Most "strategy" is bullsh*t.

Complicated.
Dense.
Timid.

And fundamentally incapable of doing the job it's meant to do: inspiring bold action that creates incredible results.

Great strategy is simple.

It's clear.
It's brave.
It's mischievous.

You can explain it to anyone, and they won't only "get it"; they'll be energised by it.

Follow me if you want to learn how to do strategy this way.

Here's how:

_________

1. Work with me

Each year, I work with 10 clients, and do a number of speaking engagements.

This is for brands who are ready to cut through complexity, and make waves in their market with confidence and clarity.

I’m with you every step.

If this might be you, drop me a DM or check out www.basicarts.org/work-with-alex/ 

_______

2. Get a new strategy technique every week

...by joining 25,000+ others  in the best strategic thinking community on the internet, The Hidden Path. You'll also get two free tools to sharpen and tidy your thinking. Just go here:

www.basicarts.org/template

_______

3. Master the basics for the price of a cocktail

...by reading my book, No Bullsh*t Strategy. It'll teach you everything you need to know in one 138 page hit.

Just search for it on Amazon, or wherever you like to buy books.

______

4. Subscribe to my YouTube for weekly masterclasses

You'll find it here: youtube.com/alexmhsmith

______

5. If you're a small business or strategy pro...

...then you can get my entire approach, ready to roll, in the Strategy Shortcut System. Use it on your own business, use it on your clients - either way it's the fastest and funnest way of getting competitive advantage on the planet.

www.strategyshortcutsystem.com

_________

Never forget, business should be an adventure.

And strategy?  It’s the map.

Let's set out.

Alex

Alex M H Smith

Are there more important strategy skills than these?

Sure. But that's the boring stuff.

Here, I wanted to create a list of less obvious things. The skills people don't tend to talk about, but which I think are pretty damn useful.

Here's a brief explanation of each.

1. Writing well

Writing is thinking that you can share. And this is pretty much the whole of what strategy is - thinking then sharing it - so honestly, you can't do without this.

2. Feeling comfortable generalising

Strategy is about zoomed-out, big-picture perspectives. And that means painting with a broad brush. Some people don't feel comfortable doing this, and so strategy isn't for them.

3. Being a teensy bit negative

If you're doing strategy, you're trying to improve something. Which must begin with noticing what's wrong with it. You can't be a cheerleader for something, and change its path.

4. An eye for aesthetics

Partially this is about pattern-spotting (a core strategy skill). But it's also about influence. If you want to persuade people, then make it pretty.

5. A sense of humour

Yes, it helps with rapport - but more importantly humour comes from observation and lateral thinking. I don't really see how you can be a good strategist without being kinda funny.

6. Being a PowerPoint master

Oh man do I love PowerPoint (or Keynote in my case). And you've got to. Knowing the art of pleasing rhythmic presentations is huge, since this is how you're probably going to sell your idea.

7. Kindness and warmth

People won't listen to you if they don't like you.

8. Radical simplification

My favourite strategy question to ask is "give me this gist". Being able to simplify to the gist shows understanding, and drives clarity.

9. Curiosity

You need to just be generally interested in random "stuff", and gather it in the library of your mind - since you never know when the most obscure thing might come in handy.

10. An authoritarian streak

Hey, you don't have to like it, but eventually you're going to need to tell people what to do. Many great thinkers have been undone by not having the confidence to do this.

11. A distaste for perfectionism

A great strategy is always a bit of a punt, that might not stand up to minute scrutiny. So sometimes it's best to just trust your gut, and see how it goes.

12. A touch of cynicism

You are trying to work with how the world is - not how you wish it would be. So you need to be a realist about human nature, and the darker side of the world.

13. The ability to touch-type

This means you can write as quick as you can think. Insanely underrated.

14. Understanding branding

Most strategy is not branding - but a bit of it is, and it's the less "rational" part. You can't truly understand market dynamics without it.

15. Storytelling

A strategy, in the end, is a story. And it will work to the extent people are captured by it.

___

Got any more? Put em in the comments.

Refine all these skills, for free, here: https://lnkd.in/eJSPsGUf

No Bullsh*t Strategy | Helping the world’s most iconic brands make smarter, braver decisions | Author | Advisor | Speaker

Supermove

Brand and Content Marketer

harisspahic.com

I created this "company" just to make my website more apparent on my profile.

ButterDocs

I was hired on a 3-month contract to post LinkedIn content on behalf of ButterDocs to engage their audiences, grow brand affinity, and spread their brand narratives.​

- Averaged 60 reactions and 32 comments per post, with the top-performing post reaching 202 reactions and 43 comments.

- Consulted and helped ButterDocs refine their upcoming brand campaigns.

- Received overwhelmingly positive feedback from ButterDocs' audiences and ICP (see image attached).

Brand Content Strategist (contract)

BrandOps

I was the only marketer at a 6-person MarTech startup in search of a PMF.​

- Generated $1.6M in marketing-sourced pipeline (through blog posts, webinars, and organic LinkedIn posts).

- Grew the company's organic LinkedIn following by 450%.

- Developed systems and automations that saved us ~10 hours/week on content creation and marketing reporting.

- Led the creation and promotion of webinars, which achieved our MQL targets.

- Worked with the CCO to establish content partnerships with industry thought leader companies and freelancers.

Marketing Coordinator

Constellate Consulting Firm

A brand consulting agency that helps small businesses and startups define their brands.

Freelance Brand Strategist

Freelance

Freelance Graphic Designer (Visual Identity Design)

I'm a content marketer with a brand marketer's mindset. Currently at Supermove.

Follow for random thoughts on B2B brand marketing, strategy, and content marketing - as well as for occasional shitposts. I'm treating LinkedIn a bit like 2020 Twitter these days.

(All views are my own, not my employer's.)

Learn more about me at harisspahic.com

Haris Spahić 🧈

I'm looking for researchers who can write. 👀 If that's you, we need help with enterprise Sales Enablement content.

You'd be writing Supermove articles for van lines, van line agents, and specific job titles depending on the article (e.g., Head of Ops, CEO, ...)

Example topics:
- Why [company type X] is purchasing Supermove
- What rolling out Supermove in your org looks like in the first [X] days
- The Hidden Costs of Staying on [Legacy Systems X and Y] for [Job Title Z]

We're a good fit if:

1. You've written sales enablement content for enterprise buyers before
2. You don't write in robotic "Whitepaperese" tone
3. You'd be willing to research our Gong calls and internal knowledge hubs to make your writing more persuasive and credible

Bonus (not required):
1. You've written technical content before and you understand things like integrations, data flows, etc.

This is NOT an SEO gig. Here's what "good writing" looks like to me:
- Being relatable to our buyers' problems and business realities
- Taking what SMEs give us + what you find in your research and speaking on it like an industry insider, not a marketer describing it
- More engaging writing than an LLM (not a high bar to clear)

Aside from giving you access to Gong to do your research - you’ll get SME interview recordings, a detailed brief, and all the critical details I’ve already pulled together for each topic. I'll work closely with you.

---

𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗧𝗢 𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗟𝗬: Send me just ONE best portfolio example of a sales enablement article you've written for an enterprise audience.

Please don't send a whole portfolio or a long pitch. It doesn't make it easier!

----

*For those who applied to my other job posting, I've put together a shortlist of writers. That was strictly for TOFU content -- this is a separate program. Thanks!

Haris Spahić

Content marketing leads: Do you trust your freelance writers to determine an angle for an article… or do you spoon-feed it to them?

I’m talking specifically about high-stakes content like sales enablement articles. 

Let’s say you already gave them:
 - Recorded SME interviews (e.g., with your account executives)
- Access to Gong
 - Access to internal knowledge bases

At that point… do you trust them to decide what story to tell? Or do you keep them in the “writing only” lane and you decide the angle yourself?

I keep going back and forth on this. In theory, a good writer would also do proper research and structure a compelling narrative. But I don't know if this actually happens in the real world. They aren't really incentivized for it. Their incentive is to finish the article asap so they can work with their other clients.

Scaling gets really hard when you don’t fully trust others to care, research, or think as much as you would do.

Half the time I reach the end of a project thinking: “If I already did 90% of the work, I might as well write the damn thing too.” 🙃

“Our buyers aren’t active at [insert mainstream channel] (e.g., LinkedIn, trade media, communities, etc.). Let’s build our own online channel/community, then.”

This thinking always confused me because it ignores the source of demand for industry conversations.

If your buyers aren’t active in typical online ecosystems, then building your own ecosystem won’t spawn them out of thin air. You’re still fighting against market gravity.

Even if you DO grow an owned channel - say a newsletter - where will your reach come from? That’s the whole point of broad channels like LinkedIn. They give you an endless stream of new buyers to reach over time. But owned channels are mostly capped.


Marketers usually treat channels as a distribution problem (“buyers aren’t here”), when it’s often a behavioral reality in your market (“there isn’t a shared habit of discussing the industry online”).

We can’t control that.

taplio

The Battle

Alex M H Smith

Haris Spahić 🧈

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreAlex M H Smith's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreHaris Spahić 🧈's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Alex M H Smith

Haris Spahić 🧈

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Alex M H Smith's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreHaris Spahić 🧈's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreAlex M H Smith's LinkedIn Performance