History of Colossal SHOE Brand NIKE.!

Book: Shoe Dog -by Phil Knight(co-founder NIKE) 

Summary :Shuchi.P.Nahar

Incredible book about Phil Knight the Co-founder of Nike. 
He clearly explains the struggle to build a brand,a business and to execute the idea into implementation.
This book is a master piece for one to understand how management of business takes place, how a business is build from scratch to an empire. 
Stanford graduate, after a year in the army, he was looking for meaning and had what he called “a crazy idea”

Blue Ribbon — Early Beginnings

Blue Ribbon (and later Nike) was always cash strapped, until it finally went public (decades later), because every cent was reinvested in ordering/producing more shoes and the company was doubling in size every year. Back then Venture Capital was non-existent and banks would reject Blue Ribbon, as they “didn’t have enough assets”, despite their insane growth.

Strapped on money the company always kept super lean, working from storage rooms, surrounded by shoes (which they loved).

The most impressive thing in the book is how Phil managed to surround himself with Shoe Dogs. It shows how important the right attitude and motivation is to achieve great goals. Funny enough — his senior management team was obese or disabled, but their undying belief in shoes was what was crucial.

Every year for the company was a struggle to get imports on time, make cash payments, get orders to customers (as they had huge demand, but not enough shoes). It all exploded when their Japanese exporter decided to buy them or give their business to someone else.

Nike — The Birth

The Blue Ribbon team secretly started a new line of shoes, which they manufactured themselves and called it Nike (they came up with the name as one of the early employees dreamt about it), avoiding their pending acquisition (which went to trial and even the FBI).

Nike was born and it raised a whole new range of problems. Hiring, production, factories, exchange rates, quality issues with shoes. There was plenty and Nike ran into constant troubles, but the senior management team seemed to handle it really well, with regular “Buttfaces”, loose and fun senior management retreats, where every opinion as valued and shouted out, laughed at, discussed in excess.

Later Years

With the years, Nike overtook Adidas and became the role model in sustainable, environmental friendly production of shoes. They diversified their production across many countries and fulfilled one of Phil’s goal to create factories in Vietnam, which was important to him to establish trade and stop any war in its outset.

Phil is an amiable character, he is easy to relate to. Awkward, constantly out of his depth and doubting himself, but always keeps going. He was definitely lucky to find the right people to work with him. Reading about such characters really illustrates the passion Nike was built on. It’s incredible to read about his struggles as an entrepreneur and see how “much harder” (arguably) his struggles were to built a business, without internet, venture capital, phones (writing letters) and international relations.

My learnings :

Ingredients for success

In this memoir, we gain insight into the personal traits that helped Knight become one of the world’s wealthiest individuals. As no man is an island, we also become familiar with the eclectic mix of individuals that made up his executive management team.  

We discover that many of Knight’s characteristics are consistent with those of other highly successful entrepreneurs; the likes of Elon Musk and Steve Jobs come to mind, although Knight does come across as more affable.

1. Passion

Realising that he wasn’t going to make it as a professional athlete, Knight set about finding work that would allow him to experience the emotions associated with playing sports. Essentially, the company was borne out of his desire to do work that felt like play.   

He also mentions that he had an “unhealthy contempt” for Adidas, the dominant sportswear company in the US at the time. Early on he set himself the ambitious goal of growing Nike’s revenues to the point where they exceeded those of Adidas.

2. Persistence

Knight viewed the company as one of his children, and he would do anything to ensure its survival. Even though Nike regularly found itself knocking on death’s door, he always found creative ways to bring it back to life.   

3. Growth

Cash (or a lack thereof) was a constant headache for the business, with Knight choosing to prioritise growth over profits. The banks, which Knight depended on for loans to fund expansion, were often reluctant to extend credit to a company that wasn’t committed to improving its bottom line.

This growth-oriented attitude is another common trait amongst successful entrepreneurs. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is renowned for his relentless pursuit of sales growth, often at the expense of profits.    

4. Culture

Knight also worked hard to build a strong culture, and made sure to surround himself with people who were skilled at their job, loyal to the brand, and shared his long-term vision for the company.

5. Management Style

As a boss, Knight employed a hands-off management style.

“Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with the results.”

He was also very reticent to lavish praise on his employees. Anyone who craved constant guidance or words of affirmation was destined for disappointment.  

6. Controversies and Personal Struggles

As with most multi-national corporations, Nike hasn’t been without its controversies. In the early 90’s, stories began circulating about the company mistreating its factory staff, an issue Knight admits he could have handled better. He goes on to stress that Nike has pioneered a number of practices and processes to improve working conditions for its labourers.

Regarding his private life, Knight opens up about his battle to strike a healthy balance between work and family time. The impact of this constant struggle is most evident in his relationship with his eldest son, Matthew.  

On the whole, Shoe Dog is a very well-written book that answers all the burning questions you may have about Nike, including how the ubiquitous swoosh logo came to be. If you are interested in finding out what is takes to build and run a market-leading enterprise, then give Shoe Dog a read.

                                Shuchi.P.Nahar