You Can’t Fake Alignment

When it runs deep, it’s unmistakable.

You can see it in the way a leader shows up, the way a team moves together, the way decisions land. I call this the Affect of Alignment - it reveals itself as clarity, conviction, and confidence that ripple outward, becoming contagious.

• Clarity: A direct line of sight from purpose, values, strategy, and goals.

• Conviction: Certainty that anchors identity, strategy, and action.

• Confidence: Assurance to move forward decisively and evaluate progress with humility.

Each is powerful, but only when they’re embodied together do they shift a leader’s presence, a team’s cohesion, and an organisation’s results.

I’ve seen it again and again: leaders who find their footing in alignment seem to create momentum without forcing it. Teams who move in alignment amplify each other’s energy. And organisations aligned at every level generate trust and loyalty almost effortlessly.

I think of it like watching a mother teaching a baby lamb to walk for the first time. The mother embodies the Affect of Alignment - grounded in the purpose, values, and goals of motherhood. She doesn’t tell the baby what to do; she shows it. She moves with clarity, showing the way forward. She walks with conviction, steady and unwavering in each step. And through her calm persistence, she passes on confidence, giving the young one the courage to rise and try.

The baby feels it before it understands it. Clarity, conviction, and confidence are not taught through instruction - they are transmitted through presence. That is the Affect of Alignment: embodied states that spread, becoming contagious in the most natural way possible.

I saw this in real time with Belle, a senior marketing manager I hired at Teach Starter.

On paper, Belle had an excellent marketing skill set, but what stood out to me was her heart. She had a warmth and bubbly personality that lit up a room. What she didn’t yet have was leadership experience - and this was exactly what her team needed. They were rudderless: no strategy, no vision, disconnected from our values.

At first, Belle mirrored her team’s uncertainty. She was hesitant, inconsistent, still finding her way.

But then something shifted. She leaned into our values, co-authored a strategy brief that reset the team, and began to design rituals and systems that reflected her convictions. She hired differently. She showed up differently.

Suddenly, the clarity was there - her team knew where they were going and why.

The conviction was there - her decisions landed with certainty, even among strong-willed peers.

The confidence was there - not bravado, but a steady presence that gave others courage.

And the ripple was profound: the team shifted with her. They aligned. They created results and energy that had felt impossible just months before.

That’s the Affect of Alignment: clarity, conviction, and confidence embodied in one person - multiplying through an entire team.

So here’s your litmus test:

When you look at your leaders and teams today - do you see clarity? Do you feel conviction? Do you sense confidence? Is it contagious?

Because when those three are absent, alignment is absent too. And when they are present, alignment is unmistakable.