In 2013, Jochen Zeitz and Sir Richard Branson founded a non-profit organization called The B Team which stated that businesses should strive not only to make a profit, but also to become a force for social, environmental and economic good.
Today, Zeitz directs Harley-DavidsonAnd its decade-old commitment didn’t stop the American motorcycle maker from publicly repudiating goals related to diversity, equity and inclusion this week. Harley-Davidson had become the latest company in the crosshairs of politically conservative activist Robby Starbuck on social media — and his latest apparent victory.
Retailer Tractor Supply, tractor maker Deere and Jack Daniel’s whiskey maker Brown-Forman have all reversed their deals. diversity commitments on their own in recent months under threat of “anti-woke” boycotts led by Starbucks.
On Monday, Harley-Davidson posted on X that while it was “saddened” by the online uproar, the company had ended its DEI function in April. It had also eliminated goals to spend more with diverse suppliers, refocused employee resource groups exclusively on professional development, and begun requiring centralized approval for all corporate sponsorships.
Some supporters of Starbuck’s campaign wanted more. Many of the comments posted following Harley-Davidson’s statement called for the CEO’s ouster.
Zeitz, 61, was born in Mannheim, Germany, the son of a dentist and a gynecologist. In 1993, after just three years in Puma’s marketing department, he became chief executive of the sportswear group at the age of 30, the youngest CEO of a publicly traded German company. To save Puma from the brink of bankruptcy, he cut the workforce by almost half and moved shoe production from Europe to Asia.
He also helped revitalise the brand by broadening its appeal, sponsoring African football teams and signing sprinter Usain Bolt. By 2007, when François-Henri Pinault’s PPR, now Kering, bought a majority stake in Puma, the share price had risen 4,000 per cent.
Harley-Davidson, a brand that the Baby Boomer generation associates with the freedom of the open road, thanks to classic films like 1969’s The Legend of Harley. Easy Ridersought out Zeitz as a turnaround expert to help revive the company’s plummeting stock price. Harley-Davidson is trying to renews its appeal Among motorcycle enthusiasts, he joined the manufacturer’s board of directors in 2007 and, in an executive shift, became CEO in May 2020.
That same month, a police officer murdered George Floyd, and soon after, DEI stormed boardrooms around the world. Wall Street executives like Larry Fink at BlackRock drew attention to the need to address racial injustice in the U.S. and around the world. Shareholders He put pressure on Amazon and other giant companies to address racial issues.
But the backlash began in 2021. Vivek Ramaswamy, a former biotech executive and now an ally of Donald Trump, began criticizing “progressive capitalism.” In 2023, support for DEI began to wane. DEI leaders at Disney, Netflix, and Warner Bros Discovery resigned or were firedAnd this year, with the US presidential election approaching in November, Republicans have stepped up their attacks on DEI policies.
Starbucks’ attack on Harley-Davidson comes at a vulnerable time for the company. Its share price has been flat since the start of the year, compared with a 9 percent rise in the S&P MidCap index, which includes the motorcycle maker’s stock.
According to Morningstar, its share of the heavyweight motorcycle market has also fallen from 50 percent in 2019 to 38 percent today. The research group said in a report this month that the brand’s “intangible advantage” has diminished.
Zeitz is a polyglot and “amateur philosopher” Zeitz is a collector of contemporary African art and is deeply disliked by some of the brand’s followers. Dean Nelson, a motorcycle influencer known as The Biker Guru, criticized Zeitz’s “extremely pro-European lifestyle” and said that “this man does not in any way represent us, the American motorcycle community.”
In a September 2022 interview with the Financial Times, Zeitz said it was “a cliché” to label Harley-Davidson’s customer base as politically conservative and claimed that the brand’s fans comprised “a very diverse and inclusive community.”
The Wisconsin-based company had adopted “inclusive stakeholder management,” he said, and made changes “to transform the way it was managed in the past and how it is managed today.”
“We are doing the right things for the right reasons,” Zeitz said. “We are not taking the ‘check the box’ approach to ESG that some companies have taken. That’s why we prefer to do it and not talk about it.”
“Just think about the work environment we’ve created,” he added. “It’s a much more inclusive company than ever before, and not from a ‘conscious’ perspective, as people would say, but because we’ve democratized the way we operate as a company by hiring top talent wherever they are. Whether you’re in Boston, New York, or you have to pick up your kids from school or not, you have that flexibility… We just say, ‘Whatever fits you and your lifestyle. You’re welcome.’”
Foreshadowing the shift Harley-Davidson announced Monday, its annual report this year said nearly 30 leaders from across the company participated in a two-day DEI Summit for Courageous Leaders. That was 40 fewer participants than it had sent to the same summit a year earlier.
Nelson was declared the winner on Monday.
“They hear the message from their customers loud and clear,” he said. “We have now done a complete U-turn and have pressured Harley-Davidson to… abandon its entire liberal agenda.”
But Starbuck said the pressure on Zeitz is far from over. “The question dealers and riders are asking now is how the board allows him to remain as CEO after having overseen the injection of awareness into the business,” Starbuck said on his Instagram channel. “I think it’s a great question and one that the board needs to answer.”