Book Babble #1: My reflections on… Shoe Dog

The story behind the swoosh!

I do love a good auto-bio and they can vary a fair bit. Everyone has a story to tell and it’s especially interesting to hear about successful people and the struggles they had on the way to the top.

Here we have Phil Knight who was the Founder of the shoe (and subsequently) clothing company, Nike. I’m sure we’re all familiar with the brand but perhaps less so with Mr Knight himself.

I referenced this book in a post just before Christmas as I liked the particular passage about belief. Check out that post for more but here it is below for ease of reference.

Driving back to Portland I’d puzzle over my sudden success at selling. I’d been unable to sell encyclopedias, and I’d despised it to boot. I’d been slightly better at selling mutual funds, but I’d felt dead inside. 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. Belief, I decided. Belief is irresistible.

Something for us all to consider. It was never about ‘selling’ per se. More about belief. A point that’s been made many times, but hey, let’s make it some more as it is so important. The Key. (Not to mention the power of running too, but we'll leave that to other posts!)

Here we have a guy that by his own admittance wasn’t the most socially smooth person, suffered from odd mannerisms and tics… but also had a vision and took his chances along the way. He was well supported by those around him although it wasn’t always smooth sailing.

The Lay-out

I like the way the book is laid out, it’s in chronological order, so each chapter represents a year and goes from 1962 up to 1980, then jumps to the present day to wrap up.

In the book; we learn about the name and how it came to be (Nike was the goddess of victory in Greek mythology), that the company was formerly called Blue Ribbon (and that was made up on a whim), various travel escapades and moments when important decisions were reached.

In his younger days, Knight did various globetrotting and later on had multiple visits to Japan where he and Nike did a lot of their business over the years.

Classic Quotes

Here I’ll share a few quotes I highlighted in the book, and add some thoughts of my own where appropriate.

“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

Maintaining an open and fresh mind. Looking through the eyes of the beginner, wherever you are in the journey.

Like books, sports give people a sense of having lived other lives, of taking part in other people’s victories. And defeats. When sports are at their best, the spirit of the fan merges with the spirit of the athlete, and in that convergence, in that transference, is the oneness that the mystics talk about.

Getting in the zone. Using your imagination to transport you to ‘another place’. Team spirit, camaraderie and community.

We were the kind of people who simply couldn’t put up with corporate nonsense. We were the kind of people who wanted our work to be play. But meaningful play. We were trying to slay Goliath, and though Strasser was bigger than two Goliaths, at heart he was an utter David. We were trying to create a brand, I said, but also a culture. We were fighting against conformity, against boringness, against drudgery. More than a product, we were trying to sell an idea—a spirit. I don’t know if I ever fully understood who we were and what we were doing until I heard myself saying it all that day to Strasser.

I know the feeling ;). Loving what you do, challenging the status quo and building a brand & movement.

It was us against the world, and we felt damned sorry for the world.

Relentless tigers. Pursuing their goals. Although everyone might not be on board, they would continue chasing their vision.

The cowards never started and the weak died along the way. That leaves us, ladies and gentlemen. Us.

It can be a lonely road to success and few people pursue it, and those that do tend to give up on the way.

"You measure yourself by the people who measure themselves by you."
From The Bucket List, Jack Nicholson/Morgan Freeman

Personally, I didn’t think much of the movie The Bucket List, but Knight references it in the book. If people are admiring you and trying to emulate you, then you’re doing something right!

"To study the self is to forget the self."

Deep, man. A little tricky and somewhat Zen, but we’ll give it a go!

When Nike came under attack for conditions in our overseas factories—the so-called sweatshop controversy. Whenever reporters said a factory was unsatisfactory, they never said how much better it was than the day we first went in. They never said how hard we’d worked with our factory partners to upgrade conditions, to make them safer and cleaner. They never said these factories weren’t ours, that we were renters, one among many tenants. They simply searched until they found a worker with complaints about conditions, and they used that worker to vilify us, and only us, knowing our name would generate maximum publicity.

This one is quite an important quote, as it references some of the issues people have with big companies. I actually got a comment on my last post re this book questioning Nike’s practices in foreign factories.

Of course, the above quote is written by the head of said company so will be presented in a positive light, but also, there is far more to it than meets the eye. We have no way of knowing for sure what goes on, good or bad. Only what filters through the media which may be biased also.

It sounds like Nike (and perhaps other companies like Apple etc) actually improve the situation and make progress. As he says, they are renting and can only do so much… and there will always be someone with a complaint. In fact, I was one and I never worked in particularly bad conditions in the grand scheme of things. We can all be prone to exaggeration.

That’s not to say there can’t be further improvements, but let’s not be quick to judge either way. Ultimately, it's a business and a business exists to make money, plain and simple. Of course, it's good to follow best practices where possible but you will never be able to please all of the people.

To sum up

So, worth a read, especially if you are in to auto-bios of successful companies and people. It takes you on a journey of discovery of what is now a hugely successful company and brand. It was never an easy ride, with the company on the edge of failure for many years. Somehow, some way (and with the help of some loyal associates), Knight and Nike kept going and went to the moon!

For many years, they were overshadowed by Adidas which was the established and traditional company at the time. Nike came along as an alternative; new, fresh and innovative and growing from humble beginnings. It just goes to show what can be done!

Were Nike the Hive of their era and sector??

Check out the others in the series…

Book Babble #1: My reflections on… Shoe Dog - A Memoir by the Creator of Nike

The Lay-out

Classic Quotes

To sum up