Graeme Smith

Key words: Business Anthropology | Cultural Semiotics | Epistemic Diagnostics | Storytelling and Narrative | Knowledge Management | Organisational Sense-Making | Strategy Conversation | Critical Discourse Analysis | Semiotic Gyroscope | Novelist

My research examines how narrative, symbolism, and cultural meaning structures shape the way individuals and organisations interpret the world and act within it. Central to this work is the development of the Semiotic Gyroscope, an integrative diagnostic model that unites epistemology, Peircean semiotics, liminality, and habitual sedimentation to analyse how knowledge evolves, how meaning is constructed, and how organisations position themselves during periods of uncertainty.

Across my corpus, I investigate how stories—formal, informal, strategic, and contested—generate torque in organisational discourse. My work demonstrates how counter-narratives can illuminate hidden assumptions, challenge institutional drift, and support more coherent strategy formation. This approach provides a powerful method for diagnosing stakeholder positions, interpretive tensions, and the deeper cultural residues that shape organisational behaviour.

I specialise in the intersection of strategy and narrative, focusing on how organisations can use epistemic insights to respond to disruption, adapt to contingency, and renew their communicative and cultural foundations. Through the lens of business anthropology, I analyse how teams, departments, and institutions interpret change, negotiate meaning, and embed new practices.

My work applies traditional anthropological reasoning to contemporary organisational challenges—revealing how customers, employees, and leaders construct meaning, form allegiances, and resist or support transformation. By decoding these interpretive patterns, I help organisations surface roadblocks, identify areas of alignment, and design interventions that support sustainable cultural and strategic renewal.

As both academic and novelist, I approach narrative as a living system: one that shapes perception, frames collective identity, and anchors decision-making. In an environment characterised by volatility and narrative saturation, my research positions cultural semiotics and critical discourse analysis as essential tools for organisational agility, resilience, and purposeful evolution.

Research Consultancy

This project examined misalignments between a political party’s strategic narrative and the interpretive positions of its constituents. Through a semiotic and data-driven diagnostic approach, the research identified gaps between policy intentions, symbolic cues within the party’s published plan, and the electorate’s meaning-making. By analysing stakeholder world views and the contested interpretation of key political icons, the work provided the party with an evidence-based intervention strategy to recalibrate its narrative and reposition its manifesto.

Findings were delivered as a structured diagnostic, enabling senior figures to realign messaging, strengthen engagement, and address areas of interpretive torque between party discourse and voter perception. The resulting insights informed a redrafted manifesto for the May 2022 local council elections, contributing to the successful return of the party to power.

Digital Capability

I promote digital capability development through systematic interventions that support both students and course teams. My teaching includes advanced data analysis techniques, with expertise in IBM SPSS and Microsoft Excel, emphasising analytical literacy and evidence-led decision-making.

I integrate Panopto and Zoom to produce high-quality, accessible digital content aligned with Transformation Academy standards. As the University lead for StratX MarkStrat on both undergraduate and postgraduate modules, I support students in developing strategic marketing competence within simulated and live digital environments. I also lead teaching on direct and digital marketing strategy across multiple programmes.

Coaching and Mentoring

I provide sustained academic supervision and mentoring across Levels 7, 6, and 5, supporting students undertaking dissertations, consultancy projects, and creative major projects. My responsibilities include module leadership in academic research skills and marketing research methods.

I contribute to pedagogic enhancement through sharing best practice from the Transformation Academy, supporting colleagues across the subject group in the development of high-quality digital and blended content for SOL. I have created quality-control procedures and process documentation to guide consistent, standards-aligned module development, strengthening the group’s collective delivery capability.

Current Role

Senior Lecturer experience on undergraduate; post graduate degree courses; and professional chartered institute of marketing (CIM) professional qualifications. Student dissertation supervisor.  Develop, manage, and deliver teaching content to the required standard.  Experienced in designing and delivering blended learning courses for UG and PG degrees and professional qualifications (CIM).  Design virtual classroom environments and web content, seminars, and contact schedules.

Director of CearnagRuadh Consulting

CearnagRuadh provides consulting services and training to public, private and third sector organisations. CearnagRuadh helps clients to focus on achieving strategic objectives, improve organisational control and evaluation of performance against target by measuring what matters. This helps organisations to align people activity with strategy and create a culture of continuous improvement to achieve strategic objectives.