BRAND INSIDE 221 are designed to vest control of the brand into a centralized group--usually a brand management team. While I like brand management teams (after all, they are often my clients), the best are those who hope that their job will one day be redundant. In a perfect company, the brand is so well understood that the idea of having a team dedicated to managing it seems superfluous. I real- ize that's a lofty goal, but I've been fortunate to work with brand managers who share this point of view. Many brand management teams use alignment initiatives to preserve their function. I once had a client tell me he was worried that if we empow- ered other divisions to own the brand, he'd be out of a job. He meant well, but that's exactly the kind of thinking that makes many alignment initiatives terrible. They are self-serving to the brand management function. IT'S T H E P E O P L E , S TU P I D