Let’s rip the Band-Aid off: There are two types of consultants out there—those who’ve rolled up their sleeves, wrecked a keyboard or two, and actually built something… and those who “advise.”
It’s the equivalent of hiring a swimming coach who’s afraid of water.
The Starbucks Case Study
Take the case study that corporate boardrooms whisper about over sad conference room sandwiches: Starbucks. Remember when Howard Schultz returned to “save” the company? The guy’s a legend, no doubt—the espresso messiah, the architect of Third Place culture. But when he returned for Round Three in April 2022, Starbucks stock did a modest hop, up roughly 12% before handing over the reins. Not exactly crashing the party, but not popping champagne either.
Fast forward to Laxman Narasimhan stepping in March 2023. Operational chops? Sure. But the stock? Yeah, it slid about 22% on his watch. Ouch.
The Chipotle Turnaround
Now pivot to Brian Niccol, the CEO who turned Chipotle from “Hey, remember that food poisoning outbreak?” to Wall Street darling. Niccol, a Taco Bell veteran, didn’t show up with a clipboard and theories. He showed up with action. Under his leadership starting in 2018, Chipotle’s stock has skyrocketed over 700%. Seven. Hundred. Percent. That’s not growth—that’s a glow-up.
The Problem with Marketing and AI Consulting
So, let’s tie this up like a poorly wrapped holiday gift: This is marketing. This is AI consulting. This is lead generation.
You’ve got agencies and “AI gurus” out there slinging buzzwords like glitter at a kid’s birthday party.
“Optimize your funnel.” “Revolutionize with automation.” “Hyper-personalization.”
But when you scratch beneath the surface? Most of them couldn’t build a simple API integration if their lives depended on it.
The Hard Truth
So here’s the hard truth: If you can’t build it, should you even be talking about it?
The future of marketing, lead generation, and AI workflow consulting isn’t in the hands of people selling workshops about how to do the thing. It belongs to the people who actually do the thing.
The ones who’ve fought messy data wars at 2 AM, duct-taped broken workflows together, and emerged with working automation and leads flowing like coffee at an early morning sales meeting.
So next time someone pitches you on future-proofing your growth? Ask them:
“Can you build it, or do you just talk about it?”
If they start sweating like they’re on a bad first date, you have your answer.
