---
id: "action-rearchitect-first-principles"
type: "action-item"
source_timestamps: ["§ Why Firms Will Resist Change", "§ Implications for Consulting Firms"]
tags: ["strategy", "workflow-design"]
related: ["claim-incumbent-resistance", "concept-consulting-obelisk", "contrarian-ai-investment-is-not-enough"]
action: "Redesign entire consulting workflows around AI capabilities from first principles rather than bolting tools onto legacy processes."
outcome: "A leaner, more expert-driven delivery model that offers clients more value with fewer people and lower costs."
speakers: ["David S. Duncan", "Tyler Anderson", "Jeffrey Saviano"]
sources: ["reskilling"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-reskilling"
originDay: 10
articleStem: "hbr-edu-44-ai-changing-consulting-structure"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2025/09/ai-is-changing-the-structure-of-consulting-firms"
sourceTitle: "AI Is Changing the Structure of Consulting Firms"
---
# Re-Architect Workflows From First Principles

**Action:** Do not simply bolt AI tools onto existing legacy workflows. Instead, **redesign entire workflows around AI capabilities** to fundamentally redefine how value is created and delivered to the client.

**Expected outcome:** A leaner, more expert-driven delivery model that offers clients more value with fewer people and lower costs — i.e., an operating instantiation of the [[concept-consulting-obelisk]].

**Why it's hard:** it directly opposes [[claim-incumbent-resistance]] and requires overcoming the [[concept-innovators-dilemma-consulting]]. As [[contrarian-ai-investment-is-not-enough]] warns, spending heavily on AI without this redesign will still likely fail. Directly connected to [[quote-bolting-on-ai]].


## Related across articles
- [[concept-ai-workflow-redesign]]
- [[claim-infrastructure-scales-adoption]]
- [[quote-redesign-work]]