Most of us are familiar with the tale of Narcissus. 
 
Obsessed with his own reflection, he gazes too long at the pool and loses his mortality.
 
It was a finale foretold by the prophet Tiresias: Narcissus will live a long life, he told Narcissus's mother, as long as he never knows himself.
 
She tucked that truth away, hoping it wouldn't come true. 
 
But it did come true – because when a Greek prophet speaks, it's hard to undo his words – no matter how smart you are in thwarting the gods (see Oedipus). 
 
The lesson from Narcissus has long been taught: Self-love can be dangerous, so don't linger too long at the navel-gazing pond. We've agreed on this theme and locked it away in a vault as though it's the only truth Ovid intended to share. 
 
But I think there's more to Narcissus's story, and when we dig in, it shows up as a cautionary tale to any brand trying to grow or sell. 
 
Psychoanalyst and traumatologist Dr. Elizabeth F. Howell argues that Narcissus's fated doom came to pass not because he was a narcissist, but because his life became a “ closed intrapersonal system.” In other words, his identity loop drew only from his own assumptions, not from any external reality.
 
To defend poor Narcissus, it's worth mentioning that I think his decision to close himself off feels justifiably self-serving. His life was cursed from conception, and if he wanted to outwit the gods, he had little choice but to be self-reliant and self-serving. 
 
But living in a solo world came with a cost: Narcissus had no friends, he didn't let others into the inner landscape of his life, and he moved through the world assuming his beliefs were right: Everyone wanted to be near him just because he was beautiful. 
 
Trust no one, essentially became his mantra. 
 
Because he had no OTHER in his life to push back, to pull in, to refine, to sharpen, to challenge, to expand, he became so disconnected from reality that he never really learned who he was. 
 
It might feel like a stretch, but I think Elizabeth Howell is right. Tiresias's prophecy wasn't a mere warning against narcissism.
 
It was also a foretelling of a day that Narcissus would come to see himself as he really was – empty, alone, unconnected – and Tiresias knew he would lack the psychological, social, and spiritual tools he'd need to recover. 
 
Ouch. 
 
Ovid, it turns out, wasn't just telling a mythological tale. He was revealing a deeply human truth.
 
And it's a truth I see all the time with my clients who try to build identities, brands, and cultures within the closed loop of their own minds. 
 
It's why whether their brand has drifted, their messaging is off, or their culture isn't reflecting the bigger mission, my starting line is always the same: We can fix those problems, I tell them, but we first have to start with defining who you are. 
 
In today's fast-paced, AI-driven world, that can sometimes feel downright annoying. 
 
Why do the deep work when AI can just deliver the outputs? OR
Why bring in multiple perspectives when you've got your own smart and proven ideas? 
 
I think the answer to that question takes us way back to Ovid's tale: Because if you're building and leading a brand, you cannot exist in isolation. You (and your brand) require connection with others. 
 
You have to know what your people think of you.
You've got to know the words they use to describe you.
You have to know what values drive your interior world.
You've got to know what keeps your people on mission – and what makes them drift.
 
So use AI? Of course. Rely on your own smarts? Absolutely. But do it inside an identity vacuum? Please no.  
 
When you want to know who you really are as a brand – and when you want to create a brand story that works for you instead of against you – you've got to step away from your own reflection and invite others to reveal the edges of your brand that you never even knew existed. 
 
If you're struggling with brand drift or feel like no one on your team is quite aligned to the mission, remember this: Narcissus didn't die because he looked inward; he died because he looked inward alone.
 
This means you have to resist the urge to Band-Aid your brand with an expensive marketing campaign or quick-fix messaging. 
 
And it means you can't treat AI as the all-knowing seer who can decipher the hidden truths of your brand's soul. 
 
Those solutions are simply designed to be mirror reflections of whatever you input into them. 
 
When you're searching for truth beyond the reflection, know that the real fix happens to be the one that requires the most effort and the most humility: Step out of your own echo-chamber. Invite others into your narrative. See your brand through a different set of eyes – so that you can determine if the story you're sharing and inviting others into is reality or just a figment of your own imagination.