Every leadership team thinks they're aligned. David Meyer, founder of Spoke Marketing, has run alignment exercises with over a hundred companies across 17 years, and not once have two leaders written the same answer when asked their company's single most important message. That discovery led David to develop what he calls "thresholds of change": the inflection points where a company's old story stops matching reality, whether driven by new technology, shifting buyer behavior, leadership transitions, or market disruption. In this conversation, Mark and David unpack why alignment breaks down, why emotion (not logic) is the true driver of change, and how founders can use a simple "now, next, later, never" framework to keep their teams pointed in the same direction during turbulent times.

Key topics:

• Why 100% of leadership teams fail the alignment test
• Thresholds of change: recognizing when your brand story no longer fits
• The "now, next, later, never" framework for prioritization
• Why founders get emotionally attached to what got them there
• How throwing more tactics at misalignment makes it worse

About David Meyer:
David Meyer is the founder of Spoke Marketing, a brand strategy and positioning agency he started nearly 18 years ago. With some team members who've worked together for over 30 years, Spoke helps companies figure out not what they want to say, but what their customers want to hear. Their mantra: "You haven't told your story until someone else can tell it."
Website: spokemarketing.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/admeyer/

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