Why choose JBL over a Big Four consultancy?
Senior expertise on your business. Fixed on live work.
Big consultancies are expensive, built for enterprise accounts and often staffed by junior consultants once the work is won, using tools and templates that were never tested on your business. JBL is the practical alternative: an experienced adviser who finds the friction holding your people back and removes it with them.
You do not need a bigger firm. You need the friction gone.
Most growing businesses are not short of strategy. They are held back by friction: decisions that bounce back up to the top, approvals that stall, managers who mean well but still need you for everything.
The traditional answer is to bring in a large consultancy. You meet impressive partners, sign off a sizeable fee, and then a team of bright but junior consultants spends weeks learning your business before producing a report built on the same frameworks they used for the last client. Your managers are left to implement it on top of the day job.
JBL works the other way round. We find the friction in your business, remove it at the source with your managers, and make it stick, so good people can get on with the work.
What you get with JBL that a big consultancy will not give you
Design decisions built into every engagement from day one.
The person you meet does the work
Jimmy Burroughes, ex-British Army officer and corporate GM, scopes, diagnoses and delivers. There is no partner-sells, junior-delivers model and no rotating cast learning your business on your budget.
Your business, measured first
We start by measuring where friction actually sits in your business: decision flow, escalations, approvals and meetings. No template copied from the last client and no framework applied before we understand you.
Fixed on live work, not handed over in a report
Changes are made with your managers on the real work in front of them that week. You do not get a 200-page deck and a list of recommendations to implement on top of the day job.
One method, tested in the field
Simplify to Amplify moves through three stages: SEE (find the friction), SOLVE (remove it at the source) and SCALE (make it stick). It was built from patterns across nearly 3,500 managers in 10+ countries, not borrowed from a textbook.
Sized and priced for growing businesses
Built for owner-led and mid-sized businesses, not enterprise accounts. Start with a pilot, see the result, then decide. No open-ended day-rate team quietly growing in the background. Measure it first, from $99.
Built to leave, not to create dependency
The SCALE stage puts the capability into your own management layer, and Aiden, our AI coach trained on the method, keeps it sticking after we step back. Success is you not needing us.
Measured on how the business runs
We track fewer escalations, around 4 hours a week reclaimed per leader and 40% more decisions made at the right level. Not deliverables signed off or workshop satisfaction scores.
Straight answers, including "we are not the right fit"
If your problem needs an audit firm, a technology implementer or a restructuring specialist, we will tell you. We only take on work where removing friction is the thing that moves the numbers.
How JBL compares with the other options
A fair look at the four routes most business owners consider: what each does well, where the model falls short, and how JBL handles it.
Big Four and global consultancies
Large firmFor example Deloitte, PwC, EY, KPMG, McKinsey, Accenture
Multi-disciplinary firms with deep benches across strategy, technology, risk and finance. Engagements are typically sold by partners and staffed by teams on a leverage model, with standard frameworks and accelerators reused across clients.
What they do well
- Breadth across audit, tax, technology and strategy
- Board-level brand reassurance
- The right call for large-scale transformation, M&A and regulatory work
Where the model falls short for growing businesses
- The senior people who win the work are often not the people who do it
- Junior consultants learn your business on your budget
- Generic tools and templates built for the average client, not tested for yours
- Output is frequently a report or roadmap your managers must implement on top of the day job
- Priced and staffed for enterprise accounts, so a mid-sized business rarely gets the A-team
How JBL handles this: You work with Jimmy from the first call to the last session. No handover to a junior team, no imported playbook. We measure where friction sits in your business first, then fix it with your managers on live work.
Mid-tier management consultancies
Generalist firmRegional and sector-specialist firms
Smaller firms offering strategy, operations and people projects at more accessible rates. Often strong sector knowledge, but larger jobs still follow a discovery, report and recommend pattern.
What they do well
- More accessible fees than the global firms
- Useful sector and process knowledge
- Good for defined projects with a clear deliverable
Where the model falls short for growing businesses
- Long discovery phases before anything changes
- Recommendations focus on structure and process, rarely on how decisions actually flow
- Implementation is left to managers who are already stretched
- Change fades once the consultants leave the building
How JBL handles this: Diagnosis takes days, not months. The Friction Finder and our diagnostics show where the drag is, and the SOLVE stage removes it at the source while we are still in the room.
Leadership training and L&D providers
TrainingWorkshop, course and programme providers
Skills programmes delivered in workshops or online, usually built around a competency framework. Good at building knowledge across large groups.
What they do well
- Scales across large populations
- Clear curriculum and certification
- Useful when the gap genuinely is knowledge
Where the model falls short for growing businesses
- Teaches skills in a room but leaves the system that creates friction untouched
- The average programme loses most of its impact within 30 days
- Same content for every client, regardless of what is actually slowing you down
- Measures attendance and satisfaction, not changes in how the business runs
How JBL handles this: Your managers already know what to do. We remove what stops them doing it: decisions that bounce upwards, approvals that stall and meetings that eat the week.
Interim and fractional executives
Seat fillerInterim GMs, fractional COOs and operations directors
An experienced operator steps into a role for a period, taking on decisions and running parts of the business directly.
What they do well
- Hands-on and immediately useful
- Real operating experience
- Fills a genuine leadership gap quickly
Where the model falls short for growing businesses
- Decisions route through the interim instead of you, so the bottleneck just moves
- Capability rarely transfers to your own managers
- Performance often drops again when the contract ends
How JBL handles this: We work like an almost-virtual GM, but the aim is the opposite of dependency. The SCALE stage builds the capability into your management layer so it keeps running after we step back.
JBL vs a Big Four consultancy, side by side
Nine things that decide whether an engagement actually changes how your business runs.
What business owners ask us
Straight answers to the questions that come up when you are weighing JBL against a bigger name.
"A Big Four name gives our board confidence."
It does, and for audit, large technology programmes or regulatory work it may be the right call. But a brand does not remove friction. Boards care about results: fewer escalations, decisions made at the right level and managers with time to lead. We start with a pilot so you can show the board evidence, not a logo.
"We have already had consultants in and got a report."
Then you probably know what needs to change. The gap is making it happen while the business keeps running. That is the work we do: hands-on, with your managers, on the decisions and meetings that create the drag.
"Our problems are operational, not leadership."
Friction is rarely only one or the other. Some of it is how managers lead. Much of it is structural: who holds which decision, how approvals flow and what lands on whose desk. Think of us as an almost-virtual GM who works out where the real barriers sit and fixes what is broken.
"How can one senior adviser match a firm with thousands of consultants?"
You do not need thousands of consultants. You need the right one, actually working on your business. With JBL the experience you are buying is the experience you get, backed by a tested method and Aiden AI for reinforcement between sessions. One client went from a single pilot to four regions with internal champions within 18 months.
"Will this become another open-ended engagement?"
No. Every engagement has a clear scope and a defined end, and the SCALE stage is designed to hand the capability over to your own managers. Success is the business running well without us.
Good people, held back by friction. We find it and remove it.
Start with the free Leadership Friction Finder. In about 8 minutes it shows where friction is costing you most. If you would rather talk it through, book a 30-minute scoping call and we will tell you honestly whether JBL is the right fit.
Explore How We Work
Compare Programmes
Six Week Reset vs AMPLIFY — find the right fit for your organisation.
1:1 Executive Coaching
Work directly with Jimmy to remove leadership friction.
Case Studies & Results
Real transformation data from Tatua, Fonterra, and others.
Free Leadership Assessment
See where your leadership team stands in 2 minutes.
Why JBL FAQs
Common questions about choosing a leadership consultancy and advisory partner