MY STRENGTH PROFILE
I lead with the Strategic Thinking Theme.
I create alternative ways to proceed. When I’m faced with any scenario, I can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.
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Strategic
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Achiever
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Learner
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Input
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Focus
Sam Malik
FOUNDER & CEO
he/him | Los Angeles, CA
I am a systems thinker, a visual storyteller, and an empath. Using these traits, I infuse humanity, clarity, and newfound value into complex, technical B2B initiatives.
MY SIDE HUSTLES
For Impact:
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Real Estate Investing
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Mental Health Advocacy
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Advisory to Startups
For Fun:
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Craft Cocktail Making
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Interior Design
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Scuba Diving
How I think:
MY MARK:
Ironically, I’d be unemployable by most companies we get paid to consult for.
It wasn’t until one of our highest stakes consulting engagements that I fully realized the value of my diverse, loosely related experiences across bioscience, technology, verbal storytelling, and communication design. It has given me learning agility unrivaled by most of my colleagues, and this broad perspective is, unequivocally, the single greatest value I can provide to companies I partner with. My experiences have enabled me to quickly understand highly technical enterprises, and to rapidly imagine myself in the shoes of these clients’ most important stakeholders.
All of this is to say, I am an outspoken advocate for end users, customers, and internal employees. My default state is one of empathy, and I use this to develop brands and create value for the humans behind the companies our clients sell to and work for. By helping these companies focus on — and champion — the ways they make people‘s lives better, I believe I’m also helping those I work with find the reasons to believe in their own work – reasons that equip them with purpose, pride, and a sense of fulfillment.
MY WHY:
Having grown up on the cusp of the digital age, I’m part of the generation that matured at the same pace as technology. So I remember life before this.
While I appreciate the convenience these advancements bring to everyday life, I remain aware of and often nostalgic about the more organic connections that existed in simpler times, before tech was ubiquitously present in our lives. As technology accelerates, I do worry we will reach a point where innovation for the sake of time and cost savings is achieved, but it comes at the expense of joy creation—engineering critical elements of the human experience, like emotional connection and the trial and triumph that comes with having to make complex decisions, out of our lives.
My “why” is to prevent this from happening. I do that everyday by helping innovative organizations uncover, define, and stay true to the distinct human-centered “why” that drives everything they do.
WHAT LED ME HERE:
#1 in a microbiology lab at one of the nation’s largest children's hospitals.
Under the leadership of the renowned researcher Dr. Lauren Bakaletz, I learned something that shaped my career in strategy: that is, what makes a successful subject matter expert is never knowledge alone—it’s the ability to tell a story compelling enough to make non-experts care about that knowledge (and fund her work). We spent Mondays being grilled on the “why / how / what and so what?” of our research, and that exercise taught me a valuable lesson: the “why” behind innovation matters just as much as the clinical results.
#2 in a microbiology lab at one of the nation’s largest children's hospitals.
Under the leadership of the renowned researcher Dr. Lauren Bakaletz, I learned something that shaped my career in strategy: that is, what makes a successful subject matter expert is never knowledge alone—it’s the ability to tell a story compelling enough to make non-experts care about that knowledge (and fund her work). We spent Mondays being grilled on the “why / how / what and so what?” of our research, and that exercise taught me a valuable lesson: the “why” behind innovation matters just as much as the clinical results.
#3 in a microbiology lab at one of the nation’s largest children's hospitals.
Under the leadership of the renowned researcher Dr. Lauren Bakaletz, I learned something that shaped my career in strategy: that is, what makes a successful subject matter expert is never knowledge alone—it’s the ability to tell a story compelling enough to make non-experts care about that knowledge (and fund her work). We spent Mondays being grilled on the “why / how / what and so what?” of our research, and that exercise taught me a valuable lesson: the “why” behind innovation matters just as much as the clinical results.
#4 in a microbiology lab at one of the nation’s largest children's hospitals.
Under the leadership of the renowned researcher Dr. Lauren Bakaletz, I learned something that shaped my career in strategy: that is, what makes a successful subject matter expert is never knowledge alone—it’s the ability to tell a story compelling enough to make non-experts care about that knowledge (and fund her work). We spent Mondays being grilled on the “why / how / what and so what?” of our research, and that exercise taught me a valuable lesson: the “why” behind innovation matters just as much as the clinical results.
#5 in a microbiology lab at one of the nation’s largest children's hospitals.
Under the leadership of the renowned researcher Dr. Lauren Bakaletz, I learned something that shaped my career in strategy: that is, what makes a successful subject matter expert is never knowledge alone—it’s the ability to tell a story compelling enough to make non-experts care about that knowledge (and fund her work). We spent Mondays being grilled on the “why / how / what and so what?” of our research, and that exercise taught me a valuable lesson: the “why” behind innovation matters just as much as the clinical results.
