Adidas Company Culture

You'll step into a historic brand currently in the throes of a massive cultural reset. For years, the culture was weighed down by bureaucratic KPI systems, a 'ticking boxes' mentality, and an over-indexing on high-fashion hype collaborations. Under the 'radical transparency' of CEO Bjørn Gulden, you'll find an environment pivoting hard toward 'sports romanticism.' Leadership treats operations like a team sport, prioritizing former athletes who understand pressure and can make their teammates better. The hierarchy is actively being flattened—quite literally, with the CEO fielding hundreds of messages a week from global staff via his personal mobile number. You'll be expected to adopt a 'speed is a mindset' approach, where local managers are given the autonomy to ignore global templates if it means winning locally. However, this is still a massive corporate restructuring. Morale is being actively rebuilt amidst headquarters layoffs, executive shakeups, and the uncomfortable realities of warehouse safety citations and discrimination lawsuits that highlight historical HR failures. Expect a fast-paced, highly decentralized environment where 'common sense' and quick decision-making are valued over endless financial data analysis.