Another day, another decrying of supposed “wokeism”. This time, it’s Harley-Davidson CEO Jochen Zeitz who’s facing the anti-woke crowd’s ire. Conservative mouthpiece Robby Starbuck recently took to X (formerly Twitter) to slam the CEO for his company’s diversity policy, saying he seemed to have “forgotten who their core customers are”.
X owner Elon Musk seemed to echo Starbuck’s sentiments, saying that Zeitz’ approach “doesn’t sound super compatible with their customers”. Harley-Davidson finally capitulated to the pressure, responding last week by issuing a statement saying it has not had DEI policies since April, and that it would no longer participate in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index scoring system, which gives companies scores based on LGBTQ+ inclusion . The company added that it would also no longer have goals to buy from women- or minority-owned suppliers, per The Wall Street Journal.
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"The Harley-Davidson logo hangs over the entrance to the motorcycle company’s dealership in Littleton, Colorado, in the US. Photo: AP Photo","url":"https://img.
i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/08/22/20620ca4-9a82-4f7d-b6e5-9a0cc8d12863_0c42f09f.jpg"} The Harley-Davidson logo hangs over the entrance to the motorcycle company’s dealership in Littleton, Colorado, in the US.
Photo: AP Photo During his social media campaign against the brand, Starbuck also resurfaced controversial comments that German-born Zeitz made in 2020. Zeitz sparked outrage by commenting that some of his associates appeared to compare him to the militant Taliban terrorist group for his sustainability policies. He made the statements during a speech at the Zermatt Summit in Switzerland.
“Imagine standing in front of CEOs of luxury brands that now think you are the ‘sustainable Taliban’, as somebody once called me,” he said, referring to his time as a board member of Kering, the parent company of Gucci , Saint Laurent and Bottega Veneta. “ ..
. So I became the Taliban again in a sustainable way.” So, just who is Jochen Zeitz, the controversial chairman, president and CEO at Harley-Davidson, Inc – and what do we know about him? Jochen Zeitz worked his way up the corporate ladder {"@context":"https://schema.
org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"Harley-Davidson CEO Jochen Zeitz sits in the back of a four-wheel drive vehicle. Photo: @thelongrun/X","url":"https://img.i-scmp.
com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/08/22/0dc38a7c-666e-4794-bf4d-f2e53303a7bd_3b9d79f9.jpg"} Harley-Davidson CEO Jochen Zeitz sits in the back of a four-wheel drive vehicle. Photo: @thelongrun/X Zeitz was born in 1963 in Mannheim, Germany and studied economics, international marketing and finance at EBS Universität, according to his LinkedIn.
He started his career at Colgate-Palmolive, where he split his time between New York and Hamburg, before moving to Puma, where he served as chairman. Then came Kering , where he was a board member, and finally, his current role at Harley-Davidson. He’s an advocate for sustainability {"@context":"https://schema.
org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"A promotional photo of Jochen Zeitz. Photo: @thebteamhq/X","url":"https://img.i-scmp.
com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/08/22/05df7d3f-b90d-4868-8e48-3218dc52255d_f1b2ea7c.jpg"} A promotional photo of Jochen Zeitz. Photo: @thebteamhq/X Zeitz takes sustainability seriously.
He founded the non-profit Zeitz Foundation for Intercultural Ecosphere Safety, which focuses on the four Cs: conservation, community, culture and commerce, in order to address environmental crises like climate change, preserving wildlife and saving the planet. That same framework also underpins The Long Run, a charity Zeitz founded to support “purpose-driven tourism businesses”. Zeitz is also the co-founder of The B Team, which advocates for corporate sustainability governance, and the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa.
He’s also an author and producer As if his resume wasn’t already impressive enough, Zeitz is also an author and producer. He co-wrote two books: The Manager and the Monk: A Discourse on Prayer, Profit and Principles, and The Breakthrough Challenge: 10 Ways to Connect Today’s Profits with Tomorrow’s Bottom Line . He was also an executive producer on the 2021 Netflix documentary Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet, which was narrated by Sir David Attenborough and co-produced by Zeitz’s wife Kate Garwood, with whom he shares two children.
He also produced the 2021 documentary Ranger . Conservative mouthpiece Robby Starbuck and Tesla’s Elon Musk just criticised the motorcycle brand for its diversity goals regarding women, minorities and the LGBT community Zeitz – who formerly worked with Gucci’s parent company Kering and Colgate-Palmolive – spoke about being seen as a ‘sustainable Taliban’ in 2020, and his comments resurfaced during the recent furore.
