After 2014's successful start to a new award—and brand—around the up-and-comers in consulting, we're back for Round 2. With a year under our belt and a little wind in our sails, the 2015 Rising Stars of the Profession picks right up where last year's class left off, and then some.
Here's what we've learned: The consulting profession is stocked with young talent. One would need only to look at our special 20-page Rising Stars of the Profession section to be convinced. Read about their accomplishments: They've launched firms; they've sold firms; they've merged their own firms with much larger firms. They've saved clients hundreds of millions of dollars; they've generated more in revenue for their own firms; they've opened new offices, they've opened new geographies.
And true to this generation, they're philanthropic; they believe their work should lead to more than a paycheck. Basically, they want to change the world—or at least leave it in much better shape than how they found it. They are simply redefining the consulting profession.
And these are only the 35 winners; with a few hundred other nominations, we left a lot on the cutting room floor.
And we're not talking about talent as in possibility and potential to do great things some day. We're talking talent that has already delivered. Big time. This is Talent, with a capital "T". And some times, that payoff has come before their 30th birthday. They were all born in the 1980s. For the most part, they've had unlimited access to information their entire lives. They're smart, for sure. But they're also insatiable in their quest for success, however they choose to define it.
So consulting firm leaders be warned: Trying to fit these Rising Stars of the Profession into your traditional talent and consulting models will not work. Nor should it. You've caught lighting in a bottle and what you do with it now will determine not only the future of your firm, but, quite possibly, the future of the consulting profession.
Joseph Kornik Publisher & Editor-in-Chief jkornik@alm.com
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