Marc Maurer, Co-CEO of On, tells Alyson Meister how the company’s unique culture – defined by five ‘Spirits’ – is helping chart its path to becoming the world’s most premium sportswear brand.
A murmuration of starlings sprints across the sky, swooping suddenly before swiftly rearranging themselves back into formation. The flock has no leader, yet the birds instinctively know when to turn, honing into the signals of the seven birds closest to them so they can move as one.
Marc Maurer, Co-CEO of Swiss sportswear brand On, likes to use this metaphor to describe the culture at the company, which has grown in the space of a decade from 15 people operating out of a church community centre into a multinational NYSE-listed company with more than 2,600 employees.
“In more hierarchical organisations you would have someone saying left and right and the birds would fly left and right,” he says. “But in On’s case, it’s just a flock of birds and it miraculously moves left or right. We look at our team very much as that flock of birds that is guided by our purpose, which is igniting the human spirit through movement.”
Guiding this culture of autonomy, accountability, and collaboration are five values known as ‘Spirits’ – Explorer, Athlete, Team, Positive, and Survivor – that define how On works and influence everything from office design to hiring policies, incentive systems, and product development.
With thousands of employees located in more than 12 locations around the world, the challenge facing Maurer – along with his Co-CEO Martin Hoffman, the three founders, and the rest of the management team – is to ensure that On doesn’t lose this entrepreneurial mindset.
“When you’re a startup and you have 12 people, the person who joins is a huge risk-taker by definition,” says Maurer, who joined On in 2013 as chief operating officer. The risk appetite of new hires today might be different to those first employees, he adds.
“How do you bring those worlds together and embed some of the exploration within all those individuals that are joining On, so they’re able to take risks and are able to go on paths that they have never gone on before? They’re not saying: ‘Hey, this is the benchmark, we need to do the same,’ but, ‘Hey, this is the benchmark, let’s do something different.’ That takes a lot of communication. It’s constant work.”
On puts a lot of focus on hiring team members that add to its culture, while the co-CEOs and founders are highly involved in onboarding new employees and communicating the company’s mission and values. On’s leadership also thinks intentionally about how they recognize and reward employees – something that chief people officer Noa Perry-Reifer describes as putting more emphasis on the ‘why’ and ‘how’ (the culture and the leadership behaviours) rather than the ‘what’ (the result).
“A lot is also just leadership by role modelling,” says Maurer, explaining how observing co-workers living the ‘Explorer Spirit’ will have a huge impact on your own behaviour.
Office design also plays a crucial role. Employees at On Labs in Zurich work in open-plan areas known as ‘neighbourhoods’. Each is spread out across three floors and designed to spark creativity, movement, and social interaction. There are no assigned desks – even for the management team, who choose their seats when they arrive in the morning like everyone else.
“It’s a culture that is very transparent; it’s open, it’s honest. We need to have a lot of tough discussions. And you need to know what the person next to you is doing so you can do a better job,” he says.
In part due to its culture, On attracts and hires extremely driven employees. But while flocks of birds can fly for very long distances without getting tired, Maurer recognizes that rest and recovery are vital for people to perform at their best.
“When we do the onboarding, I always ask: ‘What are some of the things that define an amazing athlete?’ The answers are always about achievement, a growth mindset, and dedication,” says Maurer. “What never comes up is recovery. We as an organisation suffer from the same thing because recovery is, in the end, what makes athletes so unbelievably and sustainably good.”
On offers unlimited vacations but sometimes has to suggest to colleagues that they take a break or some time off. Its offices are equipped with yoga studios, and it works with Swiss startup Kyan Health to provide tools to help staff develop self-care habits and understand how they best recover.
Maurer himself is conscious of managing his own energy. If there is an item on his agenda that he knows will drain him, he makes sure to add something else that will give him a boost. He also goes for a run at lunchtime each day to satisfy his need for movement and to take time for himself.
Another striking aspect of On is that its leadership team is run as a “partnership of five,” with each person taking on a role that plays to their individual strengths. The three founders focus on product and innovation, while Maurer and his co-CEO Martin Hoffman run the business operations. When On went public in 2021, this co-CEO model was questioned by analysts and investors. Now, it is viewed as an asset. So, how do they make it work?
“We’re very complementary, which is super important. Martin has different skills than I have, and we respect each other for that,” says Mauer. “My role is to make Martin successful, and his role is to make me successful. This allows us to care for each other and creates space for us both to perform at our best. It’s a lot of talking. It’s a relationship. We don’t always agree, but rather than being angry or whatever, you have the tough discussions – but we do that with a lot of respect.”
In practice, this means the pair might fundamentally disagree on an issue, but once they have made a decision, they both stand behind it.
In the last couple of years, On has experienced exponential growth. The company grew sales almost 70% year-on-year in 2022 and 55% in 2023 to 1.79bn CHF ($1.98bn). While the IPO has exposed the company to increased scrutiny, Maurer views the attention as positive as it holds the company accountable and pushes it to perform at its best.
“We’re not competing in a small stadium anymore and running our laps, we are competing in a big stadium. This means we’re being watched. That’s pressure. But it also means if we perform well, we can set examples for others in the industry. And then it’s a megaphone and that really allows you in the end to drive change,” he says.
On’s leadership didn’t introduce a goal for revenue or profit until this year and tries to not put too much pressure on hitting quarterly results because they like staff to work towards the bigger purpose of “igniting the human spirit through movement.” Maurer stresses this is not just about movement but stimulating your brain cells to come up with new ideas and have a positive impact on the world. The leadership team has a lot of meetings while walking for this reason.
On’s purpose also guides its strategy. During the craze for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in 2021-2022, the leadership team considered whether they should create digital versions of their footwear but concluded they were “anti-NFT”, says Maurer. “We said, ‘Hey, we’re about movement and that is not about movement.’ This is a practical way in which our purpose comes to life.”
Looking to the future, Maurer says On has the ambition to become the “most premium sportswear brand” – more expensive than mass market players like Nike but below luxury brands like Moncler. This will allow the company to double down on sustainability and differentiate itself through innovation – by designing t-shirts that absorb moisture better and shoes that make you run more efficiently, for example.
“If we can command superior margins, we can invest in coming up with more sustainable materials, coming up with circular business models and really driving change in how the industry works,” he says. “I think this is a unique opportunity that we’ve been given. Let’s see how big it allows us to become. But I think the opportunity is there and now it’s about having the culture and having a very clear strategy to capture that opportunity.”
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