20% Annual Growth After Five Flat Years

The Situation

This was one of the world's largest HR consulting firms—a pioneer founded decades earlier that had grown explosively through the 1970s. But by the time I arrived, growth had been flat for five consecutive years.

The brand was universally recognized. The problem was perception. Buyers knew the name but associated it with methodologies from a previous era. Recognition without relevance is a dangerous position.

The firm had brilliant consultants with deep expertise but no systematic way to extract, package, and distribute their insights to the market. The database had roughly 1,000 contacts. There was no scalable way to engage buyers between engagements.

And the franchise model created wildly inconsistent quality across regions—a fatal flaw when serving global enterprises demanding consistency.

The Approach

The strategy was clear: every major business function had its McKinsey equivalent. Strategy had the big three. Operations had the major implementers. But HR—despite being a critical function—had no authoritative thought leader.

That was the white space.

We built a systematic thought leadership engine to position the firm as the "McKinsey of HR":

Strategic Media Partnerships. Became exclusive research partner for major business publications' flagship rankings—not advertising relationships, but editorial partnerships that positioned the firm as authoritative research source.

Content Infrastructure. Created HBR-quality publications extracting expertise from consultants globally. Established quality standards and built processes to capture insights without disrupting billable work.

Digital Demand Engine. Built one of the earliest B2B email marketing systems—permission-based distribution of research and insights when marketing automation platforms didn't yet exist.

Grew the database from 1,000 to 20,000 qualified contacts. Targeted VP+ HR leaders at billion-dollar companies. Quality over quantity.

The Impact

From flat growth to 20% annual growth.

4x increase in qualified leads. Database grew 20x. Pipeline expanded substantially across practices.

The media partnerships fundamentally changed market perception. No longer "well-known but outdated"—now "contemporary thought leader with proven methodologies."

Leads came in pre-educated, pre-qualified, already familiar with the firm's approaches. The conversion mechanism worked: every piece of thought leadership invited buyers into deeper engagement that naturally led to enterprise deals.

The Lesson

Growth didn't require new capabilities. It required making existing expertise visible, accessible, and systematically distributed to buyers who needed it.

Name recognition without positive associations is actually a liability. You can't rebrand your way out of perception problems. You have to demonstrate contemporary relevance through your ideas, not your logo.

Enterprise buyers don't buy consulting because of your website or sales pitch. They buy because they already know who you are, they trust your expertise, and they're ready to engage when they have a problem. Thought leadership creates all three.