Shoe Dog

🚀 The Book in 3 Sentences

Phil Knight is an incredibly inspirational person: very courageous, smart and well intentioned. Nike is a great example of how interesting, difficult, stressful and rewarding it is to start a company. This book made me smile, I laughed a lot, I cried and was genuinely amazed by his observations and life story.
The rise of Nike shows that if you believe in your ideas, think outside the box and stay true to your values, there’s no limit on what you can accomplish [blinkist].
Life is never linear, its full of ups and downs, its a rollercoaster. Truly brave people feel fear, yet they persevere. A passionate group of misfits is capable of truly world changing events, given the right environment and a bit of luck.

🎨 Impressions

A very heartwarming and honest story about how Nike came to be. It starts with the journey of Phil (Buck) Knight around the world, which he beautifully connects to future events of his personal and work life. He starts his company with a group of quirky misfits that are tremendously passionate about the mission of the company and running. He takes on massive challenges in order to take Nike to superstardom, including several lawsuits (one from the US government), factory issues, family issues and life rollercoasters x10.

Who Should Read It?

Anyone who enjoyes reading biographies, this is certainly one of the best I’ve read.
Individuals interested in starting their own companies or who already have their own.
People who lack motivation or would like to find inspiration in other peoples lives.

☘️ How the Book Changed Me

It made me appreciate the difficult trajectory of successful companies CEOs, or at least Nike’s. Since entrepreneurship is something I’m quite interested in.
“Luck favours the brave” is certainly one of the key takeaways from this book. Throughout many chapters of this book Nike suffered tremendous existential crisis, they managed to endure through luck, hard and smart work, braveness, determination and a sense of fairness.
Leading from the front is absolutely essential for anyone who wants to become a leader in their sector. Having a sense of fairness, working hard, being humble and kind is essential for having a group of people being passionate about your mission.
Despite things look extraordinarily impressive from the outside, life can be hard. Phil suffered an incredible family tragedy when he was at the top, his success didn’t stop his suffering.
Having a partner that sticks with you through thick and thin is essential for being able to live a happy and fulfilling life. “Alone you will go faster, together you will go further”. Phil’s wife is an extraordinaire example of how a supportive partner means everything for being able to achieve professional and family success.
Nike didn’t have the brightest set of people, but they were incredibly passionate about the company. Reminds me a lot of “Start with the why” by Simon Sinek.

✍️ My Top 3 Quotes

I’d like to share the experience, the ups and downs, so that some young man or woman, somewhere, going through the same trials and ordeals, might be inspired or comforted. Or warned. Some young entrepreneur, maybe, some athlete or painter or novelist, might press on. It’s all the same drive. The same dream. It would be nice to help them avoid the typical discouragements. I’d tell them to hit pause, think long and hard about how they want to spend their time, and with whom they want to spend it for the next forty years. I’d tell men and women in their midtwenties 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’re following your calling, the fatigue will be easier to bear, the disappointments will be fuel, the highs will be like nothing you’ve ever felt.
Sometimes you have to give up. Sometimes knowing when to give up, when to try something else, is genius. Giving up doesn’t mean stopping. Don’t ever stop.
So why was selling shoes so different? Because, I realized, it wasn’t selling. I believed in running. I believed that if people got out and ran a few miles every day, the world would be a better place, and I believed these shoes were better to run in. People, sensing my belief, wanted some of that belief for themselves.

Highlights from the book

In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few. —Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind
What if there were a way, without being an athlete, to feel what athletes feel? To play all the time, instead of working? Or else to enjoy work so much that it becomes essentially the same thing.
Let everyone else call your idea crazy . . . just keep going. Don’t stop. Don’t even think about stopping until you get there, and don’t give much thought to where “there” is. Whatever comes, just don’t stop.
I wanted to experience what the Chinese call Tao, the Greeks call Logos, the Hindus call Jñāna, the Buddhists call Dharma. What the Christians call Spirit.
I was a linear thinker, and according to Zen linear thinking is nothing but a delusion, one of the many that keep us unhappy. Reality is nonlinear, Zen says. No future, no past. All is now.
Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.
So why was selling shoes so different? Because, I realized, it wasn’t selling. I believed in running. I believed that if people got out and ran a few miles every day, the world would be a better place, and I believed these shoes were better to run in. People, sensing my belief, wanted some of that belief for themselves.
People often went out of their way to mock runners. Drivers would slow down and honk their horns. “Get a horse!” they’d yell, throwing a beer or soda at the runner’s head.
Again and again I learned that lack of equity was a leading cause of failure.
But I’d also have some valuable wisdom, which I could apply to the next business. Wisdom seemed an intangible asset, but an asset all the same, one that justified the risk.
The single easiest way to find out how you feel about someone. Say goodbye.
Leaning back in my recliner each night, staring at the ceiling, I tried to settle myself. I told myself: Life is growth. You grow or you die.
“No brilliant idea was ever born in a conference room,” he assured the Dane. “But a lot of silly ideas have died there,” said Stahr. —F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Last Tycoon
The cowards never started and the weak died along the way. That leaves us, ladies and gentlemen. Us. Referring to the people that made it to Oregon.
above all, I regret not spending more time with my sons. Maybe, if I had, I could’ve solved the encrypted code of Matthew Knight. And yet I know that this regret clashes with my secret regret—that I can’t do it all over again.
I’d like to share the experience, the ups and downs, so that some young man or woman, somewhere, going through the same trials and ordeals, might be inspired or comforted. Or warned. Some young entrepreneur, maybe, some athlete or painter or novelist, might press on. It’s all the same drive. The same dream. It would be nice to help them avoid the typical discouragements. I’d tell them to hit pause, think long and hard about how they want to spend their time, and with whom they want to spend it for the next forty years. I’d tell men and women in their midtwenties 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’re following your calling, the fatigue will be easier to bear, the disappointments will be fuel, the highs will be like nothing you’ve ever felt.
I’d like to warn the best of them, the iconoclasts, the innovators, the rebels, that they will always have a bull’s-eye on their backs. The better they get, the bigger the bull’s-eye. It’s not one man’s opinion; it’s a law of nature.
I’d like to remind them that America isn’t the entrepreneurial Shangri-La people think. Free enterprise always irritates the kinds of trolls who live to block, to thwart, to say no, sorry, no. And it’s always been this way. Entrepreneurs have always been outgunned, outnumbered. They’ve always fought uphill, and the hill has never been steeper. America is becoming less entrepreneurial, not more. A Harvard Business School study recently ranked all the countries of the world in terms of their entrepreneurial spirit. America ranked behind Peru.
Sometimes you have to give up. Sometimes knowing when to give up, when to try something else, is genius. Giving up doesn’t mean stopping. Don’t ever stop.
Luck plays a big role. Yes, I’d like to publicly acknowledge the power of luck. Athletes get lucky, poets get lucky, businesses get lucky. Hard work is critical, a good team is essential, brains and determination are invaluable, but luck may decide the outcome. Some people might not call it luck. They might call it Tao, or Logos, or Jñāna, or Dharma. Or Spirit. Or God. Put it this way. The harder you work, the better your Tao. And since no one has ever adequately defined Tao, I now try to go regularly to mass. I would tell them: Have faith in yourself, but also have faith in faith. Not faith as others define it. Faith as you define it. Faith as faith defines itself in your heart.

Blinkist notes

So how did Nike grow to become the company it is today?

Although he wasn't always sure what winning meant to him, Phil knew that he didn’t want to lose.

This was partly due to a fear of disappointing his father and partly because he thought work should be both playful and meaningful. The combination convinced him that he had to avoid a passive life that just seemed to “slip” by.

So while Phil knew that taking Nike public could solve some financial problems, his desire to keep his business playful and fun made him hesitant to do so.