Adidas, 2022 May.
A long queue of people, happy enthusiastic faces, entering the adidas campus. The call was given. All employees must return to the campus, the Linkedin and yammer posters started their night job, lauding the great return, followed by a myriad of emoticons.
Yet, nobody is really happy. The price is 180 per share, lowest since almost a decade, even lower than during the pandemic. One might wonder what happened, when 75% of the employees are dejected with the current management, yet elated faces everywhere. Feverishness, painting a very grim state of affairs, the mass layoffs of the previous years, a culture of discomposure permeating through the pores of every employee, from P levels all the way to M and some S level. The same state of things of several years ago at Henkel.
Employees NPS has reached an all time low, with the company having more detractors than promoters, to a level where managers instruct reports to share the inputs upfront, before submitting, just to make sure they chose the right answers. Truth be told, more people would prefer the company goes bankrupt - a fair retribution, most think, for all the pains and horrors of the last years, and the ones to come, no doubt. The source of all this? Nobody will dare to say the name - the one that shall not be named, the one that has been in a constant cold and hot war with people from his near circle, middle management, down to the people packing the shoes in the oursourced factories.
"Bottom line by all means!"
Workers Council, a mere group of people with no capacity. They are the foe that must be disbanded. The offshoring of positions to Spain, Portugal, Colombia, India, illegal layoffs, has taken its toll on the willingness to do anything worthwhile for the employees, be it salary increase on par with the inflation, or fighting the masqueraded layoffs. There always is a g-n pointed at their head: "WoCo must disappear, they do not let us progress" Detailed reporting of employees' performance, abusive layoffs, abusive contracts, discrimination, racial scandals, prioritized hiring from low cost countries - "some things must be hidden, we cannot let them stop our growth! We must find a scapegoat, be it a new diversity quota HR hire, or whoever. No matter the costs! WoCo must be reorganized, we must find the right people that play our cards right!"
Yes, racism is rampant, even with a diversity quota HR head. "No one can say now we don't do the right thing! We even had the antidiscrimination training thing! It was mentioned all over the place" Yet nothing has changed, it just looks better on paper, gloss and emptiness. Hires and salary ranges are done based on ethnicity or country of origin, which show up in the resumes one way or another. Not too high expectations on this matter, from a company where the big boss said "we love our new brand promoter, Wozniacki. What a beautiful Danish name!" That remark in one of the quarterly meetings, went silently unnoticed, like many other remarks in a highly competitive, cut-throat, discriminatory environment.
The Reebok sale and the subsequent adidas shares buyback plan had no outcome, no boost in the stocks price.
Back to the return to office queue. People talking about hopes that the office work policy is just transient and that the work from home will be the new way to go, soon. Yet, detailed reporting of presence in the campus are expected - "we are rooted in sports! We must sweat in the campus! We must make sure people are here! We are not Google, we are not Apple, we are not a work from home company, we don't want that! Consequence management must be enforced, examples be made!"
Yes, consequences, fear, and lack of any vision about the labor market, neglect of employees and their health. adidas is well known in the region for the sweatshop type of work, sick people, massive turnover, high number of people who develop health problems, unpaid work and overtimes, all hidden under the flexi-time word. And also white collar deaths by exhaustion, very well hidden under NDAs and supposedly chronic illnesses.
They went down slightly, during the pandemic, but will soon have a comeback. Smiling empty zombies are about to have a comeback. Bottom line it is!
A group of students are marveling at the babylonian buildings, huge and posh, Ikea and dream job thoughts cross their mind. "One day I will work here" thoughts cross their minds. Yet, the percentage of working students that were sick due to burnout caused some schools to stop the collaboration with adidas and send the students to some other companies. "We need fresh blood, not old people. We need to get rid of them! They do not fit in the campus image. Do it!"
People brought over from across the world, singles preferred due to self-evident reasons, happy to sweat for the best brand, yet, getting into a spiral of hopelessness, with no exit opportunities, in a region and country where true opportunities for foreigners, mostly, are missing altogether.
"Did you hear X left last month? Did you hear that Y left? Z's been with adidas for 15 years, yet they left adidas". Long standing employees, leaving a company that no longer matches their core values.
People are looking enviously across the street. They say people in the jumping cat brand have it better, many adidas people made it there, and they have a normal life now. Yet the other brand is also plagued by some rumours, alas on a much much lower scale.
"I can't wait to bring this to X in my one on one. I hate her guts anyway. Z got now an M2 promotion, so she should stay overtime and make it happen" The girl looks quite passionate about what she is saying. A toxic environment and culture, where team members will do anything to score first in the team lineup. Friendships end, where future promotion promisses are made. Broken promises mostly, included. A culture of mistrust, deeply rooted in the company's core values that they like to brag about. "You cannot trust anyone, even if you do the right thing or play by the book, you will be sacked anyway. Watch your back, dude!"
"More than 100k applications just last year - we clearly are a sought after employer" Yet this is just the PR. adidas faced challenges hiring, even in low cost locations, potential employees do not even show up for the interviews, first requirement not being satisfied - "do you support home office?" "We do", for now. The devil is in the employment contract, small print and "subject to change".
"We must force them all back into the office. The remote work contracts and jobs can be reorganized, closed, made redundant, we must find a way. I want to see them work hard, here, in the office, every day. Herzogenaurach, Porto, Zaragoza, Portland, Amsterdam, all!"
Q2 quarterly meeting: "We had outstanding results!" Yet, no more hires, the hiring must be abruptly stopped and they must take advantage of the great resignation. "I don't want to hear this is a hiring freeze" says some finances hot shot, "but we will not hire new people", perhaps he was missing the word for what it actually is, a hiring freeze. "Our HR costs are too high! We must save! Projects must be cut! Prioritization!" New layoffs looming.
So who's to blame for the 175 per share?
An over-adversarial and gluttonous leadership, a numbers first, employees are disposable direction, broken down and petrified middle management, petulant workers? The self-gratulatory WoCo that does not do anything to raise mindfulness about Unions, protect the employees from ill treatment and be articulate, overall? Is it the wrong HR approach for hiring overcompetitive and fair play lacking people sometimes, in just the right positions?
There are marvelous people at adidas, yet they tend to be less and less, all looking across the street or elsewhere.
Some still hope things will change, that things will be how adidas was when people worked as a big family, earlier, and wishing for themselves to get to reach the retirement age, or early retirement in Aarhus, for some others.
Bottom line it is!
123 replies (most recent on top)
Mostly we hope for change but as a person who had to face Martin and his foul mouth…I’ll believe it when I see it. Adidas can never move forward when we are forced to look to him as a leader of people, he’s damaged too many of our colleagues already.
Shankland and his parties are famous! Strippers for the boys! Must have been great to be in his inner circle, with the boys, for women in his team the experience was very different!
@3Cdde+1h5XAfE4
Roland put an old school Turkish MD on emerging markets and expected him to run a clean business. Roland is not that naiv, with him every move serves a purpose.
As long as Intersport pays for Roland’s ski trips tutto bene.
This toxic reality predates Kasper. It’s Roland who has nurtured it. Roland is the swamp.
Drain the swamp
Looks like y'all haven't even yet mentioned parties in Asia at 'hostess' bars with suppliers and adi management present/perpetuating the inevitable harassment of female employees of our suppliers.
I spoke with several adi veterans while contemplating speaking up about toxic behavior and each told me shocking horror stories of far worse behaviour, where nothing came of it. I was advised it wasn’t worth the bother.
I’ve never met a company that cares less from the inside out.
BILD needs to pick this up and air the dirty 3-striped laundry.
The blanked out word below starts with pros and ends with tute. Funny enough the place these parties happened was called Moscow hotel, right behind the Dubai adidas office. That place was generally used by the area management as an incentive for customers to order Reebok. Netflix can top the success of Harry and Meghan with a series on this company.
Wake up and smell the oatmeal. Adidas is rotten like FIFA, the Turkish organization was throwing pr-------e parties in Dubai to incentivize customers to buy Reebok. Impossible is nothing. Or should I say all in?
I miss the good old days when Martin threw legendary office parties with strippers and the leadership team were playing F, Marry, K on employees. I get it, the Russian organization needed a caveman mentality to survive Russian reality but why promote him to a global position where he has to deal with the civilized part of the company. How incompetent of a leader do you have to be to tolerate him. But as the one who started these posts says: bottom line it is!
@3Aejv+1h5XAfE4
Me2
@2Ubug+1h5XAfE4 Yes, RA has a history with that. But no one talks.
@3ylnt+1h5XAfE4
How about naming it the Spanish Inquisition, is that geographically far enough for you? Let‘s not miss the point here: too many useless people who have nothing to show other than their corporate communication skills. That worked in the higher ranks of Roland and the likes who run their political existence on the back of hard working lower ranks; but now that behavior has trickled down to the ranks that need to provide for adidas to function and that has disastrous consequences. I am pessimistic that corporate poisoning of that magnitude is curable, even with a voting app. I‘m past the age where I can easily get a job elsewhere after dedicating so many years of my life to adidas but my advice to the younger ones: RUN while you still can.
@3ytys+1h5XAfE4
I like your thinking. Marry me.:))))
@3rtgd+1h5XAfE4
Fairplay is for the petty crimes. What can be damaging to RA gets drowned by the clever network of people he has put in place who unconditionally support him (because they know RA picks the incompetent but loyal ones, that s the principle any regime is built on).
@3ylnt+1h5XAfE4
The term Herzo trials is what caught your eye? The “burn them at stake” didn’t :))))
Obviously it was meant as a sarcastic comment to make a point. I didn’t aim at a palatable ready to go concept, we have consultants for this, let them eat cake:)
For a company with the HQ in close proximity to Nürnberg, to propose something called the “Herzo trials” is not in the best taste.
+1 For the Herzo Trials
get the digital team to build an app where every M1 has to publish their achievements and business contributions in the last 5 years.
Then let it be peer reviewed with the same + and - system as the layoff.com
For those who get high enough approvals then they pass.
For those with lower approval they get to present their case in a public trial broadcast on the TV's around world of sports with a live voting system like Eurovision.
I'd be well up for that. If you have delivered then nothing to fear.
Problem of adidas: too many people who are boomers and aged out of the industry, none have true understanding of todays consumer, market, supply chain. Useless in business, like many politicians. There is no solution other than to fire SLT from bottom to top.
Problem of adidas: too many people who can talk effectively but are useless in business, like many politicians. There is no solution.
I propose a tribunal. Every M1 and above (that includes me) should lay out what they have contributed to the business . Many will have nothing to show other than presentations of concepts that never made it to real life. Then burn them at stake. Since we are good in branding let’s name it the Herzo trials. (Now HR go pick this up and package it into a management friendly concept and start contributing).
OK, but please do spill the tea, @3qbii+1h5XAfE4… Many of our leaders need to be held accountable.
If not fairplay, or here, then this is exactly what Bjørn needs to see - he invited us all to send him emails and text messages ;-)
Guys, make no mistake. The reason for the excessive presence of consultants is under table payments to key adidas decision makers who approve their engagement. Corruption runs deep in this company. If I thought anything would come out of it I would give specific info and names but what’s the point Don Quixote?
YES. And KR is not the only leader that has an over-reliance on the consultant class.
I‘ve been apart of several external consultant-led projects that overhauled critical internal systems. This was overdue, but did so in ways that missed the mark for achieving simplicity, because they did not invest enough in understanding the needs form the working level experts. It is foolish to assume that we can merge every single APP and FTW process - it might be fine on the outbound side, but everything until the product is on a ship is different for a reason.
I‘ve also worked closely with internal teams who seem to come from a consultancy background. They are very well positioned to „translate“ the business towards the SLT and board - but they are typically not experts int the business. It would be fine if this was used to occasionally challenge assumptions. I welcome the fresh perspective…but when it turns into endless questioning and distrust of the experts - it becomes toxic.
That said - I‘ve learned a TON from these colleagues… They are well-trained in a certain kind of corporate language and way of working that is important….and anyone can learn it! So I take every interaction with them as a chance to improve my own communication skills and strategic thinking… and I‘ll gladly add that to my deep functional expertise.
Excellent opinion piece on the damage McKinsey & Co have brought to adidas. I disagree, however, that KR is not to blame for it. KR came to adidas with little understanding of the sporting goods industry (expert though in how to wash his gym clothes). When executives like him join unfamiliar territory they tend to seek refuge in consulting and this is what happened with KR and adidas but somehow it went out of control and consultants took over. In adidas, and I assume this happens to other strong brands as well, there is a base layer of employees that operationally drive the company, and then there is a management layer that participates in a political circus. The base layer in adidas used to be committed, passionate people with lots of company/industry experience that kept the show running no matter what circus show the upper management levels were putting on. The circus show layer starts somewhere in M1 and that is the minimum level where the consultant infestation started. So far, so good...circus as usual. What was different to previous seasons of the same show was that the te---r of the circus level trickled down to the base layer with catastrophic results for culture, morale, and motivation on the people needed to keep the show running. I'm afraid adidas will never go back to the culture of 10 years ago, for that to happen you have the to bring back the M1s of that era and let them heal the company. Like lost virginity the adidas culture cannot be restored, impossible is nothing was a slogan for the first decade of this century. It does not work anymore.
OPINION PIECE on the McKinsification of adidas and the damage caused:
It's no secret that the sporting goods brand adidas has been struggling in recent years. While the company's outgoing CEO, Kasper Rorsted, has received much of the blame for adidas's declining share price, it's important to consider the role that consulting firms like McKinsey have played in the company's struggles. In my opinion, the influence of these firms has been fundamentally damaging to adidas, and it's time for the company to reevaluate its reliance on them.
One of the primary concerns with adidas's relationship with McKinsey and other consulting firms is the gradual process in which consultants take on senior positions within the company, only to hire more and more of their former colleagues. This creates a number of problems:
- High-performing internal employees are passed over for promotions, leading to frustration and the departure of top talent to other brands.
- The brain drain leads to a rapid reduction of subject matter experts and an increase in people in senior roles with consulting and MBA backgrounds, but with minimal actual industry expertise.
- A sudden drop in company culture as leadership with a personal attachment to the brand and its consumers is replaced with people who are more financially and power motivated.
- Leadership with a lack of basic expertise on how product is designed, tested, and manufactured.
- A loss of leaders with the broad expertise, experience, and appetite for calculated risk needed to create and launch disruptive products.
In my opinion, this process is evidence of McKinsey's deep self-interest and the conflict of interest it creates. Rather than focusing on what's best for the company, McKinsey consultants are more interested in advancing their own careers by embedding themselves within adidas and other firms. This is not to say that consulting firms like McKinsey can't have a positive impact, but it's clear that their influence on adidas has been detrimental to the company's culture, finances, and reputation.
It's time for adidas to take a hard look at its relationship with McKinsey and other consulting firms and consider whether they are truly aligned with the company's values and long-term goals. While it's easy to place the blame for adidas's declining share price on the shoulders of outgoing CEO Kasper Rorsted, it's important to recognize the damaging impact of companies like McKinsey and their parasitic growth within the company.
moving Martin Shankland out of the organization would be the biggest sign the new CEO could make of change! This guy represents the Danes leadership regime. Mean and angry, lacks any compassion for our people or his fellow board members, leaders today need high EQ and be emotionally mature, this guy acts like a child when their sweets are taken off them! Board members shouldn’t be throwing tantrums. Take out Shankland and you create some space for us to start breathing again. End Fear. He’s damaged our brand enough.
December 2022: Even after KR left the company, the restructuring continues. When will the loss of staff be stopped, especially in the lower levels. These people are loyal and passionated. They are the backbone for success and keep the business running, so that efficiency and healthy growth can return one day. adidas knowledge and experience need to be preserved for the future. Too many loyal people left already. Stop it now!
Kasperletheater.
Now I only like danish with coffee.
It s simple. You put human trash on the executive level, they hire trash to have a familiar environment, and that trash in turn hires trash because trash is all they know. Trickle down economics. The brand is suffocating under the amount of trash and no Superman CEO can change that…too many layers to wipe out. Nuclear is the way to go but the brand will take years to recover. I’m pessimistic.
Nero calling: let’s innovate…let’s start with the executive team first.
Morally, Nero shouldn’t be the one to build up Rome again.
Yes Martin, here is an idea: you have failed the adidas culture in the most spectacular fashion. Remove yourself and let the culture heal. Take Roland and Harm with you, their time is up as well. If all of you really care about this brand as you always are ready to claim, that s what you would do. But it’s all about your own agenda. And recognize that you are bipolar and need treatment. Employees in any company should not be subjected to the consequences of your disorder.
Clean the house and start from the top and start with HR, Product and Operations first. There is no time to lose and bring back the adidas culture and spirit.
Surely the quote of 2022 for its comical value alone! Fear culture ki--s innovation!
"I ASK EVERYONE TO SHARE IDEAS AND CHALLENGE ME. I'M OPEN TO CONTRIBUTIONS FROM ANY VOICE, BACKGROUND OR ROLE - AS IT'S THE ONLY WAY THAT WE CAN INNOVATE, MOVE QUICK AND BE AT OUR BEST"
MARTIN SCHANKLAND
Personal space is a concept Roland always had an issue with. It’s amazing how Roland gets away with things. He puts a strategy in place and then blames someone else for it not working out. Tried and tested approach over and over again. He seems to have a deal with Teflon. Very few persons would have survived direct responsibility of the India Desaster that resulted in a 9 digit bottom line hit to the global adidas P/L. The Trump of the German corporate world.
Auschel, Ohlmeyer and Shankland are corporate garbage and need to go before healing can start.
@2Ubug+1h5XAfE4, maybe, but you won’t find out that info here as site moderators don’t allow name naming. Only c-suits and other public figures can be named and only work related stuff can be shared.