Dress for Performance?

There’s a lot of excitement among Porsche employees: But no, it’s not about the company’s zigzagging course on powertrain technology, the sales slump in China, or U.S. tariffs—it’s about the dress code. The new CEO, Michael Leiters, felt that some employees were coming to the office—and we quote from the FAZ—“as if they’d just returned from a hike in the mountains.” Leiters promptly declared that a shirt, neat pants, and presentable sneakers were the “minimum standard.” His reasoning: “Respect for employees and the company is also expressed through clothing.” Statements like that are enough to send the “New Work” community on LinkedIn straight to trauma therapy. But Leiters has a point, and he’s serious about it. And—indirectly—he’s addressing one of Porsche’s biggest challenges: the brand.

At its core, Porsche’s brand promise is based on performance: on German engineering, on driving dynamics, and on uncompromising sportiness. But today, Chinese competitors accelerate faster from zero to 100, software and battery technology no longer set Porsche apart, and the best-selling Porsches are staid SUVs. So where’s the performance in all that?

So it fits the picture that “performance” hasn’t exactly been a top priority in the corporate culture lately either: Apparently, Leiters soon felt compelled to put an end to the “feel-good mode” at Porsche for the time being. Instead, to quote the FAZ again, the approach is now significantly “more direct, tougher, and more demanding.” For Michael Leiters, at any rate, the dress code is part of this transformation. But he likely needs more context to implement the change. He shouldn’t underestimate the brand’s internal impact in this regard. Perhaps the challenge for Porsche now is to redefine the value of “performance”—with or without sneakers.

Or what do you think?

Here's the link:

https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/unternehmen/porsche-chef-michael-leiters-ich-habe-mir-immer-alles-selbst-erkaempfen-muessen-200942379.html