Remember Elmer’s Glue—how it smells, how it oozed out of the bottle, and how if you rubbed it all over your hand it would pick up your hand prints and you could make skin? That’s the power of a brand.

What does “Lead With Brand” mean? Your brand is a series of relationships from the visionary, to the team, to the product, to the public

Brands like Apple, Nike, and Coke own powerful connections that go beyond the goods they sell, relationships that create an unreasonable loyalty at the cash register. If we can’t connect people to the brand’s product, image, or service, failure is inevitable.

Your brand started with a flash of brilliance that made you abandon all reason and embark on a bold, entrepreneurial venture. Given purpose and direction, that spark becomes a driving vision that attracts people and clients to you.

When you hire staff, competing agendas increase and it’s easy to lose control without unflinching guidelines. Brand alignment ensures your entire team is pulling together, true to the vision, preserving and building relationships of integrity.

Brands are relationships. Branding ensures you are accountable to the vision.

Be true. Be real. Be the brand. Be the glue that ties everything together.