‘Brutally Honest and Refreshing, a Must Read for All Aspiring Entrepreneurs’: What Phil Knight’s ‘Shoe Dog’ Taught Me About His Journey at Nike

Everybody starts small. That’s a lesson ‘Shoe Dog’ taught me. And it’s fine to be lost. Or directionless. Or maybe both. A 24 year old Stanford graduate went out for a run. He was stuck. He expected something greater in life. He decided he wasn’t going to settle for less. So–to his father’s initial disappointment–he gave up the idea of being an accountant. He took a flight to Japan and started selling Tiger sneakers in America, his ‘Crazy Idea’. The rest is history.

Although the original name was ‘Blue Ribbon’, his colleague Johnson came up with the idea of ‘Nike’. The name, he said, needed a ‘k’ or an ‘x’ and had to be short. This name also makes sense as when he travelled the world in ‘62, he stood in Greece reflecting about Athena, the goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare as well as Nike, the goddess of victory.

Brutally honest and refreshing, a must read for all aspiring entrepreneurs, ‘Shoe Dog’ takes the reader through the unspoken costs and emotional roller coasters of ‘finding your greatness’ at anything in life.

His idea on marketing–when he agreed it was useful–was simple, yet revolutionary: don’t focus on the product, but on the spirit behind the product. The most valuable marketing lesson I’ve learnt so far. It got me thinking about what I want my statement and my spirit to be when I build something greater, like this website. He doesn’t want to be just a brand, he wants to be a statement. Isn’t it a beautiful idea that adds a sense of purpose to everyday life? Not buying the shoes, but also believing victory is on your way? I find it spectacular.

It takes lots of extra hours in the office, lost time with your family members and massive burnouts to reach the top of the mountain–only to find you didn’t reach it with everybody you wanted to. Bottom line: if you want it enough you’re willing to pay the price, then go ahead. Just do it.

When discussing competition, he says ‘people reflexively assume that competition is always a good thing…but that’s only true of people who can forget the competition’. I believe you may apply this to the inevitable feud that emerged between Nike and the German apparel and footwear company Adidas. For many, having to compete as Nike, a company that had been established 15 years after Adidas, against the latter would’ve come as something impossible. Nonetheless, Phil Knight understood it was a privilege not only to reach but surpass and beat Adidas at its own game. His friend and sponsored athlete, Pre, said ‘somebody may beat me, but they are going to have to bleed to do it’. In this case, Adidas bled, but didn’t even beat Nike. Ups.

So what about the title for the memoir? Shoe dog? Personally, my first reaction was to picture a dog wearing shoes (don’t google it, I already have). Shoe dogs are defined as ‘people who personally devote themselves completely to the making, selling, buying or designing of shoes’, which accurately describes Knight and his team of delusionals who turned a vision, a feeling, a vibe, into a reality.

Moreover, you will find a culture clash between Americans and the Japanese, especially in the 1960s, when tension was heightened because of the recent conflict between both countries. Despite this, they show Knight kei, or respect, to which he corresponds. This leads me to the conclusion that the only thing that separated them both was not their nationalities or their languages, it was the decisions of their leaders to get involved in a war that Knight describes as ‘wasteful’. However, his relationship with Onitsuka and other important Japanese businessmen is later shattered to the limit where they take each other to court due to a series of lies and misunderstandings and complicated legal procedures.

I also feel obliged to talk about Penny’s role in her husband’s success. She was his cheerleader and pushed him to be better. Even when she was filled with uncertainty for months or years, which she hated, she never complained. Maybe this backfired and caused him to become a better entrepreneur than father, but it’s the effort that counts.

Nevertheless, after everything he has built, in the final pages, Knight admits he is also a product of luck. ‘Hard work is critical, a good team is essential, brains and determination are invaluable, but luck may decide the outcome’. It’s ironic to think that not even all the factors in your favor can guarantee you succeed as an entrepreneur. Fate always has a hand left to play. Talk about being in control.

At one point, he sits back in his chair and thinks to himself: ‘I know nothing!’ Naturally, like most human beings, he finds that disastrous. I personally believe he knew a lot. He was just thinking about the other lot he had no idea about. But even if it hadn’t been that way, the wise philosopher Socrates once said: ‘the stupid already have all the answers’. Whether that means I have to die stupid with all the answers or smart without all the answers, I have no idea. But the intellectual humility he showed was just another green flag to his leadership style, even if it wasn’t intentional.

Even after all, Phil Knight finds comfort and peace in an admiring way that makes us all wish it would be that easy to reset and overcome obstacles. Although, if you’ve read the book, you’ll know it was never ‘easy’.

I relate a lot to Phil Knight’s personality. At least, to what I think I learnt about it while reading this book. His greatest fear is not being in control. He’s an introvert. He often has no words to speak in a conversation. He has nervous ticks, like toying with a rubber band or hugging himself. He measures victories big, and when he falls short, even if it’s for one small number, he feels it deeply. It’s all or nothing. Black or white. Victory or loss. It’s never a tie. He tries to be present, but he’s always planning and thinking ahead. He’s stubborn, so if he wants to sell 22 dollars a share, he’s going to sell 22 dollars a share. Who were they, thinking he, Phil Knight, would sell for 21.50, anyways?

Sometimes, while reading it, because of its beautiful narrative voice, I found myself forgetting it was actually a real story and not a novel set in a faraway land. Even so, when I reached the ending, I cried as if it was my own story, my own life. Maybe it isn’t. But it inspired it. And that’s something no amount of money could ever buy me.

Often, like the shoes Bowerman–Knight’s coach and co-founder of Nike–used to break down into pieces and rebuild, Phil Knight never remained whole without being torn apart and rebuilt again and again by every single plot twist and challenge he faced in life.

Who knew the Air Forces I’m currently wearing had so much history?

In his memoir, he did something incredibly crucial, but yet not frequently seen in other authors. He was transparent. He was honest. But above all, he was vulnerable. He knew that was awkward and uncomfortable, but he also knew that one only gets the true story when he/she sees the bigger picture. And what’s all of this for, if it’s not to see the cold, hard and yet exciting truth?

He is not only the creator of Nike, currently worth 60 billion dollars. He is not my trainers, your sisters’ new T-shirt or your favorite athlete’s baseball cap. He is a runner, a husband, a father, a son, a friend. He is Phil Knight.