When the outside world hears one thing, and your internal team lives another, that’s brand story dissonance. But it could also be an agenda for change.

There are two patterns to watch for, one's easier to fix than the other:

1. Internal > External

The team is energised. People feel proud of what the business does. But none of that comes through in the outward messaging: The website undersells it; the deck talks a distant language. The real story is buried under corporate jargon.

2. External > Internal

Your marketing promises transformation, brilliance, or world-changing purpose. But inside, the lived experience doesn’t match: Employees feel disengaged, or worse, cynical; culture initiatives could fall flat. The story sounds good, but no one believes it.

In both cases, there’s a credibility gap. And credibility gaps erode trust - with customers, talent, and with leadership.

So how do you fix it?

First, diagnose it.

• Talk to colleagues. Ask what they think the business stands for.

• Talk to customers and partners. What do they expect when they deal with you?

• Compare what you say with what people experience, both inside and outside the business.

Then, review your narrative. Is it grounded in reality? Is it aspirational in the right way? Does it sound like you now, or who you were five years ago? Or maybe it sounds like you want to be, but in reality you're not living up to it?

Maybe the brand story you've written is too aspirational, i.e. you're just not quite there yet. That's OK, because at least you know what more there is to do. You've written your transformation agenda.

You say you’re customer-first, but your support team is buried under legacy systems and long ticket queues. Internally, people feel set up to fail. Externally, clients are left frustrated - their expectations raised by the story, then dashed by the experience.

Or you talk a big game about inclusion and empowerment, but decisions still come from the top, and junior staff don’t feel safe to speak up. The culture you project and the one you live are running in parallel, not in sync.

You might brand yourself as agile and disruptive, but in practice, new ideas get stuck in 17 layers of approvals. Partners buy into the promise of speed, then find themselves bogged down in process.

Another classic: you lead with a bold, purpose-driven mission - changing the world, no less. But all your incentives still orbit short-term revenue. Some clients might sense the performative purpose; employees either look the other way or burn out trying to square the circle.

And then there’s the one where you tell the world you “invest in people,” but your onboarding process is basically “sink or swim.” New joiners feel lost. The promise is nothing more than a poster.

These aren’t just inconsistencies, they’re liabilities. If left unaddressed, they erode trust inside and out, and possibly even profit - either via lost revenue, or through increased staff turnover.

When the mirror IS the megaphone, your brand story becomes a source of pride.