The Rehearsal: The End of Big Consulting?

Last week, I found myself transfixed by Nathan Fielder's HBO show "The Rehearsal."

The premise is brilliantly simple yet profound: Fielder helps ordinary people rehearse tough conversations and life decisions by creating elaborate simulations of the real scenarios they'll face.

He even tackled something I have a particular interest in: aviation.

As someone who has studied conversations for almost three decades, I have spent very little time thinking about how pilots talk with one another.

I won't spoil the context of the show, but let me just say he recreates cockpit conversations and the dangers of poor communication.

And he does it all by recreating scenarios and studying behavior.

As I watched participants navigate these meticulously crafted environments, I couldn't help but see parallels to how we operate in professional settings.

However, I'd contend that business contexts present even greater difficulties. Unlike the cockpit, there are endless permutations of business scenarios, with no two strategic decisions being identical.

How many corporate "brainstorms" are actually rehearsals for predetermined outcomes?

The Consulting Theater

This brings us to the world of "Big Consulting"—that ecosystem of prestigious firms companies bring in to improve communication, provide frameworks, or enable decision-making.

But what if much of this is simply corporate theater?

Consider the concept of "decision laundering"—where executives bring in external consultants not for their expertise but to validate decisions already made.

Or when executive leadership doesn't have strategic faith in their mid-level managers (a shame, actually, as this group is probably closer to the market) to make an expensive decision.

The consultant's report becomes a shield against criticism: "We're not cutting 30% of staff because I want to; the consultants recommended it."

This performance of objectivity costs companies millions while often delivering unpredictable results.

The Danger of Consulting Bias

One reason companies choose to hire consulting is to "bring in outside opinions" as there is a myopic view of business processes within the organization.

This is often true.

But what isn't ever articulated very well is the bias that comes from different big consulting groups.

And don't argue with me. You know it's true.

I remember sitting in a meeting with a group of execs and within the second PowerPoint slide; it was clearly the playbook of a singular multi-syllable consulting group.

I'm not saying that they copy and paste results between clients, but the bias is unavoidable in a large organization: certain consultant groups just think a certain way.

The consulting industry's inherent biases and high costs raise an obvious question: In an era where artificial intelligence can process vast amounts of data and generate sophisticated analysis, do we still need to rely solely on traditional consulting approaches?

Can AI Replace Big Consulting?

Here's a provocative question: If we're scrutinizing which employees can be replaced by AI, why aren't we applying the same logic to the expensive consultants who often deliver template solutions?

Seriously, what does it hurt to ask AI about a strategic question before hiring a consulting group?

Unfortunately, it's not that simple.

One advantage consultants bring to the table is listening. Given the cost of the contract, most business owners require employees to take part in sessions with consultants where they can learn about the problem.

Consultants are often accused of just regurgitating back to a company what employees already know.

But this is exactly the point that you are paying for - capturing the collective conversation of people that really understand the problem.

Unfortunately, for many consulting groups, they are judged on the quality of the output, not the quality of the input.

It is the report that often companies believe they are paying for.

So now imagine a scenario where a company focuses on creating the conversations internally.

It would be easy to argue that the discussions wouldn't be structured or captured in a consistent form.

But most AI models don't care. They excel at unstructured data.

Perhaps you wouldn't know what questions to ask.

True.

But you can brainstorm with AI for creativity.

This is really the most important thing to take away from this essay.

Instead of worrying about prompting ChatGPT to give an output, instead have a conversation about what you don't know. Ask the model to ask you questions about your own business.

This style of conversational AI will uncover hidden bias and open up your mind to thinking differently. Much like you would pay a big consultant for.

All you have to do is to capture all of this conversation into large documents. You can start this process within Google Docs.

A New Approach to Decision Making

And, when you've collected all of this information, you can easily use AI tools to create an output document.

Modern AI tools can now generate comprehensive outputs like Project Requirement Documents (PRDs) from simple prompts.

The workflow is remarkably straightforward:

First, an executive defines a business objective through an AI prompt.

Next, a large language model expands this into a structured document with clear requirements, timelines, and resource allocations.

Finally, tools like NotebookLM can transform all of that unstructured data into polished presentations and source documents indistinguishable from those delivered by consulting firms charging seven figures.

Here's a sample prompt:

What's most compelling isn't just the cost savings but the speed and iteration potential—what takes consultants weeks can be accomplished in hours, with unlimited revisions.

Note: unlimited revisions.

This is really important. If you don't get the result you want, then you can query the model for more information or deeper insight.

One tip that is really useful today in using AI tools is the concept of the "Master Prompt." In brief, this is just a contextual document where you capture a large amount of base information about your company.

I'll put an example Master Prompt at the end of the essay as an Appendix.

What Boards Should Demand First

Here's a radical proposal: No CEO should be permitted to hire a major consulting firm without first generating and reviewing an AI-driven analysis of the same problem.

This should be a fiduciary requirement in the age of AI.

Consider the comparison: A comprehensive AI analysis might cost a few thousand dollars and take days, while traditional consulting engagements often run into millions and take months.

The AI approach offers transparency (you can see exactly what data and assumptions went into the analysis) and allows for rapid iteration as conditions change.

To ignore these tools while spending shareholder money on traditional consulting is increasingly looking like corporate malpractice.

The Democratization of Advice

One of the greatest benefits of using AI tools for consulting advice is that it opens the door for powerful advice to smaller companies and groups.

Most of the time, hiring one of the Big Consulting houses is beyond the scope for many small or mid-size companies.

And this is going to have a powerful effect on leveling the playing field between big and large competitors.

Conclusion

Like Nathan Fielder's elaborate simulations in "The Rehearsal," traditional consulting often provides the comfort of rehearsed certainty in an uncertain world. But as Fielder's show ultimately reveals, no amount of preparation can fully eliminate the messiness of human decision-making.

Perhaps it's time we embrace new tools that democratize insight generation while acknowledging that the best decisions come not from outsourcing our thinking but from combining powerful AI analysis with our own human judgment.

The era of decision laundering through expensive consultants may soon be replaced by something more transparent, accessible, and ultimately more honest.

Appendix

Here is an example of a Master Prompt, but it can be a lot longer and a lot more detailed. I would start with this base example and fill in each section with two or three sentences and then go from there. If you don't know the answers to some of these questions - even if they are about your own company - just ask ChatGPT.