- With a simple yet unusual move, Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden shows how to earn respect and build trust with your people.
The company was struggling to adapt to a post-pandemic world. It was reeling after its popular collaboration with Kanye West fell apart.
And it was bleeding money, on its way to losing $794 million in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Facing strong headwinds, Adidas contacted a former employee and invited him to become its new CEO.
But this wasn’t just any former employee. Bjørn Gulden had spent the last decade running Adidas’ rival, Puma, where he had already led a major turnaround. (Puma basically tripled sales during Gulden’s tenure.)
Upon accepting, Adidas’ share price jumped 30%, with some calling the hire a “Gulden opportunity.”
Then, in his first town hall with Adidas, Gulden did something very unusual: He shared his personal telephone number with the entire company…
All 60,000 employees.
“[Employees] should have access to leadership,” Gulden told Norges Bank Investment Management CEO Nicolai Tangen in a recent interview. “And if they have something which is important they should be feeling comfortable going direct [to me].”
“Some people think I’m crazy,” Gulden told the Wall Street Journal, referring to the practice.
It’s true. Most people would say a boss handing out his cellphone number to tens of thousands of people is crazy.
I call it brilliant.
It’s a brilliant example of emotional intelligence in the real world – the ability to manage and leverage emotions – one that every business leader can learn from. Let’s see why and how you can apply those learnings to yourself and your team.
How to earn respect and build trust
With his massive success at Puma, Gulden could have come in guns blazing. He could have adopted an attitude of, “Hey guys, follow me, I’ve done this before. Just do what I say and we’ll turn this ship around.”
Instead, Gulden applied an essential principle of emotionally intelligent leadership:
To earn respect and build trust, you have to listen first.
Gulden says he gets a couple of hundred direct messages from employees that he tries to respond to in “one shape or form.” Or, he takes the topic they’ve raised and addresses it in a monthly town hall.
“It’s a way of having people understand they can go straight to the boss without having to be afraid of someone else seeing it,” he told Tangen. “You see from the things that you get directly to yourself what is important for people.”
This approach reflects Gulden’s broader approach to management, which he says is built on a more flat, decentral organizational structure versus a hierarchical one.
This looser structure allows the company to make decisions with more speed and agility, without getting bogged down with specific reporting lines. It also helps keep Gulden in touch with the rank-and-file, their challenges, and their needs.
So, what’s the takeaway for you and your business?
Remember Gulden’s words of wisdom:
Employees should have access to leadership.
You may or may not be comfortable handing out your personal phone number to your entire company. But can you encourage your people to speak to you directly?
Can you motivate them to share their thoughts, needs and concerns – whether through an instant message, an email or a face-to-face conversation?
If you can and if you actually listen to what your people are saying, you’ll give yourself and your business a major advantage. You won’t just be the distant, clueless, out-of-touch boss handing down orders.
You’ll be the listener. The one who understands. The mentor who cares.
And your people will follow, not because they have to, but because they want to.
INC AFRICA
