The Growth Engine with Colleen Kuesel

Um, Colleen, um, one question that has been on everyone's mind these days is what are you doing with AI? It seems like AI's everywhere.

If you had to hone in on kind of two to three actually useful kind of applications of AI in the world of professional services, what are the two to three things where you're seeing true value being generated?

So I think there's kind of like two dimensions that we've been thinking about it.

It's how our team actually uses AI and embeds that in our workflows, and we've seen great opportunities this year in, um, being able to use it to develop positioning, narratives, client personas, and it's actually really cut down the development time on campaigns quite a bit.

Mm-hmm.

And we're actually using agencies far less-

Mm-hmm

... um, for some of that kind of creative strategy and work.

Um, it's also been really effective with measurement.

You know, being able to take all the different kind of channels and measures that you have and turning that into meaningful insights to optimize campaigns.

So I'd say that's within the marketing function, and there's loads of other examples.

But the other thing is that we're really evolving our team to understand how we are, um, accessed and understood and surfaced, you know, in the way that people are using AI platforms today for almost everything.

And so it's been a major effort for us this year to really, um, kind of rework the backend of our websites, um, to allow for greater AI readability, discoverability.

Um, really working on our content and our website and thought leadership so that that's easily accessed and chunked up and served up in answers.

And then really monitoring performance to see how we're ranking relative to other firms on the topics that, um, we really wanna be known for and stand out on.

So there's been, I think, a lot of work for marketing teams to embrace it this year, both internally and in how they're showing up externally, but I- it's moving so quickly, it's something that I think every marketer needs to be on top of in terms of their understanding of it.

Yeah.

And how has adoption been across the enterprise? Has that been an uphill battle? Has it been everyone's so excited about it they can't get it fast enough? What's that look like?

You know, I think our leadership team has done a really great job of embracing it and providing the tools and the learning so people feel empowered, uh, to use it in their day-to-day.

But at the same time, they've really balanced that with an emphasis on strong original thought.

Mm.

That we cannot lose that ability, um, you know, to really think for ourselves, to develop really unique insights that, you know, people cannot get out of an AI engine, and also to really lean into the things that are important to make consulting work.

You know, the execution, the implementation.

I mean, I think consulting's gonna change quite a bit, um, as e- as more people are using AI for maybe things that will get commoditized in the industry.

But, um, I think w- they're putting the right emphasis on, like, being smart and efficient and effective in the work that we do, but ensuring that, you know, in the beginning, that we are coming to it with our own ideas and that we're putting an emphasis on kind of the human things that are gonna make, you know, the content that comes out of AI really work.

Um, Colleen, um, one question that has been on everyone's mind these days is what are you doing with AI? It seems like AI's everywhere.

If you had to hone in on kind of two to three actually useful kind of applications of AI in the world of professional services, what are the two to three things where you're seeing true value being generated?

So I think there's kind of like two dimensions that we've been thinking about it.

It's how our team actually uses AI and embeds that in our workflows, and we've seen great opportunities this year in, um, being able to use it to develop positioning, narratives, client personas, and it's actually really cut down the development time on campaigns quite a bit.

Mm-hmm.

And we're actually using agencies far less-

Mm-hmm

... um, for some of that kind of creative strategy and work.

Um, it's also been really effective with measurement.

You know, being able to take all the different kind of channels and measures that you have and turning that into meaningful insights to optimize campaigns.

So I'd say that's within the marketing function, and there's loads of other examples.

But the other thing is that we're really evolving our team to understand how we are, um, accessed and understood and surfaced, you know, in the way that people are using AI platforms today for almost everything.

And so it's been a major effort for us this year to really, um, kind of rework the backend of our websites, um, to allow for greater AI readability, discoverability.

Um, really working on our content and our website and thought leadership so that that's easily accessed and chunked up and served up in answers.

And then really monitoring performance to see how we're ranking relative to other firms on the topics that, um, we really wanna be known for and stand out on.

So there's been, I think, a lot of work for marketing teams to embrace it this year, both internally and in how they're showing up externally, but I- it's moving so quickly, it's something that I think every marketer needs to be on top of in terms of their understanding of it.

Yeah.

And how has adoption been across the enterprise? Has that been an uphill battle? Has it been everyone's so excited about it they can't get it fast enough? What's that look like?

You know, I think our leadership team has done a really great job of embracing it and providing the tools and the learning so people feel empowered, uh, to use it in their day-to-day.

But at the same time, they've really balanced that with an emphasis on strong original thought.

Mm.

That we cannot lose that ability, um, you know, to really think for ourselves, to develop really unique insights that, you know, people cannot get out of an AI engine, and also to really lean into the things that are important to make consulting work.

You know, the execution, the implementation.

I mean, I think consulting's gonna change quite a bit, um, as e- as more people are using AI for maybe things that will get commoditized in the industry.

But, um, I think w- they're putting the right emphasis on, like, being smart and efficient and effective in the work that we do, but ensuring that, you know, in the beginning, that we are coming to it with our own ideas and that we're putting an emphasis on kind of the human things that are gonna make, you know, the content that comes out of AI really work.