Yesterday, I felt 100 seasoned leaders have a collective “oh crap” moment.
I was co-hosting a webinar with Amanda about positioning yourself for consulting in the AI era. We tackled one question that in my mind was the elephant in the room...
“How do I compete when AI can generate the same strategy documents I used to charge $50K for?”
Keep in mind that our audience wasn't a group of junior consultants worried about job security. These were VP-level executives with decades of experience, and they were right to be concerned about ChatGPT generating documents and disrupting their industry.
But while folks are freaking out about AI replacing their deliverables, they’re completely missing where the real value lives: their judgment.
The startup founders that I work with don't really care about my beautifully crafted AI implementation roadmap (which, let’s be honest, Claude can generate in minutes). Instead they're often asking, “which of these five approaches should we actually pick for our specific situation?”
The magic isn’t in the document. It’s in the judgment, often honed over years of experience and hard work.
AI can’t read the room
Amanda nailed this single fact during our session. While AI can generate gorgeous strategy frameworks, it can’t walk into a boardroom and sense that the CTO and CMO are barely speaking to each other. It can’t smell the fear when a CEO mentions “runway” or catch the subtle eye roll when someone brings up “operational excellence.”
These human dynamics are exactly what determine whether your brilliant AI-generated strategy becomes a success story or just a backlog item.
Think about the last time you implemented anything meaningful at a company. Was the failure point ever the quality of the written plan? Or was it the politics, the timing, the cultural fit, the fact that nobody actually read the 47-page document? Exactly.
Being a strategic filter
So here’s what works instead. Instead of competing with AI on output, position yourself as the strategic filter.
For example, you might say “while AI can generate implementation roadmaps, I help B2B fintech founders choose the right strategy for their stage, team, and cultural reality.”
With that, your clients can't compare you to ChatGPT. They hire you because you could tell them which of AI’s 42 suggestions would actually work for their specific mess of personalities, constraints, and market pressures (it's always 42, isn't it 😄).
Your AI-proof positioning playbook
Stop saying you do things AI can do. Start highlighting what only humans can navigate.
Instead of “I help companies with digital transformation,” try “I help companies choose the right digital investments when everyone’s screaming different priorities.”
Instead of “I provide operational excellence,” try “I help leadership teams align on which operational changes will actually stick in their culture.”
See the difference? You’re not competing with AI’s ability to generate content. You’re positioning yourself as the person who knows which content to trust and how to make it work in the real world.
The uncomfortable truth
Going out on your own as a founder, solopreneur, or consultant isn’t for everyone, and the AI era makes this even more true.
But if you’ve been on the fence, it really feels like the opportunity has never been bigger.
Companies are drowning in AI-generated strategies, plans, and frameworks. What they desperately need is someone who can help them figure out which ones are worth pursuing and how to actually implement them without breaking their organization.
That someone could be you.
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