Paul LittlejohnSenior transformation adviser

Every leader
needs a wingman.

I help owners and CEOs improve performance, prepare their business for growth and lead major change.

Former COO, PA Consulting management consultant and RAF fighter pilot. More than a decade of business transformation and operating leadership.

Paul Littlejohn

What I can help you change

When the business needs to perform better, grow or work differently, I help establish what needs to change and lead the work through delivery.

Improve performance

Improve margins, service or productivity by changing how the operation works, how people are organised and where decisions are made.

Prepare for growth

Build the management, systems and ways of working the business needs to handle more customers, new markets or greater scale.

Make technology deliver

Turn a technology investment into a business improvement, changing the work around it and bringing in the specialist expertise required.

You work directly with me. I can advise on the direction, lead a defined transformation or support your team as it delivers. We agree the result, my responsibility and how we will judge progress.

Experience designing change
and making it work

I have helped design major transformations, led their implementation and run the operations they affected. That gives me a practical view of what a business needs to achieve and what it will take to get there.

I clarify what success requires, bring the right expertise together and keep meaningful work moving to a high standard.

View my professional background
  • PA Consulting and dnataFrom transformation design to an 18-month implementation across a 15,000-person organisation. Later leadership of Customer Services and Airside Operations, including a USD250 million airside budget.
  • Meeting PointHelped design the four-pillar blueprint before joining. Became COO for UAE and Oman and Global Head of Operations across 17 countries.
  • Tourism365Blueprint support and transformation leadership across technology, the operating model, processes and management development.
  • Royal Air ForceSixteen years as a fighter pilot and senior officer, including a US Marine Corps exchange as an F/A-18 instructor and department head.

What that has meant in practice

dnata Airline Services

Turn a new operating model into a working operation

I helped design the transformation at PA Consulting, then joined dnata to programme-manage its implementation across a 15,000-person organisation.

USD6.11 million in annual costs removed.

Read the dnata case

Tourism365

Make a commercial opportunity accessible

I supported the blueprint and led changes to technology and the operating model, replacing manual operations and connecting products, clients and partners.

Access to a USD30 million revenue opportunity.

Read the Tourism365 case

Anonymised international business

Assess readiness for senior operating responsibility

I designed and led an independent assessment alongside a senior HR specialist, giving the client evidence on candidates’ readiness and development needs.

Read the leadership-readiness case

An advisory example: build demand before restarting an operation

A transformation has to work in the business

A plan gives us a route and a benchmark. The judgement continues as we put it into practice.

At dnata, the new operation had to work at two in the morning, when senior managers were at home. That meant making authority, training and handovers work on the shift, and adapting the design as operating constraints became clear.

That is the contribution I bring: a clear view of the result, high standards for the work and the judgement to keep it moving towards a functioning operation.

Let’s talk about what your business needs to change

If you need better performance, a business ready for growth or leadership through a major change, let’s discuss where I could help.

Email Paul