Shoe Dog – by Phil Knight
Date read: 6/23/22. Recommendation: 8/10.

A memoir by Phil Knight, the creator of Nike, detailing the wonderful story of the perseverance required over the course of decades to build an enduring company. The most interesting aspect of the Nike story is how the same six people (including Knight) built and continually reimagined the company as they adapted to insane obstacles to defy the odds.

See my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.

My Notes:

“Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that.” Lewis Carroll

Resourcefulness:
In 1964, Knight sold out of his first shipment of Tigers (shoe brand from Japan). Needed to get to California to hire a salesman but couldn’t afford to fly and didn’t have the time to drive. So Knight put on his army uniform from being in the reserves, drove to the local air base, and the MPs would wave him onto the next transport to SF or LA, no questions asked. 

“Happiness can be dangerous. It dulls the senses.” PK

The art of forgetting:
“The art of competing, I’d learned from track, was the art of forgetting, and I now reminded myself of that fact. You must forget your limits. You must forget your doubts, your pain, your past. You must forget that internal voice screaming, begging, ‘Not one more step!’” PK

Athletes:
“Bowerman was forever griping that people make the mistake of thinking only elite Olympians are athletes. But everyone’s an athlete, he said. If you have a body, you’re an athlete.” PK

Nike team (1976):
Us against the world: “Undoubtedly we looked, to any casual observer, like a sorry, motley crew, hopelessly mismatched…Each of us had been misunderstood, misjudged, dismissed. Shunned by bosses, spurned by luck, rejected by society, shortchanged by fate when looks and other natural graces were handed out. We’d each been forged by early failure. We’d each given ourselves to some quest, some attempt at validation or meaning, and fallen short. Hayes couldn’t become a partner because he was too fat. Johnson couldn’t cope in the so-called normal world of nine-to-five. Strasser was an insurance lawyer who hated insurance—and lawyers. Woodell lost all of his youthful dreams in one fluke accident. I got cut from the baseball team and I got my heart broken.” PK