Most strategy is, unfortunately, bullshit.

Complicated.
Dense.
Timid.

And more concerned with "optimisation" and "efficiency" than what really matters:

-> Making a big move that's going to change the game.

That's real strategy.

The kind that builds categories of one.
Inspires teams.
Locks-in customers.
Is written about in books.
Turns executives into legends.

...and frankly turns our boring business lives into a true adventure.

(Because I don't know about you, but I'm not here to shuffle papers until I die)

No Bullshit Strategy is how you do it.

If you want to be able to:

- Read markets like a book
- Conjure innovations nobody saw coming
- Build companies with no competitors
- Inspire teams to follow you into the unknown

...then you're in the right place.

Start here 👇

To work with me to develop a strategy like this, or embed these skills into your organisation, learn more here:

👉 www.basicarts.org/work-with-alex/

To get my ultimate strategy document template (that forces you to think the right way), totally free, grab it here:

👉 www.basicarts.org/template

To read No Bullshit Strategy, that helps you master these skills for the price of a cocktail, and which is passed around in the halls of many of the world's top brands:

👉 Go wherever you get your books

For video deep dives on these topics, check out my YouTube:

👉 youtube.com/alexmhsmith

And if you're a small business or want to learn these techniques yourself (or to use on your clients - I don't mind!), then you've gotta see this:

👉 www.strategyshortcutsystem.com

Business is an adventure.
Strategy is the map.

Let’s set out.

Alex

Alex M H Smith

This isn't a post about AI.

This is a post about you.

Moreover, it's a post about how your brain solves problems - a process that's more weird than you think.

It works for me, hope it works for you too.
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This idea first appeared in richer detail on my newsletter, The Hidden Path.

To subscribe for free, go here: https://lnkd.in/eJSPsGUf

No Bullsh*t Strategy | Courage, meaning, and creation in business | Speaker | Author

When I do (and don't) use AI

A "leader" is not just "a senior person in a business".

It's also not someone who's in charge of people.
Or someone with a team.

--- It's actually something very specific - and rare.

Are you one? The slides reveal all...

Hope you enjoy.

(and if you want to actually lead, start here: https://lnkd.in/eJSPsGUf )

Are you a leader or a manager?

A little while ago, a woman was asking me for advice regarding her small chain of baby care stores.

(Is that what you call them? Baby care? Baby equipment? Anyway you know, prams, bottles, and stuff)

So I asked her the first obvious question:

"Well, what makes you different?"

She thought for a while, and ultimately landed on the ultimate get-out-clause of differentiation:

"It would have to be our customer service!"

OK, cool, maybe that's true. So I probed a bit deeper, and asked:

"What exactly do you do to have such good customer service?"

At this there was silence. It took her a while to even process the idea that in order to have "exceptional" customer service, you must first DO something execeptional to create it. Otherwise, it's physically impossible, isn't it?

(Note that almost every business I speak to misses this point - she was in great company)

I gave an example:

"Well, for instance do you only shop staff who have been parents already? If you did, then for sure they would be able to provide deeper and more empathetic service than other stores, right?"

But no, she didn't do this. Her hiring practices were normal.

Eventually we established that there wasn't anything in particular that made it special - it just sort of "was" because she believed it to be true.

And this is true of almost EVERY claim EVERY business makes.

And this is why they find sales so difficult.

Because claims don't sell.
Facts sell.

Facts that make the claim self-evident.

Imagine if she did only hire people who'd already had kids. Wouldn't that be a cool story? Wouldn't that provide substance to her claims? Wouldn't that make you want to go to her store to buy your car seat or whatever?

For sure it would.

So your job is simple: create some facts.

Do some undeniable things, just like this, that make your claims superfluous. Creative, thoughtful, surprising things your competitors wouldn't do.

And then watch how much easier it becomes.

(P.S. this taks becomes a lot easier with this: www.basicarts.org/toolkit )

Facts not claims

Strange isn't it:

- Every company claims they're different.
- But we all know that very few truly are.

How is this possible?

Is it delusion?
Is it lies?

No, actually it's more complicated than that. It's a phenomenon we might call "fake differentiation".

And it's probably infecting your company right now.

Read on to spot it instantly.
__

This post is 100% AI-free.

And so is my weekly newsletter on bold strategic thinking, The Hidden Path.

Subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/eJSPsGUf

Fake differentiation is everywhere

Most strategy is bullshit.

Quite literally.

Bullshit means “a bunch of fancy words which actually mean nothing at all”, and that sure does describe most strategy you come across.

Fortunately there’s a remedy: the three exercises in these slides.

Check them out, and see how your business stacks up.

__

P.S. These are the kinds of strategy hacks I’m releasing every week in my newsletter, The Hidden Path.

Join 28,000 other creative leaders right here: https://lnkd.in/eJSPsGUf

How you can tell if a strategy is actually bullshit

I heard Roger Martin say that he'd never seen any course or program that was dedicated to creating novel hypotheses.

A great point - and a pretty big problem given that this is how all REAL strategy starts.

So I decided to churn out 5 easy methods for doing just that.

Not saying the ideas will be "right".

But they will be "novel".

And that, ultimately, is what really counts.

___

There's plenty more where this came from via my newsletter that teaches entrepreneurial strategic thinking.

Subscribe for free, here: https://lnkd.in/eJSPsGUf

Aazar Ali Shad

Grown several tech companies from 0 to 8 figures I Paid Social Growth Marketer I I deconstruct paid marketing so you can level up.

After 5 years in sales, I moved to marketing.

Frankly, I love it. I learned marketing by starting 2 startups and side hustles. 

Then, I found my Ikagai: Growth Marketing. I became Head of Growth at Userpilot (Grew it to 7-figures and beyond). And then, I moved to become an advisor.

Now, I have grown several tech/SaaS companies from 0 to 8 figures. Currently, I lead paid social and growth initiatives at 3 different D2C tech companies. 


❇️ Paid Growth Marketing Newsletter:
Get smarter about paid growth marketing in 5 minutes. I analyze the best brands on paid social to give you insights to level up your marketing: https://theperformers.beehiiv.com/subscribe

___
❇️ Podcast: Growth Marketing Stories
I deconstruct how companies grow with marketing and share learnings along the way. Folks from Wistia, Postscript, Buffer, Truebill, Airtable, Oribi, Attentive, PandaDoc, Baremetrics, CXL, and many others have joined. Give it a listen here: https://pod.co/growth-marketing-stories/

Thank you for visiting my profile. Feel free to reach out at aazar@aazarshad.com.

Growth Marketing Consultant

Providing growth marketing consultancy and advisory services with:

- Paid Social
- Paid Search
- Content Marketing & SEO
- Conversion Rate Optimization

Invested in: Maven, Gumroad, Vuvei Ventures, Synthesis, Userpilot, Breshna and more.

Current clients: MakerKids and Prequel.

At 10, they put me in a box. "He's a B student."

At 18, they put me in a box. "He can't speak English well."

At 23, they put me in a box. "He can only do sales, not marketing."

At 30, they put me in a box. "He can't lead a team."

Now I'm 36.

I create A+ ads that scale. I lead a 6-person agency team. I manage 15+ clients, crushing their marketing goals.

People will always try to box you in.

When they do, let it fuel your inner belief and prove them wrong.

Scaling Brands from $3Mn to $25Mn with Meta Ads — Ads Nerd — I Create Un-Ignorable Ads To Reduce CAC

I hate being wrong.

Yesterday, a founder changed my mind about performance and ads.

He built a 7-figure brand without virality. No viral posts. No paid traffic blitz.

Just word of mouth.

The common thread? Storytelling.

He gave customers such an elevated experience they felt guilty NOT sharing it.

Most brands chase clicks and conversions. They forget the best growth lever is a customer who can't stop talking about you.

Performance ads amplify what already works. But if your product doesn't 
create stories worth repeating, you're just buying attention that disappears.

Here's what I learned:
Give people an experience so good they have to tell someone.

That's how brands are built.

Performance is the booster. Storytelling is the foundation.

I changed my mind on brand vs performance.

Turns out, storytelling comes first. Everything else follows.

Thanks to Robbie Bent for this AMAZING session. Othership is indeed of one of my favorite companies.

My 2026 tool that you can't miss as an agency is AdManage.ai.

I simply can't live without it.

How I turn one customer interview into 30+ ad variations in 30 Minutes.

I manage $100M+ in ad spend.

Here's what most brands get wrong: they create content once and use it once.

I do the opposite.

One customer interview becomes 30+ authentic ads. All in 30 minutes.

Here's how: I send customers a Riverside link. They record on their phone. I get studio-quality footage instantly.

Then Riverside’s Magic Clips feature automatically generates short-form clips. Customer testimonials. Before-and-after stories. Objection handlers. Product demos in real life.

All ad-ready. All authentic. All from one recording.

No editor needed. No file mess. Just a library of content that converts.

People crave authenticity. AI-generated content feels fake. Real customers telling real stories? That's what performs.

This is how I scale ad accounts without burning through creative budgets.

Check out Riverside

Link here: https://lnkd.in/dq6q4Rbt

#riversidepartner

Steal this VINTAGE ad format.

Comment "ads" to get my winning ads swipe file.

How to crush video ads with this one simple hack.

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