How to avoid drowning in a thought leadership “sea of sameness”: Insights from Source’s quality ratings report 2026
The Future of the Firm
In this episode of the Future of the Firm podcast, Natasha Cambell, Principal Consultant at Source, and Nicola Kostrzewska, Senior Consultant at Source, join Emma Carroll, Head of Client Voice, to explore the themes and findings of the latest Quality Ratings of Thought Leadership report. Natasha and Nicola share insights that challenge the industry to rethink how content is created and activated to stand out in an increasingly crowded market and overcome the much-discussed "sea of sameness". They address questions including: What...
info_outline
Transforming asset-based consulting as a route to growth
The Future of the Firm
In this episode of the Future of the Firm podcast, Andy Baldwin, Global Managing Partner & SVP Offerings & Growth at IBM Consulting, joins Fiona Czerniawska, CEO at Source, to explore the rapidly evolving landscape of asset-based consulting. Andy shares insights that challenge the industry to rethink how traditional human consultants integrate with digital software assets and autonomous agents. We address questions including: What is "asset-based consulting" and how do productivity-based assets differ from...
info_outline
The new competitive advantage of regional firms
The Future of the Firm
In this episode of the Future of the Firm podcast, Geert van den Goor, CEO at Valcon, joins Emma Carroll, Head of Client Voice at Source, to talk about the new competitive advantage of regional firms. Geert takes us through Valcon's growth journey towards a "European powerhouse" model that balances regional expertise with the scale necessary to deliver tangible, AI-driven business transformation. In this episode, we explore the following questions and more: Given the...
info_outline
Rethinking Audit: a creative journey
The Future of the Firm
In this episode of the Future of the Firm podcast, Jo Rhoden, Executive Director at Tapestry Networks, joins Emma Carroll, Head of Content at Source, for a creative journey to rethink the audit profession. Speaking in her personal capacity, Jo shares insights from her on the future of audit, challenging the industry to look beyond compliance and standardisation to innovation and creativity. We address questions including: Beyond the obvious impact of technology, what are the other major drivers of change in the audit market...
info_outline
How client needs are changing and what opportunities this creates for firms
The Future of the Firm
In this episode of the Future of the Firm podcast, Nicki Wakefield, Global Clients and Industries Leader at PwC, joins Emma Carroll, Head of Client Voice at Source, to talk about how client needs are changing and the opportunities this creates for firms. Nicki shares her insights on the shift towards long-term partnerships that focus on deeply understanding the client's unique context, working towards measurable outcomes, and building solid foundations in data and strategy to...
info_outline
The commercial value of research for professional services firms
The Future of the Firm
In this episode of our Future of the Firm podcast, Alison Huntington, Global Commercial Strategy and Insights Leader at Russell Reynolds, sits down with Emma Carroll, Head of Content at Source, to discuss how firms can create true commercial value from their research—both now and in the future. We consider the following questions and more: Beyond the traditional white paper, what content falls under the category of "insights" today? In what ways do successful firms use research to create value for themselves and their...
info_outline
The impact of AI on the pricing of professional services
The Future of the Firm
In this episode of our Future of the Firm podcast, Fiona Czerniawska, Source CEO, sits down with Head of Content, Emma Carroll, to tackle one of the most pressing issues on firm agendas today: the impact of AI on the pricing of professional services. We consider the following questions and more: What’s worrying firms about the use of AI in their operating models and the impact on pricing in particular? Will the efficiency gains of AI shrink the market and result in a catastrophe for firms? How does...
info_outline
The Future of Consulting: 2026
The Future of the Firm
In this special New Year edition of our Future of the Firm podcast, Fiona Czerniawska, CEO at Source, and Nick Jotischky, our Head of Market Trends, sit down with Head of Content Emma Carroll to dissect the big trends, challenges, and opportunities awaiting professional services firms in the year ahead. We consider the following questions and more: Will 2026 see a return to higher growth norms, or are firms facing another rollercoaster year? What will the...
info_outline
Re-imagining consulting through the prism of AI
The Future of the Firm
The rise of AI may well be the most urgent topic facing the consulting industry today. But beyond the hype, how can firms successfully use AI to transform their operating model? In this episode of the Future of the Firm podcast, Dan Diasio, Global consulting AI Leader at EY, and Colm Sparks-Austin, Americas Tech Consulting Leader at EY, join our Head of Content, Emma Carroll, to re-imagine consulting through the prism of AI. We address the following questions and more: How can firms move past retrofitting AI into old processes and instead rethink how they...
info_outline
Building Unity Advisory, a disruptive, AI-enabled consulting firm
The Future of the Firm
Marissa Thomas, CEO and Co-founder of Unity Advisory, joined Emma Carroll, Head of Content at Source, on the latest episode of our The Future of the Firm podcast to discuss the learnings and challenges of combining deep expertise with AI-enabled delivery to create a new advisory firm that’s fit for the modern market. Marissa shared her insights on the following matters and more: How co-founders Thomas and Steve Varley saw a disruptive opportunity from three angles—AI and other exciting technologies, what...
info_outlineLesley Uren, Global CEO of Consulting for Korn Ferry, caught up with Emma Carroll, Source’s Head of Content, on the latest episode of The Future of the Firm podcast to discuss where the hot spots and challenges in human capital consulting are today, and where clients’ needs are set to shift in this space.
Lesley shares her insight on the following matters and more:
-
Volatility in the market for human capital consulting is being driven by large macro factors that are impacting clients’ appetite to invest. This uncertainty is likely to persist, and consulting firms need to be able to pivot quickly to respond to clients’ changing business issues.
-
CEOs are facing a big challenge around maintaining business performance as they transform their organisations. AI is one of the big triggers here, as leaders start to rethink their business models, but there are other drivers too, including cost pressures.
-
Data, including the use of data to create insights, is set to be the biggest change in human capital consulting. We discuss the power of unlocking client data and combining that with a firm’s data to reveal hidden information about talent and drive better business performance.
-
The big questions from clients around AI include: How can we redesign our organisation? How will work be different? What kind of skills will we need? Where will we find those skills at scale? How can we galvanise our people behind this change? How will softer skills ensure this transition is successful?
-
The political temperature around DEI is impacting the type of support clients need in this area. We discuss what is changing and what is staying the same.
-
Firms will need to think differently about demonstrating value to clients. It’s about more than processing and sythesising data now: It’s about proving impact.
If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, Business Leader’s Voice. In a recent episode, we talked to Sarah Ricketts, SVP for Procurement at Rolls-Royce, about transforming procurement with data, culture, and tech.