Consulting Industry Trends

So what is the big picture in consulting?

The Croixstone Consulting team dedicated some time last week to dig into the latest research to provide some fresh perspectives in answering this question. Here’s what we found.

  • Global Consulting Market: Was estimated at $132 billion USD in 2020 (Statista)
  • North America: Is the largest consulting services market worldwide with annual revenues estimated at $64.4 billion. (Statista)
  • Regional Analysis: North America and Europe are highly mature markets contributing to 75% of the global consulting market revenue. (Beroe)
  • Number of Management Consultants in USA: 768,450 (Statista)
  • Growth Rate: Management consulting is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of more than 6 percent from 2021 to 2026 (Beroe)
  • Growth Drivers: The demand for operational efficiency, regulatory compliance and technology improvements. (Beroe)
  • Demand by Industry: Financial Services (25%), Manufacturing (16%), Public Sector (14%), Natural Resources & Power (12%), Wholesale & Retail (10%), Healthcare (7%), Communications & Media (7%), Aerospace & Defense (4%), Other Industries (5%) (Beroe)
  • Profits: Over the next 5 years, management consulting industry profitability is expected to remain steady as rising global business sentiment and profit drive new businesses. (Beroe)
  • Disruption: New business models such as crowdsourcing and network-based consulting are evolving in the industry, which can be disruptive in nature. Think of Wikistrat, HourlyNerd, and Business Talent Group as examples. (Beroe)

Croixstone Consulting is a boutique management consulting firm known for connecting the brightest minds in business and community. Learn how we drive business outcomes by accelerating and sustaining transformations here.


Martha Stewart and Leonardo da Vinci? They have more in common than you know.

Leonardo da Vinci.
Andy Warhol.
Walt Disney.
Martha Stewart.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

Two weeks ago, our Managing Partner and co-founder Mark Weber returned for a command performance to LOOM Coworking, Gallery and Event Space in Fort Mill, SC to share insights on the common thread that ties these five, highly accomplished professionals together.

The common thread?

Each of these famous people built a “portfolio career”, a style of working where a professional combines multiple streams of income to earn a robust living. Think of a portfolio career like an investment portfolio whereby you derive income from multiple streams that you professionally manage with a high degree of care, strategy and intentionality.

Portfolio careers are booming. In a recent article published by Ben Legg, the former COO of Google Europe, it was noted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (based in Paris) in its Future of Work study that an estimated 50% of developed country workforces would be gig workers by 2030. Similarly, Ladders published a story that featured a forecast from Statista, the market research firm, that freelancers will make up more than 50% of the USA’s workforce by 2027.

So why are portfolio careers growing?

For starters, more and more professionals are realizing that they have the right and power to veer from the traditional career script. Many of the most skilled and intelligent workers crave both variety and challenge in their careers, and they find it fulfilling to meet their needs outside the traditional career path.

For these professionals, there is often a greater sense of purpose, clarity, and flexibility that accompanies the building of a portfolio career.

Respected thought leaders including Harvard Business Review and Forbes are publishing a growing body of articles and videos that are providing legitimacy to those attracted to the concept of a portfolio career. Additionally, a growing number of employers, including Croixstone Consulting, are intentionally building and diversifying their workforces by designing and implementing talent strategies focused on portfolio professionals.

Visit Croixstone Consulting’s Linktree to find a variety of links to learn more about the benefits and rewards of building a portfolio career.


Most USA Workers are Open to Leaving

The Great Resignation is a powerful force to be reckoned with, and it shows no signs of easing up.

Case in point…Willis Towers Watson, the insurance broking and HR advisory firm, polled nearly 10,000 USA workers during December 2021 and January 2022 to gather insights for its Global Benefits Attitudes Survey.

The Croixstone team read the survey results last week, and the insights are truly stunning.

  • Most USA workers (53%) are open to leaving their employers.
  • 44% of USA workers said they are actively looking for a new job and plan to seek new employment in the first quarter of 2022.
  • 4.3 million Americans left their jobs in January 2022, and a whopping 48 million workers left their jobs in the calendar year 2021.
  • 25% of workers feel stuck in their jobs and would leave if they could. The discontent is even higher as you move up the ladder, and it increases to 30% of managers and 55% of senior managers.

Learn more here.


What’s the Future of Consulting?

As we count down the final days of 2021 and look forward to the shiny new year ahead, Croixstone is celebrating a record year of revenues and client growth.

Croixstone sees a very bright future ahead for both the consulting industry and our firm. That said, the pathway to the future must be navigated amidst the powerful forces of disruption that are igniting rapid transformation in the consulting industry.

We were curious to learn how other thought leaders in our industry are seeing the future of consulting. We came across an interesting online article published by Future of Everything that features fascinating insights into the future from 14 consulting industry experts. Click here to learn their thoughts.


What’s Top of Mind for CEOs

Fortune Magazine and Deloitte have partnered to track the perspectives and actions of CEOs from the world’s largest and most influential companies. Every 4 months, the duo gathers key insights into CEOs’ priorities, challenges, and expectations across 15 industries, including finance, health care, and technology.

At the end of last month, Fortune/Deloitte shared the results of their latest survey that revealed that a growing number of chief executives expect pandemic disruptions to continue. Additionally, they remain bullish about growth while they are focused on talent, and taking action on climate change.

Our key takeaway from the latest survey?

Talent remains a top priority for CEOs.

Nearly three-quarters of CEOs say they expect labor and skills shortages to in influence or disrupt their strategy over the next 12 months. When asked about the biggest challenge they face, nearly 50% of CEOs name challenges related to talent – up from a 25% in the Fortune/Deloitte summer survey.

Asked separately about the top three challenges to their organization’s talent and workforce goals, the major of CEOs named attracting and recruiting talent (57%), designing a post-pandemic workplace (53%), and retaining talent (51%). Building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce is also high on the list of challenges for 43% of CEOs.

Click here to read the full report.


Know Charlotte: 2021 Quarter 2 Growth Report

The Charlotte Regional Business Alliance has published its latest Growth Report for 2021 Quarter 2.  Although Croixstone Consulting serves clients across the United States, we remain exceptionally invested in the economic growth of the Charlotte Region where our firm is based.

Following are our 5 key takeaways from the latest Growth Report.

  • COVID Job Losses:  The Charlotte Region has 43,700 fewer jobs than pre-pandemic (-3.1%), outperforming the nation (-4.4%).
  • Job Gains:  June 2021 showed the most jobs gained since October 2020 (and more than 2x any previous month in 2021).
  • Economic Development Projects:  30 economic development projects were announced in Q2, the highest of any quarter since the CLT Alliance created the Growth Report in 2019.
  • Capital Investments:  These 30 projects represent $1.2B in capital investments (the 3rd highest amount in the history of the Growth Report).
  • Labor Market:  The Charlotte Region is experiencing the lowest ratio of job seekers to job openings since at least 2006.

Read the 2021 Quarter 2 Growth Report here.


The Rise of the PORTFOLIO Career

Much like COVID-19 has accelerated the pace of digital transformation, future of work experts are seeing a rise in the pervasiveness of professionals with “portfolio careers.”

Ben Legg is an engineer, serial CEO of global digital businesses, former COO of Google Europe, and former McKinsey consultant.  He believes the portfolio career is a continuation of the automation of work and is here to stay. 

Croixstone’s business model is built around our deep understanding of the portfolio professional.  So what is a portfolio career? 

  • A portfolio career isn’t reliant on a single source of income.
  • Income is derived from serving multiple clients that might include project work, consulting engagements, interim roles and/or board roles.
  • Unlike a “gig economy worker,” a portfolio career is thoughtfully put together and is focused on offering differentiated services in order to maximize earnings.

Learn more about portfolio career insights from Ben Legg.


Goodbye Uptown. Hello NoDa!

Anyone who knows the Croixstone team knows that we’re changemakers at heart.  And this week we’re thrilled to announce a big change as we relocated in June 2020 to a larger office in Charlotte’s NoDa district.  

The historic events of 2020 will catalyze seismic changes in both American society and business.  We can’t think of a better place to foster the creativity needed to drive these changes than Charlotte’s beloved arts district. 

As long-term community members and supporters of Industrious Charlotte, we’re pioneering as Industrious NoDa has opened the district’s first Class A office space in a converted warehouse (originally part of the historic Newco Fibre Mill complex near North Davidson and 36th Streets). 

While COVID-19 still has us social distancing and largely working from home, the Croixstone team invites you to virtually tour our new home here.


Make the Downturn Work For You

“The best companies do more than survive a downturn.  They position themselves to thrive during the subsequent upturn, guided again by a number of broad objectives.”
– Harvard Business Review (Febuary 2009)

Do you know where the opportunity lies for your company (and/or your career) during this time of great uncertainty?  In this blog post, we focus on the opportunities that await those determined to make the downturn work for them.

13 Massive Companies That Started During a Recession

“…if history proves to be any sort of reliable predictor, recessions have actually served as the launchpad for some of the world’s most incredible businesses.” – The Startup (Medium)
  Learn more here.

Turn Massive Challenges into Meaningful Change + Opportunities.

Accenture has done a remarkable job of effectively packaging insights from the firm’s experts in a simple and straightforward way to help organizations turn massive complexity into meaningful change.
Learn more here.


Career Tips + Strategies for Experienced Professionals

More than 500,000 people in North Carolina have filed for unemployment in the weeks since businesses starting closing down due to the pandemic.  This equates to 10% of North Carolina’s workforce.  And the picture is certainly challenging in South Carolina, too.  Last week, WalletHub released a study that compared unemployment claim increases in USA states for the week of March 30, 2019 to the same week in 2020.  North Carolina’s unemployment claims rose 4282.7% year-over-year (7th highest in the nation), while South Carolina’s claims rose 3931.2% (33rd highest in the nation).

With the rise in unemployment, we have curated links that have relevance to professionals – especially those who are experienced in their career paths.

It might be time to think about a career change.
Times of crisis can fuel pivots in your career path. This article provides terrific insights and is aimed at professionals in the 50+ age range.
Click here.

LinkedIn has free resources to help with job search strategies.
11 free courses to help you build a job search strategy, lean on your professional network, and improve your interviewing skills.
Click here.

Why losing a job deserves its own grieving process.
The loss of a job triggers grief.  Understand the grieving process and use these 3 tips to get into a productive mindset.
Click here.

How to prepare for the future of work in uncertain times.
Some great career tips from Forbes on how to use the disruption created by the pandemic to take control and future-proof yourself.
Click here.

How to train your mind for high-pressure situations.
Tips from an Olympic Coach to help you excel during interviews, negotiations, etc.
Click here.