Shouting from the top of the mountain: Where is everyone else?

You've articulated the vision. You've run the offsites. Everyone nods in agreement. But nothing changes.

Sales describes the company one way, product another. New hires get three different answers to "what do we actually do?" Decisions that should take days take weeks. Every initiative requires you to re-explain the fundamentals.

You're shouting from the top of a mountain. Others are waving back. But they're not climbing.

The alignment gap has a cost

McKinsey's October 2025 research into top-team performance, based on data from nearly 200 global CEOs, quantifies the stakes: companies whose executive teams are aligned and working effectively together are almost twice as likely to achieve above-median financial performance.

Yet according to research published in Harvard Business Review, nearly 75% of cross-functional teams are dysfunctional.

The same McKinsey study, drawing on their Team Effectiveness Index diagnostic across 28 top teams, found that leadership teams score highest on commitment and shared purpose. They score lowest on psychological safety, conflict management, and feedback.

Everyone agrees on the destination. The breakdown is in how to navigate there together.

Why vision isn't enough

Most CEOs have done the hard work of defining where the business is going. The strategy is clear. The ambition is real. So why does the leadership team still feel fragmented?

Because vision sets direction. It doesn't provide a decision-making framework.

When your CFO is evaluating a pricing decision, your Head of Product is prioritising the roadmap, and your Sales Director is positioning against a competitor, they each need more than a destination. They need a shared understanding of what the business stands for, who it serves, and why it matters.

Without that shared framework, each leader fills the gap with their own interpretation. Not through disloyalty, but through necessity. Decisions can't wait for the CEO to adjudicate every ambiguity.

The result is fragmentation that looks like misalignment but is actually a clarity problem.

Brand strategy as leadership infrastructure

This is where brand strategy earns its seat at the leadership table. Not brand as logo. Not brand as marketing. Brand as the organising infrastructure that gives your leadership team a shared language.

A clearly articulated brand strategy defines:

• What the business stands for - the non-negotiables that guide every decision

• Who you're for - and equally, who you're not for

• How you show up - the consistent expression that builds recognition and trust

• Why it matters - the purpose that connects daily work to something larger

When this is clear, it travels without you. Your leadership team stops waiting for your interpretation because they have a framework to interpret through. The CFO, Head of Product, and Sales Director et al make decisions that align - not because they've checked with you, but because they're working from the same foundation.

From shouting to scaling

McKinsey's research identifies role definition, shared purpose, and communication as three of the strongest predictors of top-team performance.

Brand strategy directly addresses all three. It clarifies how each function contributes to a unified whole. It articulates purpose in terms that connect to daily decisions. And it provides a common vocabulary that makes communication more efficient and less prone to misinterpretation.

For CEOs navigating growth, this isn't about creating a brand for the market. It's about creating the clarity your leadership team needs to act as one.

Sources

McKinsey & Company, 'Demystifying Top-Team Performance: What Every CEO Needs to Know', October 2025

Behnam Tabrizi, '75% of Cross-Functional Teams Are Dysfunctional', Harvard Business Review, June 2015