Consultants are supposed to be thought leaders. To live up to that role, they are always searching for new ways to think about organizations, to serve their clients, and to distinguish themselves from their competitors by producing fresh ideas.

The average life span of a management idea today is about three years—far shorter than 50 years ago, when it was 15 years. In fact, Management Consulting News reports that in just a month’s time the largest 25 consulting firms in the world published almost 500 books and articles.

Because the pressure to produce new thinking is so intense, there is even a subscription service for consultants—White Space—that tracks and analyzes new material and identifies gaps where consultants might best apply their resources to develop new thinking. Some consulting firms are systematic in the research and development of new ideas, and it is …

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