Shoe Dog: 11 Lessons from the Creator of Nike

I’m a sneakerhead. In English, that means that I collect trainers. I love the aesthetics of the shoes, but perhaps more so the dynamics of the collectibles market which Nike effectively created. Phil ‘Shoe Dog’ Knight’s book was therefore primed to be a great read and it didn’t disappoint.

As the founder, former CEO and now Executive Chairman of Nike, Knight tells his story of taking the business from humble origins, through an IPO in 1980 and onto its current $30 billion market capitalisation. If you had invested $1,000 at IPO without reinvesting dividends, your investment would be worth $729,575 today, representing a CAGR of just over 20.7% (according to Investopedia and based on December 2015 share price).

The startup world is resplendent with so many buzzwords and methodologies that it can be easy to think that entrepreneurship is only a recent phenomenon. This book stands out as it tells the story of how, what is still widely regarded to be one of the most innovative companies in the world, started and grew out of the back of a van in the early 1970s. Phil Knight is a Stanford graduate, avid reader of the Classics and books about military strategy, and a natural introvert.

Knight captures a wonderful story about what he calls his Crazy Idea and the determination and grit it takes to become successful beyond what he’d ever imagined. He also includes some wonderful accounts of the hustle and sometimes downright dirty tactics that it can take to overcome the odds: “you are remembered for the rules you break” is his mantra throughout the book. I’ve captured the best of the rest of his entrepreneurial wisdom below.

On his Crazy Idea

“Like it or not, life is a game. Whoever denies that truth, whoever simply refuses to play, gets left on the sidelines, and I didn’t want that. More than anything, that was what I did not want. Which led me, as always, to my Crazy Idea. Maybe, I thought, just maybe, I need to take one more look at my Crazy Idea. Maybe my Crazy Idea just might… work?

Maybe. No, no, I thought… It will work. By God I’ll make it work. No maybes about it”.

On fear of failure

“Fear of failure, I thought, will never be our downfall as a company. Not that any of us thought we wouldn’t fail; in fact we had every expectation that we would. But when we did fail, we had faith that we’d do it fast, learn from it, and be better for it”.

On self-doubt, leadership and culture

“If I had any doubt about Blue Ribbon’s [the early trading name of Nike] management team in 1976, they were mainly about me. Was I doing right But then I’d think: whatever I’m doing, it must be working, because mutinies are few… No one had thrown a genuine tantrum, about anything, not even what they were paid… The Buttfaces knew I wasn’t paying myself much, and they trusted that I was paying them what I could. 

Clearly the Buttfaces liked the culture I’d created. I trusted them, wholly, and didn’t look over their shoulders, and that bred a powerful two way loyalty.  My management style wouldn’t have worked for people who wanted to be guided, every step, but this group found it liberating, empowering.  I let them be, let them do, let them make their own mistakes., because that’s how I’d always liked people to treat me”.