When Rebranding Matters

Today, it was announced that Julie Masino will be leaving Cracker Barrel, a year after making the rebranding mistake.

As an infrequent customer, the rebranding did not phase me one way or another. I mean, the new logo was pretty bland, but I don’t go to cracker barrel for the logo. However, it rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, so much so people were rejoicing at her resignation.

This aligns with what I’ve been saying:

Change isn’t just operational. It’s emotional.

And when leaders ignore the emotional meaning people attach to a brand, a process, or a culture, they’re not managing change.

They’re creating resistance.

Key Lesson for Senior Execs

Most transformation failures don’t happen because leaders make bad decisions. They happen because leaders fail to anticipate the emotional consequences of otherwise rational decisions.

This was a pretty costly lesson for Julie and I’m sure she’ll fail forward. I just hope she learns from this mistake as she does.