About John Strange
​
I learned to fly before I learned to drive.
​
By the time I was 16, I had over 20 hours of powered flying and a glider licence. My plan was simple — become a commercial pilot. I got down to the final 50 candidates from over 1,000 applicants for BOAC. All I had to do was pass the medical.
​
The doctor told me I was extremely short-sighted. In his words, I wouldn't be able to see the ground even when the plane was on the ground.
​
Exit one flying career. Enter one engineering career.
​
I spent the next seven and a half years at Rolls-Royce Aircraft Engines — the last three as a research test engineer working on the Concorde engine. Precision, defined processes, and clear roles weren't optional. They were the difference between success and catastrophe.
​
That experience shaped everything about how I work.
​
Forty years of helping business owners
​
After Rolls-Royce, I spent over 40 years as an independent advisor to small business owners. Not as a consultant who arrives with a solution already in mind — but as someone who arrives with an open mind and one purpose: to understand what's actually happening in that specific business, with that specific owner, in that specific situation.
​
Never adopt. Always adapt.
​
The businesses I work with are typically technically excellent and operationally underdeveloped. The owner is brilliant at what they do — and exhausted by everything else. My job is to help them build a business that runs well without everything depending on them personally.
​
The return
​
After a two-year break for health reasons, I'm back. Not to work full time — but because I still have something to contribute, and because helping people build better businesses is what gets me out of bed in the morning.
​
I'm looking for a maximum of three to four clients. If you think we might be a good fit, let's have a conversation.
​
Book your free Pre-Flight Briefing →
​