We are living in purpose-driven times, and expectations from our employees, consumers, customers, and partners are changing. Consequently, our culture at Amer Sports needs to evolve as well. To make our purpose and values relevant now and for the future – and to articulate what we stand for – we have redefined them together with our global community.
As we at Amer Sports prepare ourselves for the next round of growth and realize our vision to become the global leader in premium sports and outdoor brands, we want to provide clarity to both our employees and external stakeholders about what we as Amer Sports stand for. To achieve this, we embarked on a journey to articulate our shared purpose and refine our values.
The world has changed significantly since we last articulated our purpose and values. Consumer needs and sustainability requirements have likewise evolved. Our approach involved looking into what we already have and what we can build upon, and then developing and elevating those further.
For our purpose and values to be relevant for our global community of more than 10,000 employees, we formed a project team that mirrors the Amer Sports organization. This team comprised of representatives across the world from each brand, various functions within our brands, as well as group functions. We invited individuals who are passionate about purpose and values, and who could serve as ambassadors for the project across their respective areas.
Collaborating globally to discover our strengths
The first step was to establish a common understanding of what we wanted to achieve. In the second quarter of 2022, we collaborated to better understand how our strategy, our operating model, and our purpose and values all come together. Soon after, we facilitated interviews, surveys, and workshops – including one with the Amer Sports Executive Board in Chicago, US – to uncover our unique strengths, surface opportunities, and understand how we work together when we work best.
After defining the core ideas we wanted to convey, it was time to build the language and terminology with the project team. To support our discussions, we gathered feedback from around 200 people at Amer Sports and asked some of our owners for their input.
In late 2022, we held a workshop with our global project team in Munich, Germany to outline our implementation approach. This milestone emphasized how our renewed purpose and values can guide us in prospering as one global team. We all left feeling inspired, engaged, and proud to be part of the global Amer Sports community.
We then tested the draft versions of our purpose and values with employee representatives. In March 2023, we spent time with our Executive Board in Annecy, France to confirm the language of our purpose, and to sign off on the renewed values.
We landed at something aspirational that everyone was truly excited about and fully stands behind, which to me is a wonderful achievement.
Living our purpose and values can drive growth
Our aim is to evaluate the impact of our updated purpose and values through different metrics. For example, we want to boost employee engagement, build up our employer brand, and strengthen efforts to attract top talent. We will also promote an even more collaborative culture within the entire organization.
Our people are extremely passionate about sports, outdoors, and our brands. My hope is for our renewed purpose and values to become part of our DNA. This means leaning on them to enable good decision-making, collaboration, and growth. By living and embodying them, we can unlock our potential, focus on our consumers, and truly elevate the world through sport.
I’m excited to launch our new purpose and values later this year.
