Capture who you really are — so you can bring it to life together.
Every organization has an Identity.
But not every organization can name it, communicate it, or lead from it.
When an organization enters a new season—new leadership, new ownership, new direction—it needs more than a plan. It needs a long-term Same Page. A clear, human, shared sense of:
Who are we really? What are we trying to create in the world? And how do we want to get there together?
That’s what Identity Upgrade unlocks.
Why Identity matters:
Most teams operate with unspoken expectations, vague values, or culture that depends on a few strong personalities. That works for a while—until it doesn’t.
An articulated, embedded Identity:
Creates unity across your leadership team and company
Equips every employee with shared language and expectations
Simplifies decision-making and strategic planning
Allows the company to scale without losing its soul
Frees leaders from having to carry the culture on their own
You don’t need a slogan.
You need an Identity you actually believe in—and know how to use.
“From the onset of our company more than a decade ago, Align has helped consolidate our hundreds of ideas into a single vision that unified our leadership. They’ve helped us to redefine what is possible for the architecture industry.
Because of Align, we have a vocabulary of leadership that everyone speaks and aims towards, and we’ve matured much quicker as a company too. ”
When to do this work:
Identity Upgrade is especially powerful when:
Your company is entering a new chapter (new leaders, new structure, new challenges, or new scale)
Culture or focus feels unclear or inconsistent
A team wants to lead with more integrity, unity, and purpose
Leaders feel like they’re holding too much, too often
There’s a desire to rehumanize the business—without losing effectiveness
What we create together:
Each Identity Upgrade delivers a custom-built Identity Portfolio designed to become the living DNA of your organization.
That includes:
Your Destination – a future worth moving toward (what Vision has always meant)
How We Get There – the essential commitments that embody your Mission
Values Range – including:
Core Values (what’s already true)
Aspirational Values (what we want become more true)
Risky Values (what’s true that can hold us back)
Our Enemy – the problem or reality we exist to reduce or eliminate
Our Ideal Customer(s) – based on real insights and strategic clarity
Cultural Analogies – powerful metaphors that help teams feel and name who they are
Activation Guide – how to bring the Identity to life in hiring, decision-making, planning, feedback, performance, customer experience, and weekly rhythms (like The Ritz-Carlton Cycle)
How it works:
We do the heavy lifting, over this 2-3 month project. You and your team show up for the most meaningful parts.
1. Identity Workshop
A half-day or full-day retreat (often offsite), where we use guided exercises to surface the best of who you are—and where you’re going.
2. Season of Listening
Over the following several weeks, we send short identity segments for feedback and refinement—one at a time. This keeps the project light on your team’s bandwidth while deepening buy-in.
3. Rollout & Training
A 2-hour session walks you through the final Identity, share stories behind it, and trains your team on how to begin using it—in meetings, hiring, messaging, decision-making, and more.
4. Support & Sustainability
We also provide a video library, optional follow-up coaching, and tools for embedding Identity into your leadership rhythms (like the Ritz-Carlton Cycle).
It starts with a Good Fit Conversation.
We don’t sell. We listen.
Let’s start with a brief, no-pressure conversation to learn what season you’re in and see if Identity Upgrade could help.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What exactly do you mean by “Identity”?
We’re not talking about a slogan or a set of vague values. Your Identity is your organizational True Self—who you are at your best, how you pursue your mission, what you’re becoming, and how you lead others there. We help you name it, embed it, and use it in day-to-day decisions, hiring, planning, and leadership.
Is this the same as visual branding or marketing work?
No. Strong brands flow from strong identity, not the other way around. Our work happens before you design campaigns or messaging. It gives your team shared language and clarity that then shapes everything from customer experience to internal culture. (If you have a branding partner, they’ll thank you for doing this first.)
Who is this for? Just senior leaders? The whole team?
The process is designed to center around your core leadership team, but the final Identity is built to serve the entire organization. Everyone benefits—from frontline employees to future hires to customers—because everyone will have access to shared expectations, language, and values that are actually usable.
How much time will this take from our team?
Not much. Most of the time investment is concentrated in a single 6-hour workshop (often offsite), followed by a brief 2-hour rollout session about two months later. In between, we gather short bits of feedback to shape and refine the final Identity. ALIGN handles the heavy lifting; you help us get it right.
What makes this different from other “vision/mission/values” work?
Most identity work is forgettable because it’s vague, generic, or not actually lived.
Our process is:
Conversational and intuitive (not jargon-heavy)
Deeply practical—we show you how to use your Identity in real decisions
Multi-layered—we name not just vision and values, but your ideal customer, your blind spots, your cultural analogies, and even your internal “enemy”
Human and theologically aware—for organizations who want to lead with soul, not just systems
What happens after we receive our Identity Portfolio?
We don’t just hand you a PDF and wish you luck. During rollout, we’ll train you on how to begin using the Identity in hiring, planning, feedback, and leadership rhythms. You’ll also receive access to a video library and tools for embedding your Identity weekly using what we call the Ritz-Carlton Cycle.
How do we know this is worth the investment?
Because clarity pays off. A well-captured Identity doesn’t just unify a team—it simplifies decisions, reduces internal confusion, improves hiring, and makes scaling more human. It helps your business grow in the right direction: from the inside out. And in our experience, it's the kind of clarity that sticks for years.
Can we see a sample or talk to someone who’s done this?
Absolutely. We’ve guided Identity work with 50+ companies across industries, including fast-growth startups, design studios, family-run businesses, and secure global service firms. We’re glad to share samples or connect you with past clients like Equip Studio or Fortis to hear their experience