Why 70% of Transformations Fail – and how to be in the 30% Leadership, at its core, is about making decisions that define the future of your organisation. Few decisions carry more weight than steering a business through transformation.

But as an entrepreneur, you know the challenge isn't just mapping a new course—it's getting everyone on board to move in that direction. Business transformation is hard - it's why 70% of business transformation programmes fail.

Too often, transformation efforts stumble because they focus on the wrong things. Strategy consultants deliver exhaustive 200-page playbooks that gather dust. Rebranding exercises result in sleek logos but fail to drive real change. The reason is simple. Transformation doesn't succeed from the top down or the outside in. It happens when your people—your culture—embrace it. That's where brand comes in.

Brand is not about logos and slogans; it's about clarity and connection. It's the bridge between your purpose, values, and the future you want to build. A well-crafted brand acts as your organisation's North Star, guiding not just how you look, but how you lead.

Culture first, always
Transformation demands cultural alignment. Your team may understand what is changing, but they'll resist if they don't see why it matters to them. Brand helps answer that "why"; it connects change to purpose in a way that resonates with your people. Get this right, and you don't just manage change—you galvanise your workforce to drive it.

Look at Airbnb. When the company introduced a new identity in the 2010s, most of the noise was about its logo. But the true impact was far deeper. By clearly articulating a purpose—"belonging anywhere"—it unified teams around a shared vision. It became more than just a tagline; employees saw themselves as contributors to something meaningful, boosting commitment across the board. Over the years, this clarity helped Airbnb land on Glassdoor's Best Places to Work list multiple times—demonstrating how a strong brand can drive internal culture.

When we worked with New York's Planting Fields Foundation, we saw this principle in action. Through meaningful engagement with everyone from the leadership team to frontline staff, we identified three simple yet profound organisational pillars—"For Nature. For History. For Life." These words became a rallying cry, shaping everything from decision-making to day-to-day programme delivery. Change took root not through mandates, but through a shared understanding embraced at every level.

Building commitment
One of your greatest challenges as a leader is bringing disparate voices into alignment. That's what good branding does—it provides a shared language that fosters conviction across the organisation.

At the University of York, the leadership team faced a struggle familiar to many. They wanted to position the university as a champion of "public good", but the concept felt vague and disconnected from everyday life. By listening to the voices of thousands of staff and students, we uncovered what made York distinctive—a culture of contrasts, where independence and collaboration coexist harmoniously.

We captured this in the brand theme "Independent minds. Collective spirit." What followed was a detailed brand architecture that balanced individuality with unity. The results spoke for themselves; even sceptics found personal meaning in the new brand. And more importantly, it had staying power—years later, it's still a driving force behind everything from recruitment campaigns to strategic planning.

Beyond aesthetic and structure
A brand must exist beyond design and messaging. Its true value lies in its ability to reflect and refine how your organisation operates. Engage with your brand at a deeper level, and it becomes an invaluable asset in structuring for growth. Our work with the University of York also highlights the crucial role brand architecture can play here. Getting your brand architecture right, from the very start, can shape your decision making for the future. Increasingly, we are using user experience as a lens to frame brand architecture, to analyse where audiences most encounter the offer, structure and hierarchy of an organisation.

So much more than just a visual expression of your legal structure, brand architecture is the coal face of brand and business strategy, communicating your portfolio and demonstrating your offer clearly. It signals the extent and scale of an organisation, clarifies the relation between its different entities, and allows you to prioritise the brand equities within your business. So you need to frame it in reality - how it truly impacts stakeholders. Coming at it from a user experience direction allows you to do that. In more complex cases, decision-making algorithms can help to manage current and future offers, acquisitions and entities. Using weighted criteria around ownership, audience and brand equity, this approach allows businesses to optimise their brand portfolios.

Take the global media organisation IMI. When the enterprise needed to reposition as a more inclusive and forward-thinking powerhouse, they turned to brand as a unifying force. Through focused collaboration, we helped the company define its purpose—"a world closer"—and used it to reshape everything from its internal working culture to the way it designed its new headquarters. This wasn't surface-level; it was systemic. The brand became a catalyst for integration, helping align teams and accelerate progress.

To make branding stick, actions matter more than intentions. Internal initiatives—like tying individual goals to your organisational purpose or creating community-focused events—translate big ideas into tangible results. For example, Airbnb didn't stop at redefining their identity; they brought people together through events that lived out their values. It's these moments that transform a brand from abstraction to action.

Brand as leadership
Think of your brand not as a department's responsibility, but as an extension of your leadership. It sits at the intersection of strategy and culture, meaning it has the power to connect the dots across your organisation. When you view brand as a foundational element of business strategy, not an afterthought, it becomes a lever for growth and transformation.

This approach isn't just about optics—it delivers results. A strong brand builds loyalty, clarifies purpose, and inspires action, both within your organisation and beyond. It's a tool for creating alignment, driving engagement, and building a business your people are proud to work for. Transformation will never be easy. But when brand is embedded in your strategy, it gives you a blueprint to lead your organisation through change with confidence. And as a business leader, that's a shift worth championing—not just for where it takes the business, but for how it strengthens every person behind it.