Digital and AI are major opportunities for professional services firms. They can turn a multi-local business into a global platform that elevates the level playing field and marginalizes competitors who failed to understand the new rules of the game, or simply can’t keep up. Many professional services firms are still the aggregation of local franchises only loosely tied together by marketing and corporate propaganda. Local leaders or partners retain most of the decision rights to drive the business even if it is at the expense of creating firm-wide synergies. This, of course, results in being more nimble to assess local market conditions, adjust value propositions and drive short term performance. But it is also a powerful barrier to realize the promise of a digital transformation because everything in the career of local leaders or partners screams that they should pay just enough lip service to the corporate crew and focus on their local clients which will keep them safe as long as their business does okay.