My dad is Gen X, knows Nike, bought the last pair 15 years ago. Millennials maybe interested. Gen Z: “What’s Nike?”. While your brand is failing you kick out good and creative peeps, and create an environment of plummeting morale, full of people who would leave tomorrow if they find another place to work at. Good job, leadership!
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I would LOVE to be horrible at my job and make many millions of dollars per year.
As it is I’m very good at my job, go far beyond what I really need to do so my managers and colleagues know I’m adding value, and get paid $92K annually for it.
Something seems off.
100% agree OP. The mf has to go.
I’m glad you asked.
The plan is no different than JD’s time at eBay 2005-2015. We’re going to focus predominantly on cost saving through ineffectual and opaque cliche-centric leadership; devoid of accountability.
In large organizations, it is far easier to yield the desired effect and appease the board through heartless layoffs and restructuring; than it is to build and sustain meaningful consumer relationships.
The restructuring gives the appearance of action, whilst creating enough momentum to garner double digit raises for JD; and opportune $$$ contracts for the Bain Rolodex.
Much like an early eBay, we’re going to ride our preexisting market position long and hard. Culling any of the creative-high-brand-affinity loyal employees along the way. We won’t need new thoughts to turn the crank of ideas of old.
Akin to the JD led eBay where they idly watched a titan rise through the ecommerce ranks (Amazon, early oughts) we will aim for moderate single digit growth (as this is the minimum to keep the board from onboarding a new CEO) vs truly meeting the consumer where they are. Of course, this means we’ll be witness to monumental growth of Adi, NB, and a host of others; that are concurrently growing revenue double digit YOY.
There will be a time we’ll need a win for shareholders, so we’ll dump a brand or two (like PayPal from eBay) just to keep the pressure of doing the real work off.
In summary, the strategy is as follows:
- If you’re heartless, cost-cutting is easier
- Accountability where it matters would apply to JD, so; avoid it
- Be opaque, non committal, and avoid authenticity
- When it gets tough, buy time by selling a piece of the business
- JD gets paid more whether or not we win
JD couldn’t lead himself out of a wet paper bag, so it’s easier to simply enjoy the $32,000,000.00 annual salary while the rest of you labor in the futility of belief in a brand that means nothing to him.