I think the difference is that you’d then be an outside consultant, meaning they are consulting you to get your professional recommendations on what they should

I think the difference is that you’d then be an outside consultant, meaning they are consulting you to get your professional recommendations on what they should do to serve their interests best. So inherently they already want your advice and are willing to put it in action. Whereas an employee of any kind is not usually hired for their outside the box recommendations, but only to put into action decisions already made for them. Thus when one has an innovative idea, the company feels it is in their best interest to doubt your idea and conservatively err on the side of caution, since it’s not what they hired you for and they can’t trust your competence in innovating like that. In other words, employees are hired to keep the status quo and consultants are hired to decide what the status quo should be for the company’s best interests. At least, this is the best explanation I can come up with based on what people have said and mingling philosophy. I’ve never worked at a huge corporation so I could be all wrong.