1 00:00:15,410 --> 00:00:23,810 Speaker 1: Pushkin. The mayor of Hertzogenarak is going to watch a 2 00:00:23,810 --> 00:00:27,090 Speaker 1: game of soccer. On one foot, he wears a shoe 3 00:00:27,170 --> 00:00:31,210 Speaker 1: made by Adidas. On the other foot, a shoe made 4 00:00:31,210 --> 00:00:36,330 Speaker 1: by Puma. If you didn't know anything about Hurtzegenarak, you 5 00:00:36,410 --> 00:00:41,210 Speaker 1: might assume that the mayor must be unobservant, disorganized, a 6 00:00:41,210 --> 00:00:45,490 Speaker 1: little absent minded, not a bit of it. The mayor 7 00:00:45,530 --> 00:00:52,530 Speaker 1: of Hrzegenarak chose his footwear carefully. He's a diplomat. He 8 00:00:52,610 --> 00:00:58,130 Speaker 1: has to be. Hertzegenarak is a small town on the 9 00:00:58,170 --> 00:01:02,850 Speaker 1: Arak River in Bavaria, Germany, with a history that traces 10 00:01:02,890 --> 00:01:08,170 Speaker 1: back a thousand years. Its population just twenty four thousand. 11 00:01:08,850 --> 00:01:13,530 Speaker 1: The old town is picture postcard perfect. Cobbled streets and 12 00:01:13,690 --> 00:01:18,850 Speaker 1: medieval half timbered buildings are restored thirteenth century castle, a 13 00:01:18,890 --> 00:01:23,570 Speaker 1: barock church, ivy climbing up the clock tower, and a fountain. 14 00:01:24,250 --> 00:01:27,770 Speaker 1: A fountain with a modern statue depicting two groups of 15 00:01:27,850 --> 00:01:33,490 Speaker 1: children playing a childhood game tug of war. Look closely 16 00:01:34,330 --> 00:01:36,410 Speaker 1: and you'll see the children on one end of the 17 00:01:36,490 --> 00:01:43,010 Speaker 1: rope are in Puma shoes, the other team Adidas. This 18 00:01:43,530 --> 00:01:47,410 Speaker 1: small town in Bavaria is home to the headquarters of 19 00:01:47,490 --> 00:01:53,090 Speaker 1: not one, but two global behemoths of sports apparel, Adidas 20 00:01:53,130 --> 00:01:57,690 Speaker 1: and Puma, between them sell over thirty billion dollars worth 21 00:01:57,690 --> 00:02:02,610 Speaker 1: of clothes and shoes and equipment every year. For decades, 22 00:02:02,930 --> 00:02:06,930 Speaker 1: Herzogenarach has had a Puma side of the river and 23 00:02:07,130 --> 00:02:12,170 Speaker 1: an Adidas side, a Puma sponsored local soccer team and 24 00:02:12,410 --> 00:02:18,250 Speaker 1: an Adidas team, Puma families and Adidas families. The town 25 00:02:18,530 --> 00:02:22,290 Speaker 1: of the Lowered Games, it was called because people then 26 00:02:22,370 --> 00:02:26,650 Speaker 1: Hurtzognarach would glance down to check the brand of your 27 00:02:26,690 --> 00:02:36,010 Speaker 1: footwear before deciding how to greet you. The mayor grew 28 00:02:36,090 --> 00:02:39,050 Speaker 1: up in a Puma family. As a kid, he says, 29 00:02:39,770 --> 00:02:46,130 Speaker 1: I had only Puma clothes. Wearing Adidas would have been unthinkable. Now, 30 00:02:46,170 --> 00:02:51,330 Speaker 1: as a politician, he wears both brands, admittedly not usually 31 00:02:51,370 --> 00:02:54,970 Speaker 1: one on either foot. But today is a special day 32 00:02:55,810 --> 00:03:01,850 Speaker 1: September twenty first, two thousand and nine United Nations World 33 00:03:01,970 --> 00:03:06,770 Speaker 1: Peace Day, to mark the occasion workers from Adidas and 34 00:03:06,850 --> 00:03:10,890 Speaker 1: Puma are going to play a game of soccer. It 35 00:03:10,890 --> 00:03:14,970 Speaker 1: would have been impossible thirty years ago, says the mayor. 36 00:03:15,930 --> 00:03:19,290 Speaker 1: It's not Puma versus added as that might be pushing 37 00:03:19,330 --> 00:03:24,690 Speaker 1: the tentative datantes too far. Instead, each team has players 38 00:03:24,690 --> 00:03:29,090 Speaker 1: from both companies. One team wears white, the other black. 39 00:03:29,890 --> 00:03:33,050 Speaker 1: The specially made shirts have the three stripes of Addedas 40 00:03:33,050 --> 00:03:38,370 Speaker 1: on one sleeve Puma's Leaping Cat on the other. We 41 00:03:38,650 --> 00:03:43,330 Speaker 1: play for peace, the CEO of Puma tells assembled journalists. 42 00:03:44,090 --> 00:03:50,490 Speaker 1: It's a historical moment, adds the CEO of Adidas. It's 43 00:03:50,530 --> 00:03:54,490 Speaker 1: the kind of rhetoric usually reserved for peace talks in 44 00:03:54,530 --> 00:03:58,090 Speaker 1: the Middle East. How did the choice of leisure wear 45 00:03:58,250 --> 00:04:02,810 Speaker 1: in a small town in Bavaria becomes such a serious affair. 46 00:04:04,250 --> 00:04:34,610 Speaker 1: I'm Tim Harford, and you're listening to cautionary tales. This 47 00:04:34,810 --> 00:04:39,250 Speaker 1: is a tale about motivation at work, what it can achieve, 48 00:04:39,730 --> 00:04:42,650 Speaker 1: and the strange places it can take us when it 49 00:04:42,730 --> 00:04:47,730 Speaker 1: goes too far. The story starts in nineteen eighteen with 50 00:04:47,810 --> 00:04:50,850 Speaker 1: a young man coming home from the First World War, 51 00:04:51,650 --> 00:04:57,970 Speaker 1: Adolph Dassler Addie to his friends. ADDIE's dad was a weaver. 52 00:04:58,650 --> 00:05:01,730 Speaker 1: His mum washed people's linens in the shed in their yard, 53 00:05:02,690 --> 00:05:05,850 Speaker 1: but in the hardship of war, not many people could 54 00:05:05,850 --> 00:05:11,530 Speaker 1: afford to outsource their laundry. Returned to Herzegenauach to find 55 00:05:11,570 --> 00:05:15,410 Speaker 1: his mother's laundry shed shuttered and he decided to start 56 00:05:15,450 --> 00:05:21,090 Speaker 1: his own business there, making shoes. There was plenty of 57 00:05:21,210 --> 00:05:25,410 Speaker 1: leather to be scavenged from old army kits, helmets and 58 00:05:25,490 --> 00:05:29,770 Speaker 1: bags no longer needed. Addie collected them, cut them up 59 00:05:29,810 --> 00:05:34,410 Speaker 1: into strips, and stitched them into boots. The electricity kept 60 00:05:34,450 --> 00:05:38,530 Speaker 1: cutting out, so Addie invented a bicycle powered device to 61 00:05:38,650 --> 00:05:42,650 Speaker 1: work the leather. He got a friend to pedal. Addie 62 00:05:42,730 --> 00:05:45,210 Speaker 1: had never been trained as a cobbler, but he was 63 00:05:45,250 --> 00:05:48,730 Speaker 1: a keen athlete, a runner, a high jumper, and he 64 00:05:48,810 --> 00:05:52,730 Speaker 1: understood how hard it was to find good footwear for sports. 65 00:05:53,570 --> 00:05:56,330 Speaker 1: The state of the art in running spikes was simply 66 00:05:56,650 --> 00:06:00,290 Speaker 1: leather soles with nails banged through them. Addie was sure 67 00:06:00,370 --> 00:06:05,290 Speaker 1: he could do better. He spent hour after hour experimenting 68 00:06:05,330 --> 00:06:10,090 Speaker 1: with different kinds of spike and studs for soccer. His 69 00:06:10,170 --> 00:06:13,490 Speaker 1: shoes started to sell and he moved from the shed 70 00:06:13,770 --> 00:06:18,570 Speaker 1: into a factory. His older brother joined the business. Rudy 71 00:06:18,650 --> 00:06:24,490 Speaker 1: Dassler was a sportsman too, nicknamed the Puma, but in 72 00:06:24,570 --> 00:06:28,850 Speaker 1: other ways he wasn't like Addie at all. Addie liked 73 00:06:28,890 --> 00:06:32,810 Speaker 1: to tinker alone at his work bench. Rudy was suave 74 00:06:32,930 --> 00:06:38,290 Speaker 1: and loud and confident, a natural salesman. By nineteen thirty three, 75 00:06:38,770 --> 00:06:42,730 Speaker 1: when Hitler came to power in Germany, the Dassler brothers 76 00:06:42,850 --> 00:06:47,330 Speaker 1: were employing seventy people, and the Nazis seemed like they 77 00:06:47,410 --> 00:06:52,130 Speaker 1: might be good for the sports shoe business. In Maine, 78 00:06:52,210 --> 00:06:58,250 Speaker 1: camp Hitler dreamed of six million supremely fit athletes, all 79 00:06:58,290 --> 00:07:03,130 Speaker 1: suffused with the supreme love of the fatherland. Addie and 80 00:07:03,210 --> 00:07:07,610 Speaker 1: Rudy joined the Nazi Party. They put out an advert 81 00:07:08,170 --> 00:07:13,530 Speaker 1: showing a blonde haired runner. Dassler sports shoes praised by 82 00:07:13,610 --> 00:07:19,250 Speaker 1: all who try them. Sales started to boom, and the 83 00:07:19,290 --> 00:07:24,050 Speaker 1: Olympics were coming to Berlin in nineteen thirty six. Hitler 84 00:07:24,210 --> 00:07:28,970 Speaker 1: hoped the games would show the superiority of Aryan athletes. 85 00:07:29,810 --> 00:07:32,930 Speaker 1: But there was a problem with that hope, and his 86 00:07:33,090 --> 00:07:37,250 Speaker 1: name was Jesse Owens, a twenty two year old black 87 00:07:37,330 --> 00:07:42,050 Speaker 1: man born in Alabama, the son of a sharecropper, and 88 00:07:42,090 --> 00:07:46,970 Speaker 1: the fastest sprinter the world had ever seen. Some in 89 00:07:47,010 --> 00:07:51,570 Speaker 1: America wanted to boycott the Nazi Games, but Jesse was 90 00:07:51,690 --> 00:07:56,210 Speaker 1: keen to compete. I wanted no part of politics, Jesse 91 00:07:56,370 --> 00:08:02,570 Speaker 1: later explained. Addie Dassler felt much the same. Sport is 92 00:08:02,650 --> 00:08:06,650 Speaker 1: my politics, he said. As for the rest, I've really 93 00:08:06,690 --> 00:08:11,170 Speaker 1: got no interest in it at all. Addie couldn't care 94 00:08:11,250 --> 00:08:15,010 Speaker 1: less about arians winning gold medals. He just wanted to 95 00:08:15,050 --> 00:08:18,970 Speaker 1: see what the world's fastest runner thought of his shoes. 96 00:08:20,130 --> 00:08:23,850 Speaker 1: So Addie finds his way into the Olympic village and 97 00:08:23,970 --> 00:08:28,170 Speaker 1: seeks out Jesse Owens. He produces a pair of his 98 00:08:28,570 --> 00:08:34,010 Speaker 1: latest design. They have cushioned heels and angled spikes, and 99 00:08:34,050 --> 00:08:39,210 Speaker 1: their light just six ounces. The shoemaker from Bavaria can't 100 00:08:39,330 --> 00:08:44,410 Speaker 1: easily communicate with the athlete from Alabama, but with smiles 101 00:08:44,450 --> 00:08:49,010 Speaker 1: and gestures, Addie persuades Jesse to try the shoes and 102 00:08:49,450 --> 00:08:53,410 Speaker 1: keep them if he likes them. In a stadium clad 103 00:08:53,490 --> 00:08:57,610 Speaker 1: with swastikas, Jesse Owens lines up for the one hundred 104 00:08:57,650 --> 00:09:01,770 Speaker 1: meter final. He's in the inside lane. In just a 105 00:09:01,810 --> 00:09:06,130 Speaker 1: few strides, he powers clear. The runners behind him grimace 106 00:09:06,210 --> 00:09:15,770 Speaker 1: and strain, but they can't get close. Jesse Owens wins 107 00:09:15,850 --> 00:09:19,770 Speaker 1: the one hundred meters, then he wins the two hundred meters, 108 00:09:20,410 --> 00:09:24,930 Speaker 1: and the relay and the long jump. A black man 109 00:09:25,210 --> 00:09:29,450 Speaker 1: is the star of the Nazi Olympics, and the television 110 00:09:29,530 --> 00:09:34,610 Speaker 1: pictures showed Jesse wearing his Dassler brother's shoes with the 111 00:09:34,690 --> 00:09:39,410 Speaker 1: two distinctive strips of leather down the side. For the brothers, 112 00:09:39,610 --> 00:09:44,250 Speaker 1: it's great publicity, but at home not all is well. 113 00:09:45,210 --> 00:09:49,730 Speaker 1: Shoemaker Addie and salesman Rudy and their spouses and children 114 00:09:50,290 --> 00:09:53,490 Speaker 1: all live in the same big house, and as the 115 00:09:53,610 --> 00:09:57,410 Speaker 1: nineteen thirties draw to a close, it seems that Rudy 116 00:09:57,930 --> 00:10:01,930 Speaker 1: is not getting on with ADDIE's much younger wife. She's 117 00:10:02,010 --> 00:10:06,330 Speaker 1: sticking her nose into business decisions, he complains. One night, 118 00:10:07,050 --> 00:10:11,570 Speaker 1: early in the Second World War, the air raid siren sounds. 119 00:10:12,490 --> 00:10:15,570 Speaker 1: Rudy and his family are already in the bunker when 120 00:10:15,650 --> 00:10:20,290 Speaker 1: ADDIE's family arrive. Rudy hears Addie mutter to his wife 121 00:10:21,010 --> 00:10:25,690 Speaker 1: those bastards to hear again the British bombers. Addie insists 122 00:10:25,690 --> 00:10:30,450 Speaker 1: that he meant, but Rudy won't be persuaded. He's sure 123 00:10:30,570 --> 00:10:36,890 Speaker 1: Addie meant him an unforgivable insult. At least, that's one 124 00:10:36,970 --> 00:10:39,890 Speaker 1: story that later gets told about the origins of the 125 00:10:39,930 --> 00:10:45,690 Speaker 1: brothers falling out. There is another. ADDIE's away for three 126 00:10:45,770 --> 00:10:50,290 Speaker 1: months on military service. Rumor has it that Rudy and 127 00:10:50,530 --> 00:10:57,650 Speaker 1: ADDIE's wife start an affair a misunderstanding or a marital infidelity. 128 00:10:58,450 --> 00:11:02,570 Speaker 1: Whatever the reason, the brothers now can't stand each other, 129 00:11:03,290 --> 00:11:06,250 Speaker 1: and each becomes convinced that the other is trying to 130 00:11:06,250 --> 00:11:09,410 Speaker 1: get them off the scene. As the author Barbara Smit 131 00:11:09,770 --> 00:11:15,610 Speaker 1: describes in her book Sneaker Wars, Addie soon gets discharged 132 00:11:15,650 --> 00:11:19,410 Speaker 1: from the army. He persuades the Nazi bosses that his 133 00:11:19,530 --> 00:11:22,610 Speaker 1: factory can make useful goods for the war instead of 134 00:11:22,690 --> 00:11:27,370 Speaker 1: just sports shoes, and the factory can't run without him. Now, 135 00:11:27,730 --> 00:11:31,330 Speaker 1: Rudy gets called up, and try as he might, he 136 00:11:31,450 --> 00:11:35,010 Speaker 1: can't talk his way out of it. He's convinced that 137 00:11:35,210 --> 00:11:38,130 Speaker 1: Addie is pulling some strings to keep him away from 138 00:11:38,170 --> 00:11:43,570 Speaker 1: their business. In nineteen forty five, with the Allies closing in, 139 00:11:44,170 --> 00:11:47,930 Speaker 1: Rudy tries to slip away in the chaos, but no 140 00:11:48,090 --> 00:11:51,130 Speaker 1: sooner has he got back home than the Gestapo come 141 00:11:51,170 --> 00:11:55,730 Speaker 1: and arrest him. After the war finally ends, he turns 142 00:11:55,810 --> 00:12:00,850 Speaker 1: up again. My brother and his wife were unpleasantly surprised. 143 00:12:01,250 --> 00:12:05,530 Speaker 1: He said they had not thought I would return. The 144 00:12:05,570 --> 00:12:11,250 Speaker 1: war is over, but the recriminations are not. Soon Rudy 145 00:12:11,370 --> 00:12:15,690 Speaker 1: is arrested again, this time by the Americans. They seem 146 00:12:15,770 --> 00:12:20,250 Speaker 1: to think Rudy might have committed war crimes. Rudy is 147 00:12:20,290 --> 00:12:23,890 Speaker 1: sure he knows who gave them that idea. He spends 148 00:12:23,930 --> 00:12:28,330 Speaker 1: a year in an internment camp before the Americans decide 149 00:12:28,650 --> 00:12:33,450 Speaker 1: there's not enough evidence and let him go. Addie is 150 00:12:33,450 --> 00:12:38,810 Speaker 1: in danger too. A local de nazification committee has to 151 00:12:38,890 --> 00:12:43,930 Speaker 1: decide how enthusiastic a Nazi he was. He stands to 152 00:12:43,970 --> 00:12:49,450 Speaker 1: lose his business. Addie protests, I wasn't that enthusiastic. He 153 00:12:49,570 --> 00:12:52,450 Speaker 1: joined the party, he says, only because it might help 154 00:12:52,530 --> 00:12:56,050 Speaker 1: him to sell sports shoes. He didn't sack workers who 155 00:12:56,090 --> 00:12:59,850 Speaker 1: opposed the Nazis. He even sheltered the half Jewish mayor 156 00:12:59,890 --> 00:13:04,290 Speaker 1: of a nearby town. No, no, no, Rudy apparently tells 157 00:13:04,330 --> 00:13:08,210 Speaker 1: the committee Addie was a much nazier Nazi than that. 158 00:13:09,210 --> 00:13:12,250 Speaker 1: He had our factory producing parts for pans and tanks. 159 00:13:12,890 --> 00:13:19,250 Speaker 1: That wouldn't have happened with me in charge. The committee 160 00:13:19,290 --> 00:13:24,570 Speaker 1: deliver their verdict. They believe Addie. They class him as 161 00:13:24,610 --> 00:13:30,050 Speaker 1: a midlifer literally with Walker as opposed to a front runner, 162 00:13:30,810 --> 00:13:35,290 Speaker 1: a sufficiently unenthusiastic Nazi, that they'll allow him to stay 163 00:13:35,330 --> 00:13:39,810 Speaker 1: in business. But it's painfully clear that Addie and Rudy 164 00:13:39,890 --> 00:13:43,850 Speaker 1: can't run that business together anymore. Rudy sets up shop 165 00:13:44,210 --> 00:13:47,850 Speaker 1: on the other side of the river. The Dassler family 166 00:13:48,330 --> 00:13:52,890 Speaker 1: splits in two. Their mum goes with Rudy, their sister 167 00:13:53,250 --> 00:13:57,890 Speaker 1: stays with Addie. Their children stop seeing their cousins. The 168 00:13:57,970 --> 00:14:01,010 Speaker 1: employees are caught up in this family drama. They have 169 00:14:01,130 --> 00:14:04,610 Speaker 1: to choose a brother. Most of the sales team go 170 00:14:04,690 --> 00:14:08,530 Speaker 1: with the salesman Rudy. Most of the factory workers stay 171 00:14:08,530 --> 00:14:13,450 Speaker 1: with the technical Addie. They need names for their new ventures. 172 00:14:14,330 --> 00:14:20,850 Speaker 1: Adie decides to portmanteau his name Adidasler Addas. But there's 173 00:14:20,850 --> 00:14:24,050 Speaker 1: another shoe company called Adas, so Adie has to think 174 00:14:24,090 --> 00:14:31,090 Speaker 1: again Adidas. Rudy has the same idea, Rudolph Asler Ruda. 175 00:14:31,730 --> 00:14:36,210 Speaker 1: He soon decides that Ruda's too boring and his nickname 176 00:14:36,530 --> 00:14:42,730 Speaker 1: would be much cooler. Puma. The town of Herzogenaurach will 177 00:14:42,770 --> 00:14:49,890 Speaker 1: never be the same. Cautionary tales will return in a moment. 178 00:14:55,890 --> 00:15:00,610 Speaker 1: Adidas and Puma are both huge global brands. They're so 179 00:15:00,810 --> 00:15:04,610 Speaker 1: famous that it's easy to lose sight of how astonishing 180 00:15:04,690 --> 00:15:08,050 Speaker 1: it is that anyone has heard of either of them. 181 00:15:09,210 --> 00:15:12,290 Speaker 1: Think about the challenge that faced Rudy Asler and adid 182 00:15:12,290 --> 00:15:16,490 Speaker 1: Assler in nineteen forty eight. Rudy had just turned fifty, 183 00:15:17,210 --> 00:15:20,810 Speaker 1: Adie was only a couple of years younger. They'd spent 184 00:15:21,010 --> 00:15:24,530 Speaker 1: much of the last decade either producing things other than 185 00:15:24,570 --> 00:15:29,290 Speaker 1: sports shoes, such as parts for Panzer tanks, or justifying 186 00:15:29,330 --> 00:15:32,730 Speaker 1: what they'd done in the war. Rudy had a loyal 187 00:15:32,730 --> 00:15:36,330 Speaker 1: group of salespeople, but nobody making products for them to sell. 188 00:15:37,090 --> 00:15:41,570 Speaker 1: Adie had the makers, but nobody to sell what they made. 189 00:15:41,650 --> 00:15:44,770 Speaker 1: They were in a small town in Bavaria. In the 190 00:15:44,770 --> 00:15:48,730 Speaker 1: wake of the war. Germany was a pariah state, still 191 00:15:48,810 --> 00:15:53,450 Speaker 1: banned from international sporting events. Plenty of other companies in 192 00:15:53,570 --> 00:15:58,650 Speaker 1: other countries were making sports shoes too. With all these challenges, 193 00:15:59,330 --> 00:16:02,090 Speaker 1: what were the odds that either one of added ass 194 00:16:02,170 --> 00:16:05,850 Speaker 1: or Puma would turn into a multi billion dollar global 195 00:16:05,890 --> 00:16:10,890 Speaker 1: business empire. How did they both do it? Academics and 196 00:16:10,970 --> 00:16:14,450 Speaker 1: management consultants, of course, take a keen interest in this 197 00:16:14,570 --> 00:16:19,290 Speaker 1: question of why some companies succeed and others don't. One 198 00:16:19,330 --> 00:16:24,690 Speaker 1: answer has to do with motivated employees. For example, here's 199 00:16:24,730 --> 00:16:30,330 Speaker 1: the consultancy firm McKinsey. People who find their individual purpose 200 00:16:30,530 --> 00:16:33,850 Speaker 1: congruent with their jobs tend to get more meaning from 201 00:16:33,890 --> 00:16:37,290 Speaker 1: their role, making them more productive and more likely to 202 00:16:37,410 --> 00:16:42,130 Speaker 1: outperform their peers. Purpose and meaning make us more productive. 203 00:16:43,050 --> 00:16:45,770 Speaker 1: But where do we get that sense of purpose and 204 00:16:45,850 --> 00:16:50,530 Speaker 1: meaning in our work? In twenty sixteen, researchers from UK 205 00:16:50,770 --> 00:16:56,050 Speaker 1: universities decided to try to find out. They interviewed over 206 00:16:56,090 --> 00:17:01,530 Speaker 1: one hundred people in diverse occupations, from nurses to lawyers 207 00:17:01,570 --> 00:17:07,450 Speaker 1: to garbage collectors. First, they asked about demotivation. What are 208 00:17:07,490 --> 00:17:11,170 Speaker 1: some times at work when you found yourself thinking, what's 209 00:17:11,210 --> 00:17:16,730 Speaker 1: the point? People mention things like endless form filling, penny 210 00:17:16,770 --> 00:17:21,530 Speaker 1: pinching bosses, and a simple lack of recognition and respect. 211 00:17:22,210 --> 00:17:25,330 Speaker 1: A stonemason said that's how he feels when his manager 212 00:17:25,690 --> 00:17:30,490 Speaker 1: can't be bothered to say good morning. Then they asked 213 00:17:31,090 --> 00:17:33,530 Speaker 1: what are some times when you felt a sense of meaning. 214 00:17:34,370 --> 00:17:36,970 Speaker 1: Some of the workers talked about moments when they'd put 215 00:17:36,970 --> 00:17:40,850 Speaker 1: their work in a wider context, pausing to reflect on 216 00:17:41,010 --> 00:17:44,170 Speaker 1: what it's really all about and how it affects the 217 00:17:44,250 --> 00:17:48,450 Speaker 1: people around them. The stonemason recalled the end of a 218 00:17:48,490 --> 00:17:53,090 Speaker 1: project to restore a cathedral, when the scaffolding came down 219 00:17:53,730 --> 00:18:02,570 Speaker 1: and everyone said it looks amazing. The Stonemason is a 220 00:18:02,610 --> 00:18:06,330 Speaker 1: real life example of the parable of the three bricklayers, 221 00:18:06,650 --> 00:18:10,650 Speaker 1: which you'll often find trotted out in articles on finding 222 00:18:10,730 --> 00:18:14,970 Speaker 1: purpose at work. The parable goes like this. An architect 223 00:18:15,290 --> 00:18:20,610 Speaker 1: asks three bricklayers, what are you doing? Laying bricks, says 224 00:18:20,650 --> 00:18:24,530 Speaker 1: the first bricklayer, Putting up a wall, says the second. 225 00:18:25,450 --> 00:18:31,490 Speaker 1: The third bricklayer says, I'm building a cathedral. No prizes 226 00:18:31,530 --> 00:18:35,290 Speaker 1: for guessing which bricklayer the management gurus tell us will 227 00:18:35,330 --> 00:18:39,690 Speaker 1: be most motivated and doing the best job. People feel 228 00:18:39,810 --> 00:18:43,290 Speaker 1: purpose at work, it seems, when they're reminded of how 229 00:18:43,370 --> 00:18:46,930 Speaker 1: their work contributes to a cause that means something to 230 00:18:46,970 --> 00:18:50,370 Speaker 1: the people they care about. I wonder how much that 231 00:18:50,530 --> 00:18:54,530 Speaker 1: helps to explain why two companies from a tiny town 232 00:18:55,250 --> 00:19:00,570 Speaker 1: both did so well. When Rudy and Addie split, every 233 00:19:00,690 --> 00:19:04,090 Speaker 1: worker had to choose a brother, and the split was 234 00:19:04,290 --> 00:19:07,850 Speaker 1: so acrimonious they must have felt sure that the other 235 00:19:07,930 --> 00:19:10,530 Speaker 1: brother would never forgive them all give them a job 236 00:19:10,530 --> 00:19:13,890 Speaker 1: in future if they needed one. In a small town 237 00:19:14,090 --> 00:19:19,370 Speaker 1: with two big employers who loathed each other, every single 238 00:19:19,490 --> 00:19:24,450 Speaker 1: worker at Puma and Adidas must have been desperate to 239 00:19:24,570 --> 00:19:29,010 Speaker 1: prove they'd made the right choice. It's hard to imagine 240 00:19:29,010 --> 00:19:39,170 Speaker 1: a workforce more deeply invested in their company's success. In 241 00:19:39,250 --> 00:19:43,170 Speaker 1: his new base across the Arak River, Rudy Dassler's new 242 00:19:43,290 --> 00:19:48,210 Speaker 1: employees are soon putting in fourteen hour days even on 243 00:19:48,250 --> 00:19:54,090 Speaker 1: a Sunday. They call him father. His wife is Depuma Mutter, 244 00:19:54,450 --> 00:20:00,290 Speaker 1: the Puma Mother. We are one family. Rudy booms. He's 245 00:20:00,490 --> 00:20:05,490 Speaker 1: larger than life and full of bonomee. Sometimes he gets angry, too, 246 00:20:05,850 --> 00:20:09,890 Speaker 1: as Rolf Herbert Peters describes in his book The Puma Story, 247 00:20:11,090 --> 00:20:13,810 Speaker 1: in one meeting with staff to discuss a wage rise, 248 00:20:14,570 --> 00:20:17,210 Speaker 1: he takes off his jacket and snaps, do you want 249 00:20:17,210 --> 00:20:21,970 Speaker 1: the coat off my back? As well? In nineteen fifty, 250 00:20:22,450 --> 00:20:27,090 Speaker 1: West Germany's soccer team is allowed back into international competition. 251 00:20:27,930 --> 00:20:31,970 Speaker 1: The players wear whatever boots they want. The team's trainer 252 00:20:32,050 --> 00:20:35,370 Speaker 1: realizes that he's in a position to change that and 253 00:20:35,450 --> 00:20:39,330 Speaker 1: have them all play in the same boot that he 254 00:20:39,410 --> 00:20:44,290 Speaker 1: thinks could be worth something. He approaches Rudy with a proposition, 255 00:20:45,330 --> 00:20:49,010 Speaker 1: how about you pay me one thousand marks a month 256 00:20:49,090 --> 00:20:52,490 Speaker 1: for my services in today's terms a few thousand dollars. 257 00:20:53,970 --> 00:20:58,050 Speaker 1: Rudy is appalled by the idea. That's not how things 258 00:20:58,050 --> 00:21:01,970 Speaker 1: are done. I am deeply disappointed in you, he says. 259 00:21:02,810 --> 00:21:06,170 Speaker 1: The soccer team's trainer shrugs and goes to see Addie, 260 00:21:06,730 --> 00:21:09,810 Speaker 1: who sees that he's getting a bargain. At the next 261 00:21:09,890 --> 00:21:14,570 Speaker 1: Soccer World Cup, West Germany get to the final. As 262 00:21:14,610 --> 00:21:19,250 Speaker 1: the match time approaches, the heavens open the pitch will 263 00:21:19,290 --> 00:21:24,050 Speaker 1: become a quagmire. But Adidas have just introduced a new 264 00:21:24,170 --> 00:21:28,210 Speaker 1: model of soccer boot with different types of screwing studs. 265 00:21:28,970 --> 00:21:34,210 Speaker 1: The team's trainer calls him over, Addie studs on. Addie 266 00:21:34,290 --> 00:21:37,650 Speaker 1: gets the players to unscrew the shorter studs from their 267 00:21:37,650 --> 00:21:41,890 Speaker 1: boots and put in longer ones. They'll give more grip 268 00:21:41,930 --> 00:21:45,730 Speaker 1: in the muddy conditions. As the opposing teams slid and 269 00:21:45,810 --> 00:21:51,530 Speaker 1: slide around, West Germany score the winner three roles to two, 270 00:21:52,530 --> 00:21:57,170 Speaker 1: the trainer insists on bringing Addie into the team's victory photo. 271 00:21:57,610 --> 00:22:05,770 Speaker 1: The newspapers hail him as the nation's cobbler. Rudy is incensed. 272 00:22:06,690 --> 00:22:10,250 Speaker 1: Don't people know that Puma have also so just introduced 273 00:22:10,290 --> 00:22:14,450 Speaker 1: boots with screw on studs. Rudy and Addie are constantly 274 00:22:14,490 --> 00:22:17,610 Speaker 1: taking each other to court over who's copied whose idea. 275 00:22:18,410 --> 00:22:21,650 Speaker 1: Addie jokes that Rudy must look like a Swiss cheese, 276 00:22:22,130 --> 00:22:25,170 Speaker 1: because he keeps poking him to say that was my invention. 277 00:22:26,810 --> 00:22:31,450 Speaker 1: There's espionage. Rudy commissions a new machine for working leather, 278 00:22:31,970 --> 00:22:35,210 Speaker 1: but he's messed up the specifications. There's no good for 279 00:22:35,250 --> 00:22:39,810 Speaker 1: sports shoes. He's later amused to find out that Addie 280 00:22:39,930 --> 00:22:44,610 Speaker 1: ordered an identical machine and also discovered it didn't work. 281 00:22:45,410 --> 00:22:49,330 Speaker 1: There are dirty tricks. When Germany's star runner wins a 282 00:22:49,370 --> 00:22:54,450 Speaker 1: big race wearing Puma spikes, the next day's newspapers somehow 283 00:22:54,530 --> 00:22:58,210 Speaker 1: choose to print an old photo where he's wearing Adidas 284 00:22:59,170 --> 00:23:03,130 Speaker 1: at the nineteen fifty six Olympics in Melbourne. The consignment 285 00:23:03,290 --> 00:23:08,250 Speaker 1: of Puma shoes somehow gets held up in customs, while 286 00:23:08,250 --> 00:23:15,530 Speaker 1: the Adidas shoe whose don't at the Puma headquarters in Hurtzogenaurach. 287 00:23:16,090 --> 00:23:21,930 Speaker 1: You'd better not even say Adidas. They're called enng or 288 00:23:22,050 --> 00:23:27,690 Speaker 1: nicht genant, They who must not be named. Rudy quickly 289 00:23:27,770 --> 00:23:31,130 Speaker 1: understands that he can't afford to be disappointed in people 290 00:23:31,170 --> 00:23:35,370 Speaker 1: who ask for money to publicize his shoes. It's clearly 291 00:23:35,490 --> 00:23:40,090 Speaker 1: worth paying for celebrity endorsement, and that now opens up 292 00:23:40,130 --> 00:23:44,130 Speaker 1: a whole new front in the feud. At this point, 293 00:23:44,610 --> 00:23:48,610 Speaker 1: the Olympics is still supposed to be strictly amateur, no 294 00:23:48,770 --> 00:23:53,650 Speaker 1: commercial deals at all. Still, by nineteen sixty there's talk 295 00:23:53,730 --> 00:23:57,730 Speaker 1: of bonuses for winners with the right shoe on. One 296 00:23:57,810 --> 00:24:01,610 Speaker 1: gold medalist tries to collect twice by running his race 297 00:24:01,650 --> 00:24:06,210 Speaker 1: in Puma, then changing into Adidas for the podium. By 298 00:24:06,250 --> 00:24:10,650 Speaker 1: the nineteen sixty four Olympics, things have moved on. Here's 299 00:24:10,730 --> 00:24:15,370 Speaker 1: an American athlete describing how it works. Like in James 300 00:24:15,370 --> 00:24:18,610 Speaker 1: Bond movies, a shoe agent goes into the bathroom and 301 00:24:18,770 --> 00:24:21,290 Speaker 1: leaves an envelope at the stall. I go in the 302 00:24:21,330 --> 00:24:24,730 Speaker 1: stall after him. You get an envelope that had six 303 00:24:24,970 --> 00:24:27,610 Speaker 1: seven hundred or a couple of thousand dollars in fives 304 00:24:27,690 --> 00:24:33,930 Speaker 1: and tens. You thought you're rich. In soccer, the industry 305 00:24:33,970 --> 00:24:37,810 Speaker 1: takes another step towards the modern day. The star of 306 00:24:37,850 --> 00:24:41,610 Speaker 1: the nineteen sixty six World Cup is a Portuguese player 307 00:24:41,730 --> 00:24:46,690 Speaker 1: called Usebo. Puma sign him up and launch a range 308 00:24:46,690 --> 00:24:49,930 Speaker 1: of boots with his name on them, the Eusebio King. 309 00:24:51,370 --> 00:24:54,690 Speaker 1: It's the first time their marketing has switched from buy 310 00:24:54,730 --> 00:24:59,290 Speaker 1: these boots because they're better to buy these boots because 311 00:24:59,330 --> 00:25:05,530 Speaker 1: someone famous wears them. By now Rudy and Addie are 312 00:25:05,570 --> 00:25:10,370 Speaker 1: getting old, the Dassler family feud has passed down a 313 00:25:10,490 --> 00:25:17,170 Speaker 1: generation to ADDIE's son Horst and Rudy's son Armin. ADDIE's 314 00:25:17,170 --> 00:25:22,170 Speaker 1: son Horst is brilliant, charming, and a workaholic. He calls 315 00:25:22,170 --> 00:25:26,570 Speaker 1: his executives at any hour of the night. One time 316 00:25:26,810 --> 00:25:31,330 Speaker 1: it's a spouse who answers the phone, Horst comes the voice. 317 00:25:31,610 --> 00:25:36,810 Speaker 1: You are interfering with my sex life. Rudy's son, Armin 318 00:25:37,090 --> 00:25:41,730 Speaker 1: wanted to study electronics. No way, said Rudy, you're getting 319 00:25:41,770 --> 00:25:47,370 Speaker 1: into sports shoes. Horst and Armine are barely on speaking terms, 320 00:25:47,970 --> 00:25:51,290 Speaker 1: but they do meet to make a gentleman's agreement that 321 00:25:51,610 --> 00:25:55,690 Speaker 1: neither will compete to sign up Pele, the most famous 322 00:25:55,730 --> 00:25:59,490 Speaker 1: soccer player of all. A bidding war for Pele would 323 00:25:59,490 --> 00:26:05,690 Speaker 1: break both companies. At the nineteen seventy Soccer World Cup, 324 00:26:06,050 --> 00:26:08,810 Speaker 1: Pele is about to kick off a match when he 325 00:26:08,850 --> 00:26:12,130 Speaker 1: tells the referee, wait a moment, I need to tie 326 00:26:12,170 --> 00:26:17,610 Speaker 1: my laces. All around the world, television screens zoom in 327 00:26:17,810 --> 00:26:22,850 Speaker 1: on Pla bending over to spend several seconds fiddling with 328 00:26:22,930 --> 00:26:30,330 Speaker 1: his boot, a brand new Pelee branded Huma boot. Puma 329 00:26:30,370 --> 00:26:32,810 Speaker 1: put them on sale for twenty percent more than the 330 00:26:32,930 --> 00:26:38,490 Speaker 1: exact same boot without Plas signature. The Pelle boot flies 331 00:26:38,530 --> 00:26:43,050 Speaker 1: off the shelves. Rudy's son Amin has pulled off a coup. 332 00:26:43,850 --> 00:26:51,530 Speaker 1: ADDIE's son Horse is fuman. Cautionary tales will be back 333 00:26:52,090 --> 00:27:02,810 Speaker 1: in a moment. As Rudy and Addie fought tooth and 334 00:27:02,970 --> 00:27:06,850 Speaker 1: nail to build their sportshoe empires, the little town of 335 00:27:06,930 --> 00:27:12,490 Speaker 1: Herzogenaurach became more more and more divided. Every family had 336 00:27:12,530 --> 00:27:16,210 Speaker 1: someone who worked for one brother or the other. As 337 00:27:16,210 --> 00:27:19,930 Speaker 1: they came home with tales about dirty tricks from the enemy, 338 00:27:20,410 --> 00:27:24,210 Speaker 1: their families became just as invested in their company's success. 339 00:27:25,490 --> 00:27:29,850 Speaker 1: Remember the mayor of Herzogenaurach, the one who later turned 340 00:27:29,930 --> 00:27:34,930 Speaker 1: up to watch soccer in diplomatically mismatched shoes as a kid. 341 00:27:34,970 --> 00:27:39,210 Speaker 1: He says, I had only Puma clothes. Wearing Adidas would 342 00:27:39,210 --> 00:27:44,210 Speaker 1: have been unthinkable. He's not exaggerating. Someone who moved from 343 00:27:44,250 --> 00:27:47,890 Speaker 1: another town to join one of the companies recalls he 344 00:27:47,970 --> 00:27:51,330 Speaker 1: had a restaurant. There was a Puma restaurant, an Adidas restaurant. 345 00:27:51,770 --> 00:27:54,330 Speaker 1: If you were working for the wrong company, you wouldn't 346 00:27:54,370 --> 00:27:57,530 Speaker 1: be served any food, so it was kind of an 347 00:27:57,530 --> 00:28:03,250 Speaker 1: odd experience. It wasn't just restauranteurs. There were bakers and 348 00:28:03,330 --> 00:28:06,210 Speaker 1: butchers who would serve you only if you had the 349 00:28:06,330 --> 00:28:10,890 Speaker 1: right brand of shoes on With Adidas, says one worker, 350 00:28:11,090 --> 00:28:13,530 Speaker 1: it simply didn't cross your mind to go into a 351 00:28:13,570 --> 00:28:18,170 Speaker 1: shop that you knew Puma workers frequented. Another longtime resident 352 00:28:18,250 --> 00:28:21,370 Speaker 1: recalls there was a time when you'd have risked the 353 00:28:21,410 --> 00:28:25,090 Speaker 1: wrath of colleagues and family if as an employee of 354 00:28:25,130 --> 00:28:29,810 Speaker 1: one company you married an employee of the other, still 355 00:28:30,210 --> 00:28:36,530 Speaker 1: he reckons. Without that intense local rivalry, neither company would 356 00:28:36,530 --> 00:28:39,810 Speaker 1: have reached such heights. If this is what motivation at 357 00:28:39,890 --> 00:28:45,490 Speaker 1: work can achieve, no wonder management consultants tell corporate clients 358 00:28:45,810 --> 00:28:57,650 Speaker 1: that it matters. When I was at college in the 359 00:28:57,690 --> 00:29:02,370 Speaker 1: mid nineteen nineties, recruiters from big companies like Unilever or 360 00:29:02,450 --> 00:29:07,090 Speaker 1: Procter and Gamble would invite undergraduates to presentations about what 361 00:29:07,130 --> 00:29:09,730 Speaker 1: it's like to work for their company, how to apply 362 00:29:09,810 --> 00:29:13,210 Speaker 1: for a job in their graduate training program. I went 363 00:29:13,250 --> 00:29:17,330 Speaker 1: to some of those presentations. At one, a recent graduate 364 00:29:17,570 --> 00:29:20,970 Speaker 1: explained the project they'd been working on developing a new 365 00:29:21,010 --> 00:29:25,170 Speaker 1: brand of ice Pop. They'd studied the market to understand 366 00:29:25,210 --> 00:29:28,810 Speaker 1: the brand positioning of existing ice pops. They'd talked to 367 00:29:28,850 --> 00:29:32,290 Speaker 1: focus groups of ice pop consumers to find out what 368 00:29:32,450 --> 00:29:35,490 Speaker 1: kind of adverts influenced them to buy one ice pop 369 00:29:35,690 --> 00:29:39,210 Speaker 1: or another, and they'd launched a new ice pop much 370 00:29:39,290 --> 00:29:41,810 Speaker 1: the same as all the other ice pops as a product, 371 00:29:41,890 --> 00:29:46,290 Speaker 1: but cleverly marketed. They did well. A good percentage of 372 00:29:46,410 --> 00:29:50,170 Speaker 1: ice pop buyers switched from competitors ice pops to their 373 00:29:50,210 --> 00:29:55,410 Speaker 1: ice Pop. The story was clearly meant to inspire. Apply 374 00:29:55,690 --> 00:29:58,610 Speaker 1: for a job with our company, and you too can 375 00:29:58,650 --> 00:30:02,930 Speaker 1: get to work on similar projects. The final PowerPoint slide 376 00:30:02,970 --> 00:30:08,090 Speaker 1: said you can make a visible difference. A cynical friend 377 00:30:08,170 --> 00:30:11,210 Speaker 1: leaned over and whispered in my ear. Surely, he said, 378 00:30:11,690 --> 00:30:15,330 Speaker 1: there's a typo that should read you can make a 379 00:30:15,650 --> 00:30:22,170 Speaker 1: risible difference. Remember the parable of the three bricklayers. We're 380 00:30:22,170 --> 00:30:25,570 Speaker 1: supposed to frown at the first bricklayer, the one who 381 00:30:25,610 --> 00:30:31,410 Speaker 1: said I'm laying bricks, not I'm building a cathedral. But 382 00:30:31,530 --> 00:30:35,490 Speaker 1: the whole parable is built on a line, which is 383 00:30:35,530 --> 00:30:42,610 Speaker 1: that everyone gets to work on a cathedral. Put yourself 384 00:30:42,610 --> 00:30:46,330 Speaker 1: in the position of a bricklayer who isn't building a cathedral, 385 00:30:46,650 --> 00:30:49,650 Speaker 1: but can only find work building a wall around a 386 00:30:49,770 --> 00:30:53,410 Speaker 1: parking lot in a nature reserve. What would you say 387 00:30:53,730 --> 00:30:56,610 Speaker 1: if someone asked you what you were doing. Maybe the 388 00:30:56,650 --> 00:31:00,930 Speaker 1: best response is to shrug and say, I'm laying bricks. 389 00:31:01,450 --> 00:31:03,890 Speaker 1: I do this job for the money. I look for 390 00:31:04,010 --> 00:31:09,210 Speaker 1: meaning and purpose elsewhere. The alternative is to persuade yourself 391 00:31:09,210 --> 00:31:12,730 Speaker 1: that what the world desperately needs is a parking lot 392 00:31:12,770 --> 00:31:16,970 Speaker 1: in a nature reserve. We can find meaning in almost 393 00:31:17,010 --> 00:31:20,770 Speaker 1: anything if we try hard enough. We can care deeply 394 00:31:21,050 --> 00:31:25,250 Speaker 1: that people buy one ice pop not another. We can 395 00:31:25,290 --> 00:31:28,890 Speaker 1: feel personally fulfilled when we charge twenty percent more for 396 00:31:28,930 --> 00:31:31,530 Speaker 1: a soccer boot because we put Peli's name on it. 397 00:31:32,530 --> 00:31:36,010 Speaker 1: The consultants McKinsey tell us that when we see our 398 00:31:36,170 --> 00:31:40,290 Speaker 1: individual purpose in our work, will be more productive and 399 00:31:40,370 --> 00:31:45,050 Speaker 1: outperform our peers. Perhaps so, but if we take our 400 00:31:45,170 --> 00:31:48,890 Speaker 1: corporate jobs too much to heart, we might end up 401 00:31:49,050 --> 00:31:54,250 Speaker 1: metaphorically living in Hurtzoegenawak. And I put it to you 402 00:31:54,330 --> 00:31:58,770 Speaker 1: that Hurtzogenawak is not only a visible place, but a 403 00:31:58,850 --> 00:32:07,330 Speaker 1: dark and disturbing one too. Addie and Rudy Dassler both 404 00:32:07,410 --> 00:32:11,850 Speaker 1: died in their seventies. They're both buried in Herzegenawak's small 405 00:32:11,890 --> 00:32:18,890 Speaker 1: graveyard at opposite ends. Their sons, Horst and Armin never 406 00:32:19,010 --> 00:32:24,090 Speaker 1: buried the hatchet. ADDIE's son Horst once met Armin's son 407 00:32:24,210 --> 00:32:29,330 Speaker 1: Frank at a business event. There was no warmly avuncular greeting. 408 00:32:30,130 --> 00:32:34,090 Speaker 1: The German language has both formal and familiar ways of 409 00:32:34,130 --> 00:32:40,490 Speaker 1: saying you. Horst used the formal sea with me. Frank 410 00:32:40,570 --> 00:32:46,130 Speaker 1: Dasler remembers, I found that a little strange. Horst and 411 00:32:46,370 --> 00:32:52,690 Speaker 1: Armin both died young cancer. The workaholic Horst tried to 412 00:32:52,810 --> 00:32:57,210 Speaker 1: hide how ill he was. One colleague was stunned to 413 00:32:57,250 --> 00:33:01,530 Speaker 1: get a letter from Horst after he'd died. He'd still 414 00:33:01,570 --> 00:33:06,410 Speaker 1: been firing off business correspondence on his deathbed. In the end, 415 00:33:06,810 --> 00:33:11,010 Speaker 1: each branch of the family decided to sell up. Puma 416 00:33:11,130 --> 00:33:15,490 Speaker 1: became a publicly traded company in the nineteen eighties Adidas 417 00:33:15,730 --> 00:33:20,450 Speaker 1: a decade later. They outsourced production to countries where labor 418 00:33:20,570 --> 00:33:25,970 Speaker 1: was cheap. The two company's headquarters stayed in Herzogenaurach, but 419 00:33:26,090 --> 00:33:30,450 Speaker 1: the high powered employees often moved in from elsewhere. They 420 00:33:30,490 --> 00:33:35,890 Speaker 1: hadn't grown up with. This bitter divide slowly the animosity 421 00:33:36,010 --> 00:33:42,610 Speaker 1: in this small Bavarian town began to fade. In two 422 00:33:42,610 --> 00:33:47,370 Speaker 1: thousand and four, Rudy's grandson, Frank Dassler, took a job 423 00:33:47,410 --> 00:33:52,290 Speaker 1: as the head legal counsel for Adidas. A lot of 424 00:33:52,370 --> 00:33:56,970 Speaker 1: waters flowed under the bridge, said Frank. Others were appalled. 425 00:33:57,810 --> 00:34:02,810 Speaker 1: Rudy will be spinning in his grave, they said. One 426 00:34:03,210 --> 00:34:07,370 Speaker 1: longtime Puma employee with a Puma tattoo on his neck 427 00:34:07,650 --> 00:34:12,210 Speaker 1: told a journalist that Frank's new job was a capital sin. 428 00:34:14,530 --> 00:34:18,290 Speaker 1: Then in two thousand and nine, the CEO of Puma 429 00:34:18,890 --> 00:34:23,130 Speaker 1: picked up the phone to the CEO of Adidas. It's 430 00:34:23,410 --> 00:34:26,730 Speaker 1: peace day coming up, he said, I think it's about time, 431 00:34:26,810 --> 00:34:31,090 Speaker 1: after sixty years, to end this feud. How about doing 432 00:34:31,130 --> 00:34:36,850 Speaker 1: something together? And so two soccer teams emerged from the tunnel, 433 00:34:37,330 --> 00:34:40,370 Speaker 1: one in black, one in white, each kit with a 434 00:34:40,410 --> 00:34:43,570 Speaker 1: Puma logo on one side and Adidas on the other, 435 00:34:44,250 --> 00:34:48,330 Speaker 1: with the mare of Herzogenarak watching on, wearing a Puma 436 00:34:48,370 --> 00:34:50,890 Speaker 1: shoe on one foot and addied as on the other. 437 00:34:51,570 --> 00:34:55,930 Speaker 1: It wasn't humor versus Adidas to avoid a symbolic result. 438 00:34:56,490 --> 00:35:01,650 Speaker 1: Instead it was bosses versus workers. That perhaps the result 439 00:35:01,770 --> 00:35:05,450 Speaker 1: was symbolic anyway of what happens when employees get their 440 00:35:05,490 --> 00:35:12,450 Speaker 1: purpose from their work. The bosses one, it's easy to 441 00:35:12,530 --> 00:35:17,050 Speaker 1: find corporate life depressing all the time and energy and 442 00:35:17,370 --> 00:35:21,450 Speaker 1: ingenuity that goes into pushing one brand of ice pop 443 00:35:21,570 --> 00:35:28,370 Speaker 1: or sports shoe over another. But sometimes, just sometimes, our 444 00:35:28,410 --> 00:35:34,050 Speaker 1: work presents a chance to set the cynicism aside. In 445 00:35:34,090 --> 00:35:38,850 Speaker 1: the late nineteen sixties, Addie Dassler heard about an American 446 00:35:38,930 --> 00:35:44,330 Speaker 1: high jumper called Dick Fosbury. He'd invented a new technique 447 00:35:44,370 --> 00:35:47,770 Speaker 1: for doing the high jump, twisting in the air and 448 00:35:48,090 --> 00:35:52,330 Speaker 1: arching his back over the bar, the Fosbury flop. People 449 00:35:52,370 --> 00:35:58,650 Speaker 1: called it dismissively at first, until they realized that it worked. Addie, 450 00:35:58,850 --> 00:36:01,970 Speaker 1: by now was an old man and a wealthy man, 451 00:36:02,610 --> 00:36:07,610 Speaker 1: the head of a business empire. But back in his youth, 452 00:36:07,650 --> 00:36:12,410 Speaker 1: remember he'd been a keen high jumper himself. He hadn't 453 00:36:12,490 --> 00:36:16,770 Speaker 1: forgotten what it meant to soar over the bar wearing 454 00:36:16,810 --> 00:36:21,090 Speaker 1: a good pair of shoes. Dick Fosbury had done something 455 00:36:21,130 --> 00:36:27,370 Speaker 1: which seemed totally original to Addie Dassler. He was captivated. 456 00:36:28,690 --> 00:36:33,290 Speaker 1: Addie phoned Dick Fosbury up. He wanted to know everything 457 00:36:33,330 --> 00:36:37,130 Speaker 1: about Fosbury's new technique, so he could think about exactly 458 00:36:37,170 --> 00:36:40,090 Speaker 1: what design of shoe and spikes might help him to 459 00:36:40,130 --> 00:36:43,410 Speaker 1: get the best run up and lift off. Then he 460 00:36:43,450 --> 00:36:47,770 Speaker 1: went into his workshop and made the shoes. He sent 461 00:36:47,850 --> 00:36:51,650 Speaker 1: them to Fosbury, who wore them at the nineteen sixty 462 00:36:51,650 --> 00:36:57,970 Speaker 1: eight Olympics and one. It was just amazing, said Fosbury, 463 00:36:58,170 --> 00:37:03,010 Speaker 1: that this German cobbler would spend hours on spikes just 464 00:37:03,090 --> 00:37:07,010 Speaker 1: for me. I was extremely grateful and certainly wouldn't dream 465 00:37:07,050 --> 00:37:11,210 Speaker 1: of accepting cash to wear them. It was a throwback 466 00:37:11,330 --> 00:37:16,010 Speaker 1: to a more innocent age, the young Addie after the 467 00:37:16,050 --> 00:37:19,930 Speaker 1: First World War, inventing shoes that would help him to 468 00:37:19,970 --> 00:37:24,330 Speaker 1: be a better athlete. Approaching Jesse Owens in the Olympic 469 00:37:24,410 --> 00:37:27,930 Speaker 1: village not to slip him and envelope stuff with cash, 470 00:37:28,890 --> 00:37:33,730 Speaker 1: but simply to say, you're the best. Please try my shoes. 471 00:37:34,370 --> 00:37:39,170 Speaker 1: I hope you like them. As sixty seven year old 472 00:37:39,370 --> 00:37:44,130 Speaker 1: Addie Dassler sat in front of the television watching Dick 473 00:37:44,370 --> 00:37:49,210 Speaker 1: Fosbury leap his way to Olympic gold, he must have 474 00:37:49,330 --> 00:38:09,730 Speaker 1: felt like a Stonemason admiring a cathedral. Two wonderful histories 475 00:38:09,770 --> 00:38:13,450 Speaker 1: of Adidas and Puma are the Puma story by Rolf 476 00:38:13,570 --> 00:38:19,570 Speaker 1: Herbert Peters and sneaker Wars by Barbara Schmitt. For a 477 00:38:19,570 --> 00:38:22,010 Speaker 1: full list of our sources, please see the show notes 478 00:38:22,010 --> 00:38:29,010 Speaker 1: at Timharford dot com. Cautionary Tales is written by me 479 00:38:29,290 --> 00:38:32,770 Speaker 1: Tim Harford with Andrew Wright. It's produced by Alice Fines 480 00:38:32,930 --> 00:38:36,530 Speaker 1: with support from Marilyn Rust. The sound design and original 481 00:38:36,610 --> 00:38:40,770 Speaker 1: music is the work of Pascal Wise. Sarah Nix edited 482 00:38:40,770 --> 00:38:44,050 Speaker 1: the scripts. It features the voice talents of Ben Crowe, 483 00:38:44,290 --> 00:38:49,170 Speaker 1: Melanie Guttridge, Stella Harford, Jemma Saunders and Rufus Wright. The 484 00:38:49,250 --> 00:38:52,130 Speaker 1: show also wouldn't have been possible without the work of 485 00:38:52,210 --> 00:38:57,530 Speaker 1: Jacob Weisberg, Ryan Dilly, Greta Cohne, Liteal Mollard, John Schnaz, 486 00:38:57,930 --> 00:39:02,890 Speaker 1: Eric's handler Carrie Brody, and Christina Sullivan. Cautionary Tales is 487 00:39:02,890 --> 00:39:07,650 Speaker 1: a production of Pushkin Industries. It's recorded at Wardoor Studios 488 00:39:07,730 --> 00:39:11,730 Speaker 1: in London by Tom. If you like the show, please 489 00:39:12,130 --> 00:39:16,530 Speaker 1: remember to share, rate and review, tell your friends, and 490 00:39:16,570 --> 00:39:18,890 Speaker 1: if you want to hear the show ad free, sign 491 00:39:18,970 --> 00:39:22,050 Speaker 1: up for Pushkin Plus on the show page in Apple 492 00:39:22,090 --> 00:39:28,890 Speaker 1: Podcasts or at Pushkin dot fm, slash plus