Behaviour Tells the Story
Truth sits in the shade of subtlety and watches the events unfold (possibly with a bag of popcorn).
A CEO at a networking event passes me a blue business card.
“We’re all about blue," they grin and adjust their navy-striped jacket.
But beneath their collar, I glimpse a purple shirt. That’s not quite blue, I think to myself.
A few days later, I visit their office. “We’re all about blue!” greets me from a mission board. But the board is red. And so is the office floor:
Red desks, red computers, red jumpers on all employees.
The CEO — by now their shirt turned from purple to pink — wipes sweat from their forehead. “Can we just focus on marketing the blue, please?” they ask me.
Well…no.
This company’s message is wrong. Their vision is blue—but their behaviour is red.
And this problem isn’t about marketing, but about the culture.
Show, don’t tell — is the biggest lesson I took from the film set to the boardroom. And it points the way for change.
In the context of narrative psychology, we can use a whole range of tools to rediscover purpose and productivity in a company culture that rejuvenates the brand.
How can we all be the heroes of our story?
How do we solve problems together?
What are we rooting for?
When leaders answer those questions together with their employees, alignment becomes natural automation, and the sky is the limit.
The strongest brands don’t declare who they are, but demonstrate it.
The Misalignment
The daily actions of a company speak louder about the brand than any marketing message ever will.
What causes the problems?
Often, there are multiple reasons why culture and brand communications have lost alignment.
Post-pandemic, we have all seen major shifts in the global economy, difficult leadership decisions that had to be taken, changes to the workforce, and a fight against time to get business numbers into the black and projections up.
But this has left many businesses stranded between the past and the future.
Your next quarter vs. your next quarter of a century
Which one is more important?
Leaders looking for better ways to match up their team and messaging face first and foremost a question of ad-hoc measures versus long-term impact.
The hard truth:
Marketing burns money at this stage.
People may not respond to large-scale ‘inspiration’.
Regional versus global brand resonance, especially in complex markets, creates a rollercoaster ride between quarterly and long-term results.
→ The best course of action is a full reframe of the brand messaging from the inside out.
Harnessing the Story Opportunity
Rewriting the story can start any day, any time, and yields faster results than you might think. Because once we are courageously facing what divides us, we can put our energy into what unites us, once again.
Three Steps a Leader Can Take
1) Executive alignment.
Regional and global teams speaking one language, with a goal roadmap that unites urgent market responses with longevity foresight.
→ Prioritise based on interconnected, cross-departmental processes, not based on specific numbers. The numbers will come when the behaviours are harmonised.
2) People-first culture as a brand engine.
Purpose isn’t a slide deck; it’s repeatable behaviour in action that ensures the employees can grow alongside the company.
→ Let your people in on defining the value of the tasks they’re asked to perform.
3) Living brand positioning.
Keep the brand alive through continuous internal engagement and consistent external expression with a holistic through-line, from the inside out.
→ Make brand a leadership priority, not a checkbox for the marketing team. Nobody can sell a promise that their actions don’t prove.
The opportunity isn’t a new slogan, but a new level of coherence to align the growth goals of your people with those of the company.
In fast-growing markets (especially in complex regions like Southeast Asia), that alignment between story and behaviour becomes the difference between authenticity and noise.
The Takeaway
Your brand is what your people do when no one’s watching, and that sends the message.
We can unlock the Subconscious Narrative™ that truly runs our business, to lead the way for people, products, and performance by aligning business goals with culture in such a way that actions carry forward the brand vision authentically and automatically.
Behaviour tells your story.
ST Sammel, founder
ST is an award-winning writer-director-producer and business consultant who makes story tools accessible to global executives, linking narrative psychology with leadership.