Inside the mind of a modern media maverick with Gordon Smart

As one of the UK’s most versatile and engaging media & journalism speakers, Gordon has held roles as Deputy Editor of The Sun, presenter on Xfm/Radio X and BBC Radio 5 Live, and host of the acclaimed Restless Natives podcast alongside Martin Compston. His breadth of experience in both hard news and entertainment underpins his sought-after keynote expertise.

In this exclusive interview with The Champions Speakers Agency, Gordon explores the art of storytelling in modern journalism, the lessons he’s drawn from award-winning headlines, and how media mastery can sharpen business communications.

Q: What first sparked your interest in journalism, and how did that early experience shape your career path?

Gordon Smart - The Champions Speakers Agency

Gordon Smart: “I started off as a journalist because I created the school newspaper when I was a teenager with a group of friends and, without realising, we broke a tabloid front page about our art teacher Mr Kerry being a founding member of Wet Wet Wet. We sold 300 copies at 30 pence a copy, and I suddenly realised there might be something in it as a career after that.

“A local journalist heard about what we were doing and I ended up working for DC Thompson in Dundee, and then The Evening Telegraph and The Courier, which was the start of my journalism career—and it just went on from there.”

Q: You’ve covered some memorable stories over the years—are there any standout headlines that hold particular significance for you?

Gordon Smart: “There are a few headlines that I’m very proud of. When I worked for The Sun newspaper, we had a list of 100 of the greatest of all time, and I had one entry. It was when Taylor Swift started dating Tom Hiddleston, who was in The Night Manager at the time. So he played a spy, and Taylor at the time had quite a complicated and interesting love life.

“The headline that I had come up with was “Tinker Taylor Snogs the Spy”, and we had a picture of them kissing on the beach, which was a full-page front-page splash—probably 2015, 2016—and that made it into the top 100 of all time.

“That was when I was Deputy Editor at the time. In Scotland, we won an award for Front Page of the Year. It was “Eck to the Future”, which was the shorthand Scottish name for Alex Salmond, and it was all about setting the date for the referendum—when Scotland would actually decide on the future, whether we would be independent or not. That was something that won an award and it was mocked up like Back to the Future, with Alexander as Marty McFly.”

Q: How would you describe your presenting style, and what do you think sets it apart in today’s media landscape?

Gordon Smart: “Well, I’d like to describe myself as the drinking woman’s Jamie Dornan—a reasonable dollop of humour, a bit of Scottish charm. I’d like to hope that I can do the serious as well as the humorous. I think I can find the balance.

“After doing a lot of radio on 5 Live and Radio X, I think there’s a reasonable balance between current affairs, politics, entertainment, and I think I can bring quite a soft touch to that. It’s weirdness, too—a little bit of humour, very necessary—but I’m certainly not afraid to do the sensitive stuff when required. It’s a fine balance, a sensible balance.”

Q: From your perspective in journalism and broadcasting, what can business leaders learn from the way media professionals think and operate?

Gordon Smart: “Well, I think you’ve got to be incredibly versatile as a journalist. You have to be able to turn your hand to everything. I always approached my job where I thought I should be able to do a shift in every department of the paper—whether that was sport, politics, news, entertainment or current affairs or features. I think you should be versatile as a journalist and have an understanding of everything.

“I always joke about that, actually—that I have an eight-paragraph understanding of almost every subject in the world. Go beyond that and you might find me struggling, but I can give you a good eight paragraphs. I think there is something to learn from that in any other business, because you have to be well aware of what’s going on around you in the world to shape and focus what you’re doing in your business. You have to have that well-rounded approach.

“It’s something I encourage in journalists that I work with, producers I work with, and a lot of the journalists that I’m finding myself coming into contact with—particularly younger guys. This week, for example, I met a 19-year-old who’d never heard of the band Blur, which blew my mind.

“That might sound fairly superficial and entertainment-related, but if you don’t have an understanding of all those incredible songs that were written and the culture of Britpop, then you don’t really understand the fabric of Britain and what led us through New Labour—because it was all so interlinked and interwoven at the time.

“So I think it’s important to have a really good eight-paragraph understanding of everything in the world if you want to drive a successful business. And I think that’s what I bring to the party.”

Q: When you're hosting events, what impact do you aim to leave on the audience by the time they walk away?

Gordon Smart: “I think the best thing you can have from an event that you host is people going away saying, “You did very well, didn’t we?”

“It’s like being a good referee, isn’t it? You don’t really want to be the centre of attention and the subject of the conversation afterwards. A good job is where things have gone smoothly and you’ve guided it through without any kind of incident. So I think that’s the dream result.

“Jimmy Carr always says the best jokes are the ones where you laugh and then go, “Oh!” It’s the opposite of what I want to do. I want everybody to enjoy it at the time and go home and not realise that you’ve made things seamless.”

This exclusive interview with Gordon Smart was conducted by Megan Lupton of The Motivational Speakers Agency.

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