pb4uski
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Years ago, a friend told me this: "You want to see how critical you are in your job? Stick your hand in a bucket of water, then pull it out and look for the hole."
That's pretty much what I have observed and pretty much my personal experience.
+1 and this is despite my boss and other practice leaders telling me that I added a lot of value (which I think was true) and they they would have a hard time getting along without me (which I thought was nice for them to say, but not true). I thanked them and told them that they had a lot of smart people in the firm and I was sure that they would have no problem getting along without me. We had both left the door open to consulting when I left, but they never called me and I never called them... so all is good.