To ensure their new brand strategy was practical, Ford required every department to articulate how they would activate it. This exercise revealed gaps and ensured the strategy would guide daily decisions on what to do and, crucially, what to stop doing.

During Ford's two-year rebrand, moments where stakeholder alignment was lost were not failures. The CMO found these "regroups" were critical for strengthening the strategy, revealing where initial agreements were superficial or impractical and making the final plan more durable.

When presenting their rebrand strategy, Ford's CEO encouraged his team to transparently share challenges they hadn't yet solved. This demonstrated deep, critical thinking and built more confidence with the board than a perfectly polished presentation would have.

Instead of escalating disagreements, Atlassian's founders operated on a simple principle: if one couldn't be persuaded that an idea was good, it was likely not worth pursuing. This served as a critical decision-making filter and prevented major conflicts.

Teams can cultivate a shared sense of taste by encouraging constant and rigorous critique of both internal and external work. This process allows the team to self-regulate, learn from each other, and elevate their collective craft without top-down mandates.

Bozoma Saint John applies the 'disagree and commit' principle to creative work. While diverse ideas are vital, once a leader chooses a direction, the entire team must rally behind it without reservation. Dwelling on what 'should have been' ensures the chosen path will fail.

After the Qwikster failure, Netflix created a framework where executives rate key decisions from -10 to 10 in a shared document. The decision-maker (the "captain") isn't bound by the votes but becomes fully informed of all perspectives, avoiding both groupthink and decision-by-committee.

Rowell's success stemmed from leaders who committed fully rather than taking a piecemeal approach. Their advice is to avoid doing a rebrand "halfway." Going all-in, despite the fear, prevents a diluted outcome and ensures maximum impact and internal alignment.

When presenting early rebrand concepts, non-creative stakeholders often fixate on minor flaws. The marketing lead's job is to coach them to evaluate the "potential" of a direction, not the "perfection" of a rough draft. This prevents the creative process from getting derailed by trivial details.