An open letter to the adidas Supervisory Board
An open letter to the adidas Supervisory Board
The Issue
Dear adidas Supervisory Board,
Speaking on behalf of numerous employees, both senior and junior, we ask that you seriously consider former adidas Executive Board member Global Brands, Eric Liedtke, for the open position of CEO.
As the results show, during his time as Executive Board member Global Brands, the adidas brand was at its most successful. This was by no means a coincidence - Eric devoted his life, passion, energy, and vision to building the company into the leading brand it was. He was at the forefront of creating the winning strategy, ‘Creating the New’ and had the vision and foresight to keep adidas at the forefront of the industry.
In the history of the brand, adidas has not had a more visionary, charismatic, and caring leader. Eric understood that building a winning strategy meant nothing without building a winning culture. Before Eric’s departure and subsequently since, the Supervisory Board has failed the organization by focusing solely on the performance of the share-price and not challenging the culture and environment created by the CEO and fellow board members. The vast majority of employees have lost the passion and commitment to the brand. There has been a mass exodus of talent with not many remaining that go above-and-beyond board for the company. This has been the result of having a CEO not coming from- nor understanding the industry, and subsequently not having a future-forward strategy. And in addition, driving a fear-based culture that turned a family orientated, passionate, committed culture into what is today.
Eric represented and embodied many of the things that we are now missing and lacking – a culture rooted in excellence across creativity, marketing, product creation and storytelling. A culture challenged to create the future of the industry. A culture working as a team rather than focused on individual promotion. Eric was the sole reason thousands of employees came to work every single day. They wholeheartedly believed and followed his strategy, his passion, his commitment to challenging the status quo and his commitment to the employees and the culture.
What we ask you to no forget is that adidas is not in the business of selling sporting products. adidas sells dreams – the dream of self-improvement, the dream of competition, the dream of a better world through sport. The brand deserves a visionary at its realm, the brand deserves a leader that is commitment to its people.
Eric’s legacy is adidas - and not only would there be no one better to come "right the ship" but there would be no one better to lead the brand into the future.
It is well known that many people want, hope and wish for his return to help re-build the company into what it once was, and more importantly, what it can become.
Please do right by the brand and its employees. Thank you.
"Liedtke is frequently named as a potential replacement for Rorsted—or at least as the type of leader Adidas should seek. “The company needs to get back to the creative edge,” Cowen analyst John Kernan said in a Sept. 16 note, that it had “when Eric Liedtke led the Adidas brand.” Liedtke says he hasn’t had any contact with Adidas about the job. Adidas declined to comment."
427
The Issue
Dear adidas Supervisory Board,
Speaking on behalf of numerous employees, both senior and junior, we ask that you seriously consider former adidas Executive Board member Global Brands, Eric Liedtke, for the open position of CEO.
As the results show, during his time as Executive Board member Global Brands, the adidas brand was at its most successful. This was by no means a coincidence - Eric devoted his life, passion, energy, and vision to building the company into the leading brand it was. He was at the forefront of creating the winning strategy, ‘Creating the New’ and had the vision and foresight to keep adidas at the forefront of the industry.
In the history of the brand, adidas has not had a more visionary, charismatic, and caring leader. Eric understood that building a winning strategy meant nothing without building a winning culture. Before Eric’s departure and subsequently since, the Supervisory Board has failed the organization by focusing solely on the performance of the share-price and not challenging the culture and environment created by the CEO and fellow board members. The vast majority of employees have lost the passion and commitment to the brand. There has been a mass exodus of talent with not many remaining that go above-and-beyond board for the company. This has been the result of having a CEO not coming from- nor understanding the industry, and subsequently not having a future-forward strategy. And in addition, driving a fear-based culture that turned a family orientated, passionate, committed culture into what is today.
Eric represented and embodied many of the things that we are now missing and lacking – a culture rooted in excellence across creativity, marketing, product creation and storytelling. A culture challenged to create the future of the industry. A culture working as a team rather than focused on individual promotion. Eric was the sole reason thousands of employees came to work every single day. They wholeheartedly believed and followed his strategy, his passion, his commitment to challenging the status quo and his commitment to the employees and the culture.
What we ask you to no forget is that adidas is not in the business of selling sporting products. adidas sells dreams – the dream of self-improvement, the dream of competition, the dream of a better world through sport. The brand deserves a visionary at its realm, the brand deserves a leader that is commitment to its people.
Eric’s legacy is adidas - and not only would there be no one better to come "right the ship" but there would be no one better to lead the brand into the future.
It is well known that many people want, hope and wish for his return to help re-build the company into what it once was, and more importantly, what it can become.
Please do right by the brand and its employees. Thank you.
"Liedtke is frequently named as a potential replacement for Rorsted—or at least as the type of leader Adidas should seek. “The company needs to get back to the creative edge,” Cowen analyst John Kernan said in a Sept. 16 note, that it had “when Eric Liedtke led the Adidas brand.” Liedtke says he hasn’t had any contact with Adidas about the job. Adidas declined to comment."
427
Petition created on October 25, 2022