We Didn’t Like Outsourcing Either… And It Didn’t Matter | In The Middle Of Consulting (2026_S2E02)

Based on the May 2026 LinkedIn article series In the Middle of Consulting: Lessons From the Last Big Shift by StephenG Smith’s In the Middle of Consulting newsletter.In this episode, AI hosts Lily Young and Ethan Jensen look back at the early 2000s consulting world, when the dot-com crash, Y2K spending freeze, 9/11, and the rise of outsourcing reshaped the industry Stephen entered as a new consultant.Then they connect that last big shift to the one happening now: AI.This episode explores what outsourcing can teach today’s early-career consultants about disruption, career pivots, “good enough” corporate solutions, and the skills that become more valuable when baseline work gets commoditized.If AI can generate average answers faster than ever, what becomes your edge?Lily and Ethan dig into the human skills that still matter: asking better questions, translating between groups, navigating ambiguity, building trust, and developing a craft that AI cannot easily copy.For consultants in their 20s wondering what AI means for their career, this episode is part history lesson, part reality check, and part roadmap for finding the open doors in the middle of a major shift.