---
id: "action-redesign-compensation"
type: "action-item"
source_timestamps: ["§ Implications for Consulting Firms"]
tags: ["hr", "compensation", "incentives"]
related: ["concept-consulting-pyramid", "concept-consulting-obelisk"]
action: "Evolve compensation models to reward strategic contribution and client outcomes over billable hours."
outcome: "Aligns employee incentives with the high-speed, high-leverage reality of the AI-augmented obelisk model."
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"
---
# Redesign Compensation Models

**Action:** Shift compensation and incentive structures **away from metrics based on headcount, leverage, and billable hours** (the economics of the [[concept-consulting-pyramid]]). Align rewards with **strategic contributions, insight delivered, and actual client outcomes.**

**Expected outcome:** Incentives that match the high-speed, high-leverage reality of the AI-augmented [[concept-consulting-obelisk]].

**Enrichment link:** parallels the industry shift toward value-based, outcome-sharing, and subscription-advisory pricing documented in [[concept-alternative-firm-geometries]] — you cannot change delivery geometry without also changing how people are paid.