Inside HUGO BOSS: What Trust as a Corporate Value Looks Like in Practice

The Speed of Trust is a book I often recommend as I believe it has helped me become a better leader. Stephen M. R. Covey's insights and practical advice on how trust can unlock an organization's potential are inspiring and effective. I have read this book many times and each time I find new insights that deepen my understanding of the importance of trust in leadership. At HUGO BOSS, we have also seen how the power of trust can truly unlock potential and pave the way to greater success.

A recent book available in German, Die 4 effektiven Führungsstrategien (The Four Effective Leadership Strategies), includes a chapter that talks about the speed of trust as an effective leadership principle and features a case study on HUGO BOSS. It is incredible that we were included, and I am personally excited because this book has influenced both my personal and professional life.

The case study explores how we claimed back the lead through trust – from our enormously successful global brand refresh to launching a NFT campaign for the first time. Since it is only available in German, I wanted to share how really living a culture of trust has improved ways of working for us at HUGO BOSS. A lot of what we have put into practice has been largely inspired by Stephen’s book, The Speed of Trust.

One of the most important takeaways from The Speed of Trust is the element of speed. To really drive change, people and companies need to feel comfortable moving fast. When I first joined HUGO BOSS in June 2021, I was certain that I wanted us as a team to be fast and that required trust.

During my first days, I said there were two ways to start working together. One, we take our time in getting to know each other, and only then move forward and be proactive. Or we trust each other and start doing great things together tomorrow. I said: “I trust you — please trust me”.

And the rest is history in the making.

Two years later, we are seeing the positive results of trusting each other, ourselves, and our intuition: our processes are more efficient, and coordination and approval times have been shortened. The best example of this is that our global brand refresh for BOSS and HUGO happened in just six months and both were an incredible success, getting over 21.3 billion impressions and more than 900 million interactions in just 11 weeks!

Here are three things we do at HUGO BOSS to live our culture of trust:?

1. We Make Room For Mistakes

Mistakes are learning experiences, and we trust that people make decisions with the best intention in mind. It’s just a matter of drawing the right conclusions and learning for future situations.

This mentality builds trust and enables speed of action. People go ahead and make things happen because we have removed the fear of making a mistake. We are now more innovative and see more inspiring results.

Nora Lauffer, our Team Leader 3D Experience & Immersive Tech, shared one example of how this has improved our ways of working:

“We implement projects that are so innovative that there are no established processes. We couldn't do this work successfully without trust. A good example of this is the first NFT project of the HUGO brand. Daniel Grieder expressed his complete trust in us as a project group and we had almost complete freedom in the decision-making process. This allowed us to work without bureaucratic hurdles.”

2. We Communicate!

We rely on the three D’s: discuss, decide, deliver. This helps make sure we communicate and discuss with each other, our partners, any business developments and updates in strategy. Constant communication also promotes the exchange of ideas and creates an open-door policy for feedback. All of these elements are important to get the best, most creative ideas.

Laney Gipson, our TikTok Manager, shared that trust and feedback have a positive impact on her work:

"I rely on the trust placed in me by my managers and teammates. This makes it easier for me to confidently share my creative ideas and strategic thinking with them on the ever-changing platform.”

3. We Have A Positive Mindset

A positive attitude and can-do mentality are key to success. Managers and leaders set a good example, taking employees along on the journey, inspiring and empowering them.

Daniel Gordon, our Vice President of Footwear, inspires team members through trust and positivity - and it works!

“After taking over my position at Footwear, I gave several team members the chance to take on a leadership role for the first time. The positive impact of my trust in the new leaders was evident from the start. Their commitment really went through the roof. They responded faster, contributed their own ideas, and worked harder than ever before.”

We have experienced record-breaking growth and strong sales over the past couple of years. Trust is the basis of everything we do at HUGO BOSS, and I am convinced our growth and success will continue. We trust each other every day and every day this empowers us to think big, act boldly, and make the impossible possible!

How has trust shaped your team and your organization? Please share your experience.