The picture is not clear
Performance has shifted, the explanations conflict or the same problem keeps returning.
I establish what is actually happening, identify what matters and give you a clear view of what should be dealt with first.
Paul Littlejohn · Strategic adviser
Every leader needs a wingman.
I provide practical strategic and operational advice to owners and CEOs dealing with difficult business problems, important decisions and change that is not delivering.
I get to grips with the situation, form a view on what should happen and help turn it into action.
Independent judgement, alongside yours.
RAF fighter pilot. USMC F/A-18 instructor. Management consultant. COO.
Book a 30-minute callWhen to bring in a wingman
Four reasons to bring me in.
Bring me in when the situation carries real consequences and the answer is not obvious.
The operation is not delivering
Costs are rising, customers are feeling the problem or performance is slipping. Local fixes are not resolving the cause.
I work across the operation to find the underlying issues and establish what needs to change.
The direction is clear. Execution is not.
A transformation, growth plan or important project has stalled between functions.
I turn the direction into decisions, priorities, owners and a practical sequence of action.
Too much keeps returning to the CEO
Important decisions and operating issues still depend on you, even when they should be owned elsewhere.
I help establish the ownership and operating direction needed to move decisions away from the top.
These situations cost time, money or room to move. Once the business has committed, changing course becomes harder.
Why Paul?
I have taken strategy all the way through to results.
I have spent nearly thirty years making decisions and delivering in complex organisations.
I have designed strategies, operating models and change programmes. I have led transformations, run operations involving more than 10,000 people and been accountable for commercial and operational results. I know the whole chain, from working out what should happen to making it work.
That experience was built on sixteen years as an RAF fighter pilot. On exchange with the United States Marine Corps, I flew the F/A-18 Hornet, instructed other fighter pilots and conducted carrier operations from USS Eisenhower.
Fast-jet operations taught me to get to grips with unfamiliar situations quickly, distinguish what matters from what merely demands attention and act without waiting for certainty.
You know your business. I know how to enter a complex situation, find what matters and turn an independent view into practical action.
Selected results
Selected results from Paul Littlejohn’s career
Savings delivered through consulting work for Europe’s largest tour operator
Operating costs reduced over three years at dnata Airside
Reduction in customer complaints within twelve months
Uplift in profit per sale in a UAE destination business
Revenue opportunity unlocked through digitisation
World-class experience
Organisations Paul has worked with
How we work together
Four ways to work with me.
We agree what I am there to do, how involved I need to be and what a useful result looks like.
Independent Review
An independent view of one important situation.
I get up to speed quickly, speak with the people closest to it and test the assumptions against what is actually happening.
You get my assessment, my recommendation and clear priorities and next moves.
Targeted Project
A defined piece of work that needs senior attention.
I help set it up, lead it or get it back on track, working across the business where needed.
The scope, result and end point are agreed at the outset.
Ongoing advisory
An experienced operator who already knows the business.
I stay alongside the owner or CEO as the situation develops and new decisions arise.
Because I already understand the context, we can get straight to what has changed and what needs to happen.
Interim Leadership
Senior operating leadership for an agreed period.
I step into the business when a significant gap, transition or period of change needs active leadership.
This is for situations that need someone to take responsibility, not simply provide advice.
In practice · An anonymised Independent Review
Seven issues. Two that set the order.
A growing UAE aviation business was considering new revenue, partnerships, investment decisions and commercial channels. Too many decisions still returned to the CEO, while major commitments were being considered without a shared financial baseline.
First, establish the financial baseline.
Create one forward view of revenue, cost and cash, with clear decision gates for major commitments.
Second, move operational ownership away from the CEO.
Give the person leading aviation operations responsibility for the whole operating picture.
Seven competing priorities became an executable sequence: what happens now, what waits, what needs more evidence and what the CEO no longer needs to carry.
Other ways I work
Advisory is not the only way to work with me.
I also run The Mission, teach Become Decisive and speak to executive audiences.
Executive away day
The Mission
One day inside a fighter squadron.
A private, full-day experience for four to six leaders in Dubai. Your team trains in networked, full-motion F/A-18 simulators, receives a live mission brief, flies, manages crew handovers and debriefs what happened.
The day closes with a practical conversation about how fighter pilots make decisions with incomplete information, act while risk remains and stay ahead of events before every problem needs a hero.
Explore The Mission
Become Decisive
Learn the decision disciplines of fighter pilots.
Become Decisive teaches four practical disciplines for seeing the situation clearly, defining what good looks like, choosing the next move and testing the downside.
It is available as an online course and for commissioned corporate work.
Explore Become DecisiveSpeaking
A story they will remember. Judgement they can use.
I use the reality of fast-jet operations to put audiences inside consequential decisions: incomplete information, changing conditions and the need to act.
Then I bring it back to the decisions they face themselves.
Book a 30-minute callLet’s discuss the situation
Bring me the situation.
If you are carrying an important situation and experienced judgement could materially change what happens next, let’s discuss it.