What Would You Do If You Were In Charge? – Question of the Day
Being the boss means making tough choices
It’s Feb. 28, 2024, which means today is the fourth anniversary of Jochen Zeitz being appointed acting (initially) president and chief executive officer of Harley-Davidson, replacing Matthew Levatich.
Since then, Zeitz has helmed Harley-Davidson, overhauling the company’s business with the Rewire plan, and establishing a 2021-2025 strategic plan called the Hardwire. Through that process, Harley-Davidson made several major changes, including launching its first adventure bike in the Pan America, dropping several long-running models, canceling projects like the Bronx streetfighter, and spinning off LiveWire as a separate entity.
Within the motorcycle industry, no brand draws as strong an emotional reaction – both positive and negative – as Harley-Davidson, so it’s no surprise that reaction to Zeitz’s moves has been just as polarizing. But that’s part of the job of being in charge. Sometimes you have to do what you believe is necessary, even if it’s not popular. Only time will tell if you, or your critics, were right.
But enough about Zeitz. Let’s talk about what you would do in his shoes, Puma or otherwise, or for any other brand besides Harley-Davidson. For today’s Question of the Day, I ask: If you were named CEO for a day of any motorcycle manufacturer of your choosing, and were allowed to greenlight one significant change, what would you do?
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Dennis has been a part of the Motorcycle.com team since 2008, and through his tenure, has developed a firm grasp of industry trends, and a solid sense of what's to come. A bloodhound when it comes to tracking information on new motorcycles, if there's a new model on the horizon, you'll probably hear about it from him first.
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CEO of Harley-Davidson Motor Company. Who and what makes Harley-Davidson successful after all of these years? The bikers and riders and the employees at the MOCO, that is who. They are the heartbeat along with Harley and the Davidsons who built an empire out of a two cylindered Master piece of imagination springing to life. Special recognition to Willie G. Davidson for his outstanding contribution for moving the MOCO into the future with his brilliant inspirations for new models that have evolved into todays models. As CEO. I would reduce the salaries of all of the head shed bigwigs, to more than include my own salary as CEO, bring it down out of the clouds to be more commensurate with a salary that reflects what H-D has always stood for or, at least, should stand for and that would be for the employees that make the MOCO heartbeat on a daily basis. I would celebrate the MOCO employees that makes H-D what it is. I would provide every MOCO employee the opportunity to own the Harley of his/her choice by reducing the price way below the MOCO profit line, as necessary. Cannot bring Mom/Pop Dealerships back, but, I can get the MOCO off the backs of the dealerships that are here now. I would reach out to all of the Harley shops and work with them on a much closer scale than ever before. They are the life blood that has kept and is still keeping Harleys on the street and running. That is the externals, the internals will not be discussed. Enjoy this read.
Restore the XL883, XL1200 traditional VTwin. That thing you replaced it with isn't a Sportster, nothing like a Sportster, the Sportster was great, I'll never trade mine in. A steady proven product and factory and devoted owners, how many million to design and tool up an assembly line for something you knew damn well none of your dedicated Harley bikers would want. AAnd in the meantime you threw away the real Sportster. Bring it back, and bring back the 883. The 1200 is too powerful for new riders - a wee bit of twist is too much power on wet oily surface. 883Low in colors.
COLORS, lots of colors. Nobody likes gray no matter how many focus groups you pay for. Vivid Black, fine, and some flat black, but bikers are a colorful lot of people. I was in a dealer in Dumfries, VA near Quantico Marine Base summer 2023. Salesman told me sales were terrible. Almost all his showroom was gray. A few black. I told him that was why. I don't mean put a strip of color, I mean paint the whole tank and fenders bright colors. Ford did that in the 1950's when Chevy Ford Dodge Plymouth only sold black and gray and customers jumped on it. You're trying to sell to women? Gray?