Brand and corporate strategist Alex M H Smith shares insights about his upbringing, values, and the journey that led him to become a contrarian thinker in the fields of advertising, marketing, and ultimately strategy. He discusses the challenges of defining personal values, the cultural observations he made during his time in America, and how his contrarian nature shaped his career path. Alex emphasizes the importance of intuition in strategy, the limitations of AI compared to human creativity, and the joy of finding flow in one’s being and work.

Alex M H Smith Contact Information & Links

Website: https://basicarts.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-m-h-smith/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AlexMHSmith

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexmhsmith/

Book References

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Therefore I earn a small commission on purchases from the following Amazon links–and every bit helps support this channel!

No Bullsh*t Strategy: A Founder’s Guide to Gaining Competitive Advantage with a Strategy That Actually Works

By Alex M H Smith

(paperback: https://amzn.to/4qbdzME | kindle: https://amzn.to/4qbdzME)

Blue Ocean Strategy, Expanded Edition: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant

by W. Chan Kim, Renée Mauborgne

(hardcover: https://amzn.to/4rVjqaA | paperback: https://amzn.to/4pEzUlY)

The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World

by Ian McGilchrist

(hardcover: https://amzn.to/48O8G5a | paperback: https://amzn.to/48O8G5a)

Video Reference

Short video of Rory Sutherland on post-rationalization:

Why Creativity Embraces Contradiction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itgpxtauJyY&t=37s