Professional Services

Who will lead next?

When junior work gets automated.

The work that trained your future partners is disappearing.

Consulting, law and accounting firms are automating the research, drafting and analysis that once filled the first years of a career. The work gets done faster. The open question is where your next generation of leaders will earn their judgment.

Read Glenn’s projection

Two colleagues reviewing documents at a desk late at night

Organizations Applying Our Methodology

What AI Will Change in Professional Services

The Outlook

The pyramid flattens

“Consulting, law and accounting firms will automate much of the junior work that once trained future partners. Firms that protect the apprenticeship, and redesign entry roles so young people still earn their judgment, will own the next generation of leaders. Firms that don’t will have no one ready to lead in a decade.”

Glenn Llopis’s projection from Conviction Over Code, Volume 2 of The Conviction Papers (2026). A projection, not a research finding.

The Apprenticeship Ladder

What each level used to learn, and what has to replace it.

Judgment used to be a by-product of the work. As AI takes over the work, firms have to build the judgment on purpose.

First years

Used to learnThe craft, through research, drafting and analysis done by hand.

Now needsEarly chances to make a call, explain it and see what happens.

Manager

Used to learnHow to review, correct and coach the work of others.

Now needsHow to question what the tools produce and teach others to do the same.

Senior manager and director

Used to learnHow to own a client relationship by being in the room.

Now needsA clear sense of what they solve for that a client can’t get from software.

Partner

Used to learnTo lead people who learned the way they did.

Now needsTo pass on judgment that was never written down.

Where the Gap Shows Up

Fewer repetitions, fewer leaders

Judgment is built by making calls, getting some wrong and seeing what happens. When the entry-level work goes away, so do many of those chances.

The apprenticeship is thinning

Junior professionals get fewer chances to make a call and learn from the outcome.

Senior judgment stays unspoken

Partners know far more than they ever write down, and few firms have a deliberate way to pass it on.

Clients pay for what the analysis missed

When every firm has the same tools, clients notice the person who sees what the tools didn’t.

Who We Serve

Firms that sell judgment

We work with the partners who shape the firm and the people coming up behind them.

Who We Serve

Consulting and advisory firms

Law firms

Accounting and tax firms

Managing partners, talent leaders and practice heads

What we do:

Assess how ready each level of the firm is to lead without the old apprenticeship, with our Earning Conviction and Reinvention Readiness assessments

Run design-thinking sessions to redesign entry roles and the path to partner

Develop managers and directors through workshops and 1:1 coaching

Deliver keynotes and design partner retreats and leadership summits

How We Close It

Redesign the path to partner

Firms that keep developing judgment early will have leaders ready in ten years. That starts with how roles are built today.

The Environment: Roles, reviews and promotion paths

We examine how entry roles, feedback and advancement are designed, and rebuild them so people still earn judgment from the start.

The Individual: Professionals who know what they solve for

At every level, people learn to see and manage opportunity, not only billable hours, and to name the value they bring to a client.

Conviction: Judgment that can be taught

Partners and managers practice the decisions they will need to hand down, so conviction is passed on deliberately rather than by chance.

How we solve it

Earning Conviction Assessment

Age of Personalization Assessment

Unleashing Individuality Assessment

1:1 High-Performance Coaching

Customized Design-Thinking Programs

Proof

The method behind the work

GLLG’s methodology has been applied with leaders at every level, from early-career professionals to the C-suite. Measured results from other industries:

25%

CVS Health

increase in employee engagement

33%

General Mills

improvement in team collaboration

32 pts

University of Chicago Health System

increase in patient experience scores

82%

Target

of participants elevated their self-trust

Full results are on the Proof page.

Our Process

From Awareness to Action

Assess
A baseline from our proprietary assessments, so you know where you stand before anything changes.

Design
A plan built around the gaps the baseline reveals, not a program taken off a shelf.

Implement
Leadership development, team sessions and systems redesign, with your people in the room.

Measure
A retest that shows which behaviors changed and whether they are holding.

Sustain
Internal capability, so the change keeps going after our part is done.

Who will be ready to lead your firm in ten years?

Tell us where you are seeing the gap, in your pipeline, your managers or your partners, and we will start there.

Book a Strategy CallOur Position Paper: Conviction Over CodeSee the ProofExplore Our Assessments

Developing individual leaders rather than a whole organization? Cohorts and coaching are offered through Conviction Institute.

Other industries

Healthcare Financial Services Education Consumer Brands & Retail Manufacturing & Operations Technology Government & Nonprofits All industries