By Shahryar Shaghaghi, Program Director and Professor of Practice, Technology Management, Columbia University, School of Professional Studies
I recently moderated a panel with industry leaders on pathways into consulting at the SPS Career Design Lab. In the early years of my professional journey, I started my own career in management consulting, and while our world has changed since then with the rise of AI, consulting remains a compelling career path for the next generation of technology leaders. Here are three takeaways from the panel.
Consultants Have a Front-Row Seat for Driving Transformation at Global Organizations
In today’s era of continuous and fast-paced technology evolution, consulting offers a front-row seat to help organizations overcome complex challenges—such as digital transformation, cybersecurity and data privacy, data science, analytics, and more—that often require specialized expertise and an outside perspective. Moreover, the demand for consultants is growing. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projected that the employment of management consultants will rise 14 percent from 2020 to 2030, far outpacing the average for all occupations.
Part of what makes consulting compelling is the chance to work on mission-critical problems across different industries. One week, a consultant might help a bank design a digital banking strategy; the next, advise a retail company on e-commerce analytics. This variety accelerates learning and keeps the work intellectually challenging. Companies undertake high-stakes initiatives and transformations where failure is not an option—yet studies show success is far from guaranteed. According to research by Boston Consulting Group, about 70 percent of digital transformation projects fall short of their objectives. The stakes and difficulty of such efforts underscore why skilled consultants are in demand: Organizations need guidance to “flip the odds” and achieve lasting results. Whether it’s integrating new technology or rethinking strategy, consultants play a pivotal role in enabling change. Today’s top consulting firms have deep technology and risk expertise on call. Cybersecurity, AI, cloud computing, and data science have become core parts of the consulting tool kit.
Start Your Path to the C-Suite
The consulting tool kit—strategic thinking, analytical rigor, communication under pressure—doubles as a leadership training ground. The fast pace and variety of challenges in consulting prepare professionals to thrive in executive roles later. It’s no coincidence that so many corporate leaders come from consulting. In fact, 47 CEOs of Fortune 500 companies have management consultancies on their résumés. McKinsey & Company, for example, even refers to itself as “one of the world’s largest leadership factories” given how many alumni ascend to C-suite positions in large corporations and become successful start-up founders. Early-career consultants learn to solve diverse, mission-critical problems—experiences that cultivate the adaptability and big-picture thinking vital for CEOs and other top executives. This trend is backed by data: Studies find former consultants are disproportionately likely to lead successful businesses and outperform peers in leadership roles. In short, consulting augments your career trajectory much as AI augments consulting work—by providing leverage. It gives professionals a breadth of experience and a problem-solving mindset that are invaluable in guiding organizations. In brief, consulting remains one of the most common pipelines to senior leadership.
AI Is a Powerful Teammate in Consulting
The consulting industry is one of the fastest adopters of AI, with consultants using AI teammates to augment their work. This includes using generative AI tools to draft reports, data analytics platforms to process massive datasets in minutes, and natural language processing bots to accelerate research and document reviews. According to McKinsey, AI adoption has surged globally, with more than 70 percent of companies using it by 2023, up from 50 percent in 2020. Consulting firms are at the forefront of this trend, integrating AI into internal operations and client services alike.
By using machine learning to automate repetitive, data-heavy tasks, such as extracting market research, or by asking AI assistants to scan complex financial documents, consultants can free up time to focus on client engagement, creative problem-solving, and delivering tailored recommendations. This will allow consultants to focus on higher-impact tasks while increasing productivity and capacity to fulfill growing demand and providing more cost-effective services to clients.
Overall, the human element remains irreplaceable. Complex advisory work demands understanding corporate culture, out-of-the-box thinking, weighing unquantifiable trade-offs, and leading through ambiguity—capabilities no algorithm can fully match. For example, in cybersecurity consulting, AI can flag anomalies at scale, but when a breach occurs, it’s the consultant who guides the client through crisis management and recovery, given that each organization operates differently and breaches can have different characteristics. It is human judgment based on emotions, feelings, experience, and reaction to the moment that will still be trusted more than machines for many years to come. Also, let’s not forget that regulatory safeguards and mandates related to validation and verification of the output through the subject matter experts will not allow complete replacement of humans with systems. We landed on the moon back in 1969. Don’t you think we could have had pilotless or autonomous commercial flights today?
Successful consultants embrace AI as a multiplier of their capabilities. Much as Excel revolutionized financial modeling in the 1990s and data science reshaped analytics in the 2010s, today’s AI tools are reshaping consulting’s future. Those who adapt will lead. And those who pair technical fluency with empathy, ethics, and critical thinking will become the most trusted advisors.
Clients still want a trusted partner who understands their vision, navigates complexity, and drives real change.
In sum, pursuing a career in consulting remains promising, especially in the age of AI, in which technology has become a teammate and digital transformation partner, helping to accelerate possibilities.
About the Program
Columbia University’s Master of Science in Technology Management is a hands-on technology leadership development program designed to train professionals for equal fluency in tech fundamentals, business operations, and ethical leadership.
The fall 2025 application deadline for the Technology Management program is June 1. Learn more about the program here.
