A client engagement ended last quarter with a single sentence that made the audit worth what they paid for it: "Your bottleneck isn't AI. It's the person you keep hoping will leave."
We didn't put it that bluntly in the deck. But we said it.
The math problem
Consulting firms get paid to make clients feel good. That's the unstated contract. Tell them they're doing great, recommend a few tools, suggest a roadmap they can talk about at the next board meeting.
The problem with that model is that the work doesn't change. The bottleneck doesn't move. The six figures stay hidden.
The honest version
When we run an audit, we get to the truth. We don't share it cruelly. We don't share it publicly. But we share it.
Sometimes the answer is a tool. Sometimes it's a process. Sometimes it's a hire. Occasionally it's a fire. And once or twice it's been "stop doing this thing entirely, no one wants it."
Why this matters
You don't pay six figures for someone to confirm what you already believed. You pay for someone to tell you what's actually true, with the receipts attached.
That's the deliverable.
Ron Davis
Founder
Three decades building enterprise platforms. Started Joust to close the gap between strategy decks and the work they're supposed to change.