WINGMAN
Paul Littlejohn in a jacket and open-collar shirt

Paul Littlejohn / Strategic adviser to owners and CEOs

Every leader needs a wingman.

Stay ahead of the jet.

I work alongside owners and CEOs to put their businesses in a position to take the initiative, pursue their ambitions and retain freedom to manoeuvre as circumstances develop.

My view of strategy

My view of strategy

Strategy should give you the initiative.

A business can be doing fine and still slowly losing the initiative.

Customers are still buying and the numbers look sound. Meanwhile, competitors build capabilities you lack. Your systems restrict what you can offer, and existing commitments leave you less room to respond.

By the time the problem shows up in performance, you have fewer choices about what to do.

The business gets behind the jet.

I judge strategy by the position it creates for the business. Growth matters. So does what you become capable of doing, which opportunities you can reach and how much freedom you retain once you have committed.

That requires an honest view of the business you have. A promising market is of little use if you cannot serve it profitably. New technology creates value when it changes what you can offer or how effectively you can deliver. Funding gives you an opportunity to build a stronger business; spending it does not establish that you have.

My advice connects those choices. I want the business to pursue its ambition with the capability to succeed and enough freedom to respond when circumstances change.

Staying ahead of the jet means acting while you can still shape what follows. Strategy should give you that initiative.

Paul LittlejohnStrategic adviser

Working with Paul

Your strategic
adviser.

I work directly with owners and CEOs as their strategic adviser and wingman.

You have my judgement alongside yours on the choices that determine where the business goes and what it must become capable of doing. Your team and chosen partners lead delivery. I stay alongside you as the work progresses and circumstances change.

Selected commercial evidence

From my operating and transformation work.

USD 15.6M

Operating costs reduced over three years
dnata Airside Operations

40%

Uplift in profit per sale
Meeting Point UAE

USD 30M

Revenue opportunity made accessible
Tourism365

Selected work

What the judgement
makes possible.

Transformation leadership / Tourism365

A commercial opportunity
the business could
finally reach.

USD 30M

Revenue opportunity
made accessible

At Tourism365, I led a transformation covering product digitisation, client and partner connectivity, and the operating model behind delivery.

The work replaced manual operations and opened access to a USD 30 million revenue opportunity the business had previously been unable to reach.

Commercial access depended on the business’s ability to offer and deliver its products. Technology and operating change had to support the same purpose.

Read the work note

An advisory example / Seasonal relaunch

Build the market
before mobilising.

I recommended creating the capability to secure paid forward bookings before committing the operating cost base. Booking, payment and sales capabilities would let the owner build demand and judge when the restart was justified.

The strategic value was control over the commitment: the business could establish demand before carrying the full cost of the operation.

Examine the recommendation

Where I work with owners and CEOs

Familiar ambitions.
Consequential work.

Scaling

You have funding and want to scale the business. I advise on the commercial direction and capabilities needed to turn that investment into growth the business can sustain.

Performance
improvement

The business is not performing as it should. I help owners and CEOs improve profitability and operating performance, connecting commercial choices with how the business runs.

Business
transformation

You need to change the business to support a new direction. I connect strategy with the changes needed across the operating model, organisation and technology, so the transformation puts the business in a stronger position to succeed.

The person behind the judgement

Paul Littlejohn beside an F/A-18 during his time as a fighter pilot
Paul Littlejohn beside an F/A-18.
US Marine Corps exchange tour.

Paul
Littlejohn.

Wingman has a particular meaning for me.

I spent sixteen years as a Royal Air Force fighter pilot, relying on the judgement of people who relied on mine. We trained against an opponent watching and adapting to defeat us. Staying ahead meant being ready to act and handle what followed.

I brought that judgement into consulting at PA Consulting and senior operating roles. At dnata, I led airside operations on a USD 250 million budget. At Meeting Point, I was COO of the UAE and Oman business and Global Head of Operations across 17 countries.

That experience gives me a practical view of what a business can become, and what it must be able to do to get there.

View my professional background

From the forthcoming book

Staying Ahead
of the Jet.

By Paul Littlejohn

“Most people treat confidence and uncertainty as opposites, so they either wait for a certainty that never arrives or they manufacture one so that they can feel entitled to act. I learned to do neither.”

The book explores four foundational disciplines behind that judgement. This passage from its introduction explains the relationship between uncertainty and a firm view.

Read the manuscript excerpt

A conversation with Paul

An ambition
worth pursuing.

If you have an ambition or opportunity that could change your business, let’s talk about how to put it within reach.

Talk to Paul