I’ve been around long enough to see maturity assessments in every form you can imagine and a few you probably can’t. Back in the day, it was me, a notebook, and a lot of walking factory floors, trying to coax the real story out of the people who kept the whole show running. No dashboards, no AI, just conversations, observations, and the occasional gut feel.

Over time, the tools got sharper. Frameworks brought structure, metrics brought proof, and digital platforms gave us reach. And now? AI has turned what was once a snapshot into a living, breathing, predictive system. The fundamentals haven’t changed. It’s still about unlocking knowledge, aligning teams, and spotting the constraint that’s holding you back but the speed, clarity, and scale have all taken a noticeable leap forward.

This chapter takes you through that journey, the key shifts, the lessons learned, and the traps to avoid. Because if you understand where these tools came from, you’ll see exactly why they’re the most underrated lever in consulting today.

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Next up: Chapter 2, where we get under the skin of AI and why it’s quietly rewriting the rules of consulting. If you think you know what’s coming, think again. And if you haven’t got the book yet, well, you’re about to see why you should.