ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Most consultancies still pitch what they can do. Clients have stopped buying it.
Cris Beswick has spent two decades inside the boardrooms of global brands - first as a consultancy founder with two exits (the second five days before Lehman Brothers crashed), and now as an innovation, leadership and culture advisor to CEOs at some of the world's most complex organisations.
In this episode of The Unique Boutique, Matt sits down with Cris to unpack why the big-consultancy model is visibly cracking, what's replacing it, and why boutique firms are now better positioned than the global names to win the work that matters.
What we cover:
- Why "innovation is an outcome, not a thing you do" - and what that reframes about how you pitch
- The McKinsey stat that explains everything: 84% of leaders say innovation is critical, only 6% are happy with their performance
- Why capability-led positioning is dying - and outcomes-led positioning is taking its place
- The "innovation theatre" trap (and the positioning equivalent boutiques quietly fall into)
- Why roughly 80% of AI implementation programmes are failing - and what leaders are getting wrong
- The "position of truth" - the honest baseline that should anchor every client engagement
- How boutiques can now run the same diagnostic-led approach the big firms have always had to themselves
- Vulnerability, authenticity, and the nerve to tell a CEO they're the problem
Plus: snog, marry, avoid - what to embrace, commit to, and ditch in your business.
Guest: Cris Beswick - innovation, leadership and culture advisor. Keynote speaker. Founder of The Evaluaite Hub.
Host: Matt Hodkinson - founder of Tylt. Category positioning for boutique consultancies ready to lead, not just compete.
