Simon Hobbs: What kind of leader are you?You’ve got a reputation for knowing the fi guresand being impatient.

Herbert Hainer: I am a passionate leader whomotivates people with my own – impatient!– style. I want to move things fast. There’sa lot to do and we can’t waste time.SH: Are you diffi cult to work for, then?

HH: I don’t think so, but if there’s one pieceof data that proves that, I haven’t lost any ofmy key executives during the last 10 years.Either the pay is too good or I am a leaderwith whom they can work!

SH: You were born in 1954, the son of a butcher,in Bavaria, Germany. You were working foryour father from the age of 10, how was that?HH: I didn’t do the slaughtering but I didmake the sausages and I liked to be thecashier. I learned then that I didn’t want tobe a butcher and that my parents were strictin that I couldn’t spend more money thanI earned. This is a simple philosophy thatfrees you from dependence on banks and Ihave tried to do this with Adidas as well.

SH: You ran a pub as a student. What wasyour attitude towards your business studies?

HH: I think I always had an entrepreneurialspirit. I wasn’t the best at school but I alwayshad ideas and I wanted to be a professionalbusinessman. When I graduated and the opportunitycame up with Proctor and GambleI jumped at it, even though I didn’t so muchlike the division, which was detergents andcare products. But the company was wellknown and had the best training programmeat the time for young professionals.

SH: So how did you move to Adidas?

HH: A friend of mine with whom I playedfootball said one day that there was anopportunity at a company that was lookingfor professionals with a passion for sports.I wasn’t thinking of leaving P&G, but I gottalked into applying for this new position.

SH: When you moved to Adidas, it had madea loss of $82m, what did you think?

HH: Sometimes I thought, ‘I have made thewrong decision!’ But I also saw that I couldreally make an impact. Adidas had a goodproduct and was known around the world,but its internal organisation was a mess.

SH: When Adidas’ market share slumped atthe end of the 1990s, how did you respond?

HH: I had a reputation for being the personwho could make a machine go faster, oil thegears. The fi rst thing I did was to simplify theorganisation. With our success, we had builtlayers and hierarchies and this slowed downthe whole process. We also added productsand we ended up like an elephant thatcouldn’t turn around. We also centralisedthe operation because our regional offi cesdidn’t always follow HQ’s guidelines.

SH: In 2003, Adidas was doing well in Europe,Asia and Latin America, but for the fi rst sixmonths US sales were down 17%; the nextthree months they were down 13%. Yet yourefused to discount in the way that Nike andFootlocker had done. Why?

HH: I believe in a strong brand and you needto put wellness of the brand at the forefrontand not price. Price is a short-term game– anyone can come along and beat it. But aunique product is not so easy to beat.SH: At what point did you decide that youwere not growing organically enough andneeded to make an acquisition?

HH: We were growing, but not fast enoughto close the gap signifi cantly in the US. Inthis case, either you can pump money intothe market to boost your brand (which willruin profi ts) or you can make an acquisition.

SH: You’ve built a football pitch and volleyballcourts at the Adidas HQ. Why is this?

HH: I’m passionate and I want people to bepassionate about their work – sport – becausethis is what it’s all about.

SH: You’ve ensured that Adidas stays at theforefront of sponsorship within high-profi lecompetitive sports. You spent $80m sponsoringthe Beijing Olympics, you were a sponsorfor the 2006 World Cup in Germany, theSuperbowl and the NBA All Star Event.

HH: It’s all about being more efficient. In thepast we used an event like the Olympics toshowcase the brand but we weren’t able tocommercialise it because of logistical issuesand because we didn’t have the creativity andambition to make an event a commercial aswell as PR success. We have perfected this inthe last 10 years. For a long time we’ve suppliedfootballs to the World Cup but now wecelebrate it, dramatise it, creating a goldenball for the fi nal. We create emotions.

SH: We certainly saw emotions running highwith regards to the Beijing Olympics and Tibet.Did you anticipate the issues that arose?

HH: We have issues wherever we haveevents. Events will be used by groups tobroadcast a message to the world. We werecriticised in some press, but it’s over now.

SH: Unlike many CEOs who are fl attening outtheir management structures, you are puttingmore people in so that you have more time tobe involved with the sports events. Why?

HH: I believe the role of the CEO is to buildout the strategy for the future of the company.How can it grow and move forward andhow can you attract the right people? Youshould not be too involved in the day-todayoperations because you may not havetime think about these issues carefully.

SH: And what motivates you?

HH: Success.