Everyone who spent a fair amount of time walking this Earth has a story to share with whoever is willing to listen. When the storyteller is someone who has built the most popular sports brand in the world, I think it’s wise for everyone to listen closely. Because throughout the story, there might be some valuable piece of information or wisdom capable of changing your life for the better.
Therefore this gem of a book with the title “Shoe Dog: A memoir by the creator of Nike” has within it the magnificent journey of Phil Knight, who shared his life’s ups and downs, creating a shoe company that now is not only the most popular sports brand in the world but also is a symbol of the power of dreams.
Thought
It’s almost impossible to find a person who doesn’t know about the brand “Nike”. I always wondered how Nike made it to the top of the fame and success ladder while so many other brands come and go from time to time! What’s their story? Who is the man behind the curtains pulling the strings? All these questions and many more were answered through the pages of this book. It’s so well written and articulated that I almost felt as if I was there with Phil Knight, witnessing him craft something marvelous. While reading this book, I never for once realized that I was reading a business or a non-fiction book but an adventurous one, which was very entertaining all on its own.
Who Should Read It?
If you are someone who has the curiosity to know what it’s like to be in the shoes of a successful shoemaker, this book is for you. If you are someone who is looking for some sort of inspiration or motivation to help you with your journey, then this book is for you. Although you might not find motivation or inspiring words in their typical form laid down plainly in front of you, you will certainly see it in Phil Knight’s unique personality, character traits and in the trials and triumphs of his entrepreneurship journey.
Best Quotes
- The cowards never started, the weak died along the way, that leaves us.
- In the beginner’s mind there are a lot of possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.
- You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory.. Without victory, there is no survival.
- The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.
Book Summary + Notes:
Idea origination: Born in Portland, Oregon, Phil from a very young age loved to run. All his worries seemed to go away when he ran. That’s how passionate he was about running. At one of his final classes during his time at Stanford, he had written a research paper about shoes where he argued that Japanese took over the camera market which was once dominated by the Germans. The same thing is possible for the shoe market as well. Being a runner, Phil knew something about running shoes and thus thought that Japanese running shoes had the quality to dominate the USA market. The research paper had evolved from a run-of-the-mill assignment to an all-out obsession. The Idea captivated him so much that he pondered going to Japan, finding a shoe company and pitching them his crazy idea about importing shoes to America.
First Action: The year was 1962. Phil wanted to leave this mark in the world. But he found the idea quite impossible and illogical to fulfill if he himself does not go out there and see it. So he convinced his family, took some money from his father along with his savings and set off on a personal life voyage with his best friend, Carter. Their first destination was Hawaii where they stayed for a long time. Carter fell in love with a girl and decided to stay in Hawaii. Japan was calling Phil, so he abandoned his friend to stay in Hawaii and flew to Japan all on his own, despite the fact that Japan and America had a bitter public relation after World War 2. Upon landing in Japan, he did some sightseeing, met some people and most importantly landed an appointment with Onitsuka, a Japanese shoe manufacturing company. He received a warm and humbling welcome from the people of Onitsuka, clearly indicating that the Japanese had put the war cleanly behind them. Phil, during the meeting was challenged to instantly come up with a company name which he was there to represent. The name “Blue Ribbons” just came rolling out of his mouth. He pitched his Crazy Idea to Onitsuka’s board of executives which began something like “Gentlemen, the American shoe market is enormous. And largely untapped. If Onitsuka can penetrate that market, if Onitsuka can get its Tigers into American stores and price them to undercut Adidas, which most American athletes now wear, it could be a hugely profitable venture”. Turns out that Onitsuka was already thinking about penetrating the American Shoe market and was highly interested in “Blue Ribbons” to represent them there. Phil’s Crazy Idea saw its first successful execution. He gave Onitsuka the first order for twelve pairs of shoes. He then continued his world voyage, traveling to various countries like India, Italy, France, Vietnam, Greece and many more.
Heartbreak: Returning from the world tour, Phil was in need of money. So he started doing a job as an accountant in an accounting firm. The “Tiger” shoes of Onitsuka arrived from Japan in 1964 that he ordered in 1962. Phil went into a 50-50 partnership with his coach Bowerman, who was quite an expert about running shoes and a person who Phil genuinely respected. When “Blue Ribbons” got to be the exclusive distributor of Tiger shoes in the western United States, Phil quit his job as an accountant and started selling shoes to the local coaches, runners and the fans. Sales were great just because of Phil’s unwavering belief that if people got out and ran a few miles everyday, the World would be a better place and he believed that those Tiger shoes were just better to run in. Life was good until things got bad when a powerful influencer type guy sent him a letter that said he would be the sole distributor of the Japanese shoe “Tigers” of the Onitsuka company even though Phil had an agreement with the company. To sort this matter out he went back to Japan for a meeting with Onitsuka. The threat of replacing the distributor was mitigated but during that trip to Japan something else happened. He decided to climb Mount Fuji which according to his guidebook had many ways to descend but only one way to ascend (life lesson in there). During the climb Phil met Sarah, a beautiful young lady who was fascinated by Phil’s great World Adventure a few years ago, The two got into a romantic relationship which unfortunately didn’t last very long because Sarah’s rich daddy won’t allow her to date a measly little shoe company owner. Phil got his heart broken pretty badly and took quite some time to get his focus back into the business.
The Blue Ribbons was doing good but not good enough to sustain Phil’s life. So he decided to join back as an accountant in a company where he met Hayes who had a tremendous knowledge about numbers. Phil started hanging around with him a lot, drinking beers after work and all. Later down the line Hayes became an invaluable member of the company.
Phil switched his job to become an assistant professor of accounting in the Portland State University which would pay his bills as Blue Ribbons still couldn’t afford a salary for its cofounder. He found something priceless while teaching there. He met Penelope Parks, a student in Phil’s class who joined Blue Ribbons as a part time employee and later went on to become Penelope Knight.
In 1971, Kitami, the guy who was then in charge of Onitsuka came to visit America and Blue Ribbons. He was disappointed with their sales, even though it was double the year before. At one point Kitami offered to buy 51% of Blue Ribbons shares to take charge of the company and its sales. If Blue Ribbons didn’t accept the offer they threatened to cut them off and do business with Blue Ribbons competitors. Phil illegally got his hands on some papers from Kitami’s briefcase and got to know that this whole scenario was formulated beforehand by Onitsuka and some Blue Ribbons competitor. Meanwhile, Blue Ribbons bank no longer wanted to deal with them either because of their cash flow problem and some other commercial matters. All these drama led Phil to the decision to look for another financier and supplier. NIssho, a Japanese financing company lent a hand when Phil needed it the most. And with NIssho’s network Blue Ribbons was able to find an alternative supplier in case Onitsuka backstabs. When Phil was making a deal with this Mexican Factory as Blue Ribbons secret supplier, Johnson, Blue Ribbons 2nd employee called and said the name “Nike” came to him in his dreams. Phil could also relate to this name as he first encountered it during his trip to Greece. Nike, The Goddess of Victory. The Logo “Swoosh” came into play as in Swoosh!, the sound of someone going past you.
With their new company Nike all set up and shoes being manufactured in the Mexican factory, Phil decided to attend a fair where they came across the Onitsuka, completely pissing them off. Onitsuka filed a case against them, which Blue Ribbons eventually won and legally received a hefty amount of 400k as compensation from Onitsuka for causing business damage and breach of contract. There were some other legal battles that Phil and Blue Ribbons had to fight after winning the case with Onitsuka. One was with the bank that claimed that Blue Ribbons owed them a large sum of money. This matter was settled by Nissho, Nike’s new financing partner. Later on, the big blow came from the government of America. A formal notice came to Phil that Nike owed the government 25 million dollars as taxes, import fee etc. Nothing seemed to work to make this matter dissolve away until the final aid came from an employee through whom Phil got to set up a meeting with the senator of Oregon. Using the senator’s connection this matter got settled for 10 million dollars.
Phil and his close associates were called Buttfaces. The Buttfaces were never interested in going public with the company because they thought they would lose grip over the company. But eventually they came to the realization that the company won’t grow unless they go public and solve the cash flow problem once and for all. By the time Nike decided to go public, they were already a household for the American. Everyone just seemed to need a pair of Nike. Nike and Apple went public on the same day December 2nd 1980. Both were 22 dollars a share. To prove how successful this move was, Phil’s friend and employee, Woodell’s parents, helped Phil with 8 thousand dollars in his desperate time which was now worth 1.6 million dollars overnight.
Today, Nike is a global powerhouse and never had to look back from then on. All because of the vision and determination of Phil Knight and his team. Phil is now the chairman of the company, living peacefully and oftentimes reminiscing about the golden times of forming this behemoth of a company. I will now yield the floor to Phil Knight, who will share a few words with you all.
“I’d tell you to hit pause, think long and hard about how you want to spend your time and with whom you want to spend it for the next forty years. I’d tell men and women in their mid twenties not to settle for a job or a profession or even a career. Seek a calling. Even if you don’t know what that means, seek it. If you are following your calling the fatigue will be easier to bear, the disappointments will be fuel and the highs will be like nothing you’ve ever felt before. Its the law of nature to always have a bull’s eye on your back. No matter what, press on.”
