship, and pricing models in response?

• The generalist era is coming to an end. The pyramid and client delivery teams over the next 3-5 years will likely have a lot more domain experts driving projects. The generalist era of consulting is evolving to a ‘T’ or ‘π’ shaped model. Consultants will be expected to be deep experts in 1-2 areas, yet they will be able to do a lot more than they do today thanks to AI. Consequently, smaller teams will be able to achieve a lot more.   As a firm, Kearney is all in on AI, and are re-shaping our capabilities to reflect this.
• Apprenticeship will have to be rebuilt around AI – and it will be a two-way street. One thing a lot of commentators get wrong in our opinion is the inherent resilience of young people. True, graduate hiring is under pressure. But a 24-year-old has a lot more neuroplasticity and can adapt. This generation is going to be AI native. Consulting has always been about learning and un-learning. The young people who get hired will have to be apprenticed so that they can develop sound judgement. Tenured employees will have to ensure that they stay hungry enough to learn AI, and I believe a lot of that learning will come from working along with younger AI native colleagues. These are surely interesting times.
• Pricing models will be firmly rooted in outcomes. Kearney’s DNA has always been impact first. AI is going to amplify that ask from consultants. Commercial models will increasingly anchor on outcomes delivered or capability built for the client. AI will give consultants the time and tools to focus more on moving the needle on outcomes. 

Beyond proofs of concept, where are you seeing real, scaled AI value creation—and what are the most common failure modes you’re helping clients avoid?

• Don’t pick too many battles. With AI, what we observe is that the companies that are pulling ahead have been deliberately focused on their approach. Instead of running 100s of use-cases, they have focused on reimagining some key workflows using AI. 
• Don’t ignore the hard part – operating model. Change management and adapting to AI-enabled workflows is the most critical problem to solve. Leading organisations work on these topics in parallel to thinking about where to apply AI. Without a holistic transformation, AI will not deliver results.

Invest in data foundations. AI is as good as the data it works upon. Data is a boring topic in the AI conversation, yet it is fundamental to value creation. Companies that have invested in fixing their data pipelines are already ahead of their peers.