If You Don't Know Where You're Going, Any Road Will Get You There: The Discipline Paradox in Professional Services

"I see this all the time," Nia Okafor (not her real name) told me, shaking her head. As Managing Director at a mid-sized consulting firm, she'd just watched a promising deal collapse despite the client's clear interest. "We spent six months building relationships, understanding their challenges, demonstrating our expertise. Then we submitted a proposal that might as well have been written by ChatGPT."

The proposal had checked all the usual boxes – executive summary, approach, team bios, timeline. But it was missing something essential: a clear articulation of specific value the client would receive.

"My team kept talking about our methodology," Nia explained. "How we do discovery, how we analyze data, how we implement solutions. But when the client asked point-blank what business outcomes we'd deliver, we stumbled. We couldn't translate our methodology into tangible value for their specific situation."

Meanwhile, Viktor Becker (not his real name) was facing a different challenge across town. As practice leader at a technology consultancy, he'd watched revenue steadily decline despite growing market demand.

"We need to hit our numbers," he said flatly when I asked about his growth strategy. "Leadership wants 10% growth this year. How we get there is secondary."

When I pressed about client selection and profitability, his response was telling: "Look, I don't get measured on margins. I get measured on top-line revenue. If I hit my revenue target, nobody asks questions about which clients I brought in or how we priced the work."

This mindset – prioritizing revenue over profitability – revealed something profound: While partners operate with clear intention to fulfill their metrics, it ignores the basic business model they're part of. They've been trained to chase revenue the same way firms have for a century, oblivious to the fundamental levers that drive sustainable profitability.

"What about client profitability analysis?" I asked. Viktor looked genuinely puzzled.

"That's Finance's job," he responded. "My job is to bring in business."

This disconnect – between the metrics partners are measured on and the economics that actually sustain the firm – creates a discipline crisis that goes beyond individual behavior. It's systemic. Partners are incentivized to pursue revenue without prioritizing the downstream implications of their pricing decisions.

As we explored in "The Margin Mirage," improving engagement margin percentages can mask declining enterprise profitability – a distinction many partners acknowledge but deliberately ignore. It's not that they don't know different clients have different economics; they simply don't care enough to act on this knowledge when immediate revenue targets take priority.

"Sure, I know some clients are more profitable than others," Viktor admitted when pressed. "But ultimately compensation is determined by year-end cash on hand. Period. The long-term profitability impact will be somebody else's problem two fiscal years from now."

This cash-driven orientation creates a pernicious cycle. In the traditional partnership model, partners essentially empty the bank account each year, distributing available cash as compensation. This creates structural pressure to prioritize immediate cash generation over long-term value creation.

Leaders speak eloquently about client selection discipline and sustainable growth in town halls, but their incentive structures and day-to-day behaviors tell a different story. Partners learn to mouth platitudes about "right clients" and "sustainable margins" while their actual decisions reveal the truth: this year's distributable cash trumps all other considerations.

These stories – playing out in firms across the professional services landscape – reveal a profound discipline paradox. It's not just about pricing or sales techniques. It's about the fundamental clarity of purpose that should guide every client interaction, and the business model understanding that should inform every decision.

The Three Disciplines

This crisis manifests in three critical areas, each representing a distinct form of discipline that firms increasingly lack:

1. Value Discipline: Focusing on Client Value

"We don't sell plumbing – we sell dry floors."

This simple distinction, shared by a plumbing company owner, reveals more wisdom than found in many sophisticated consulting methodologies. Value discipline isn't about what you do—it's about the specific benefits and value clients receive. Yet professional services firms consistently fall into what I call the "method selling trap" – focusing on their process rather than client results.

Whenever I speak to groups of consultants, I play a little game. "Following the executive summary, tell me the typical table of contents in your proposal," I prompt. "You know it starts with 'Our Understanding of Your Situation'... that restatement of the problem from the RFP... what comes next?" Without fail, the audience calls out the same predictable sequence:

"Our Approach!"

"Our Team!"

"Our Price!"

"Why Us!"

This universal template – used by virtually every consulting firm regardless of size or specialty – perfectly illustrates the problem. The entire structure centers on the consultant, not the client value. It's all about our approach, our team, our methodology. I often joke, "That sounds like an opera singer warming up -- me, me, me, me, me...."

Consider these contrasting approaches:

Method Selling: "We use a proprietary six-phase approach combining design thinking, agile methodology, and change management to implement software solutions."

Value Selling: "Our implementation will reduce your order processing costs by 22% while increasing fulfillment accuracy to 99.8%, delivering approximately $3.2 million in annual savings based on your current transaction volume."

The first talks about the consultant's process. The second talks about the client's results.

As one CFO bluntly told me, "I don't care about your proprietary methodology or how many PhDs worked on the analysis. I care about reducing our working capital by 20% so I can fund our expansion into Asia." Yet firm after firm continues selling methodologies rather than outcomes.

The psychological comfort of method selling is obvious – it's easier to talk about what you do than commit to specific results. I don't blame consultants for this approach – they're practicing their craft, focusing on the expertise that drew them to consulting in the first place. However, this comfort comes at a devastating cost: commoditization. When every firm describes similar methodologies using identical proposal structures, price becomes the primary differentiator by default – not because clients care most about price, but because firms have failed to articulate meaningful client value differences.

Self-diagnostic: If your firm lacks documented value stories for each service offering – specific, quantified client benefits expressed in business terms rather than methodology descriptions – you likely lack value discipline. When partners can't consistently articulate client outcomes without reverting to process descriptions, that's a clear warning sign.

2. Client Discipline: Knowing Who You Serve

"We need to be client-centric," declares virtually every professional services firm. Yet this well-intentioned mantra often morphs into something dangerous: "We need to chase every potential client."

The distinction is crucial. True client-centricity means deeply understanding specific clients whose needs align with your strengths. The opposite – pursuing any client with a budget – isn't client-centricity. It's desperation.

One firm I worked with recently instituted a counterintuitive metric: each partner must lose at least one deal per quarter specifically on price. Not because they made mistakes, but because they challenged the high end of the acceptable pricing range.

"If you're not occasionally losing on price," their CEO explained, "you're probably not pricing appropriately for the value you deliver." This deliberate approach – saying no to unprofitable business – requires remarkable discipline in a culture obsessed with growth.

The anxiety driving undisciplined client pursuit is palpable. "What if we miss our targets?" "What if we lose market share?" "What if we can't find enough ideal clients?" These fears push firms toward the deadly trap captured in the old saying: "If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there."

Without clear criteria for ideal clients, firms engage in what consultants call "peanut butter spreading" – applying their limited resources thinly across too many opportunities rather than concentrating on the most valuable relationships.

Self-diagnostic: If your firm lacks a formal portfolio management practice – with clear account categorization (penetrate/grow/maintain/sunset) or at minimum a rigorous opportunity qualification process – you likely lack client discipline. When every prospect with a budget is treated as a worthy pursuit regardless of fit, you're setting yourself up for diminishing returns.

3. Confidence Discipline: Knowing Your Worth

"We should probably discount this by 10% to be competitive," Viktor suggested in a proposal review meeting. "Better to win a smaller deal than lose all of it. We can't lose this strategic opportunity."

I've heard these statements in countless proposal discussions – always before the client has expressed any price concerns. This "negotiating with yourself" phenomenon reflects a profound lack of confidence discipline – the courage to hold firm on pricing that reflects the value you deliver.

As pricing expert Casey Brown observes, "'Can't' is the most powerful word in a sales vocabulary; the moment you say 'can't lose' is the moment you give away power and are willing to accept less than you are worth."

This isn't just about confidence as a feeling – it's about the discipline to maintain conviction in your pricing even when faced with uncertainty. It's having the courage to present prices that reflect the value you've defined rather than preemptively discounting based on imagined competitive pressures.

One particularly revealing study analyzed thousands of proposals and found that 97% offered exactly one solution at one price point. This singular approach transforms the proposal from a collaborative exploration into a binary yes/no decision – precisely when clients most need guidance about options and tradeoffs.

The irony is striking. Throughout the sales process, consultants position themselves as trusted advisors, helping clients explore options and make informed decisions. Then, at the critical moment of proposal submission, they suddenly abandon this advisory role – providing a single option with a single price, essentially saying, "Take it or leave it."

Why do experienced professionals abandon their advisory role at this critical moment? The answer lies in what behavioral economists call "evaluation anxiety" – the fear of being judged when presenting prices. This anxiety triggers what business researchers describe as an "amygdala hijack," where the brain's threat-response system overrides rational thinking.

When this happens, even professionals who clearly understand their value and have articulated it effectively throughout the sales process suddenly lose their nerve – slashing prices, removing options, and undermining their own position just as they approach the finish line.

Self-diagnostic: If your firm lacks clear pricing guidelines and governance – documented pricing bands for services, a structured review process for non-standard pricing, and policies that prevent last-minute discounting – you likely lack confidence discipline. When proposals routinely include "courtesy discounts" that weren't requested or teams regularly negotiate with themselves before presenting to clients, you're undermining your own value.

The Discipline Paradox

The ultimate irony in all this is what I call the discipline paradox: Discipline appears constraining but actually creates freedom.

Clear value discipline liberates professionals from the constant anxiety of differentiation. When you focus precisely on the outcomes and benefits clients will receive, you no longer need to rely on elaborate explanations of your methodology. Your focus shifts from "here's how we work" to "here's what you'll achieve" – a distinction clients immediately recognize and value.

Client discipline relieves the exhausting pursuit of any available business. When you know exactly which clients you serve best, you can confidently decline opportunities that don't align with your strengths. This focus not only improves profitability but also eliminates the organizational whiplash that comes from constantly pivoting to chase the next opportunity.

Confidence discipline frees firms from the tyranny of underpricing and excessive discounting. When you trust that your prices reflect the client value you create, you can present them with conviction rather than preemptively lowering them due to imagined competitive pressure. This isn't arrogance – it's the discipline to charge appropriately for outcomes you know you can deliver.

Together, these disciplines create what one firm leader described as "the freedom of the frame" – clear boundaries that enable creativity and boldness within them.

Professional services firms stand at a crossroad. The path of least resistance – continuing without these core disciplines – leads to commoditization, margin erosion, and existential threat as AI eliminates the billable hours they've built their businesses on.

The Lewis Carroll quote that inspired this article's title continues with an important insight: "If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there... but you might not like where you end up."

The question isn't whether firms need greater discipline. The question is how to build it in environments where short-term incentives consistently undermine long-term value. That's what we'll explore in our next article.

Disclaimer: The stories and insights shared in this blog are based on my personal experiences and conversations throughout my career. While some content reflects recent events, they are drawn from a broad range of interactions with professionals across professional services, including friends and colleagues from various organizations, and do not specifically refer to or represent any single employer, past or present. Identities have been anonymized, and quotes may be paraphrased or combined for clarity and storytelling purposes. This post is a personal endeavor and does not reflect the views or proprietary information of any employer.