The results of this year’s Executive Outlook survey, combined with exclusive interviews with 15 firm leaders, would indicate a very positive year lies ahead for the consulting industry. Of course, global unrest and the threat of inflation looming large could throw a wrench into—or even derail—what figures to be a very rosy year ahead for the profession.

Based on our interviews, consulting firm leaders feel as confident as they have in quite some time. There’s simply no denying they all feel good about the economy and their firms' overall financial performance in 2015, and are especially bullish about the year ahead.

Several say they just concluded one
of their best years ever and plenty used
words like “optimistic,” “successful,”
“momentum,” “extraordinary” and “double-
digit growth.” Some firm leaders are even
reporting growth north of 20 percent. Not too
shabby. Gone is the mantra of “cautiously
optimistic” that seemed to punctuate nearly
all of previous years’ interviews. While no
one is predicting economic euphoria, most
would agree that the year ahead should be
very, very healthy. The news is good.

Happy days may be here again, but they are measured. Economists are quick to point out that we are still stuck in a slow growth mode and the global economy will have to continue settling for growth in the 2 percent to 3 percent range.