Book Rec: Shoe Dog
This isn’t a romantic tale about Nike. It’s about the grind and struggle.
I’ve been well aware of Nike my whole life. However, its founder, Phil Knight, has been something of a mystery to me. I didn’t know much about him or even what he looked like. The only reason I knew Nike started in Oregon was because of watching University of Oregon football and basketball and gazing at their revolving door of uniform sets. “They got that Nike money,” a phrase I’ve heard numerous times on sports talk radio. For such an impactful cultural company, I’ve known little about their founder or how they started.
Phil Knight’s memoir, Shoe Dog, came out a couple years ago. I remembered my friend/old roommate reading it. He was a fan, especially with his love of sports and design (He works for a shoe company in NY now). Another friend swore by the book. It hardened his entrepreneur convictions. As an entrepreneur myself, Shoe Dog seemed like a fine book to read over Christmas break.
I sensed Knight wanted to get this story off his chest—I can relate to that—but certainly not on his scale! He reflects on the origin of Nike, which gets lost under the weight of the company’s global dominance. It can be hard to imagine, but Nike was once an underdog! Shoe Dog explores the founder’s values and the company’s early mission that drove it through numerous challenges.
Knight’s writing style is easy to digest. Each chapter is a year, starting in 1962 and ending in 1980. He uses “running” metaphors throughout the book. “Whatever comes, don’t stop.” If you’re a runner, you’ll love this. I’m not a runner myself—and have zero interest in becoming one—but they’re easy to follow.
I kept reading, anticipating the moment Nike signed Michael Jordan. But it never came. Most of the book is about the back and forth with the Japanese shoe company, Onitsuka. Shoe Dog is about business, competition, and struggle. I appreciate that though because it made it more relatable to me.
Some things that stuck out to me
- Knight spent a ton of time going back and forth from Japan. This was less than twenty years after World War II. Only a generation earlier, the relatives of Knight and Knight’s partners were trying to kill each other. It reminds me of our capability to forgive, and how younger and fresher perspectives can move peace forward.
- There’s little “ra-ra” around Knight himself. He comes across genuine: he acknowledges his strengths and calls himself out on his miscues or bad decisions. Above all, I feel much of his success comes down to understanding the personalities and strengths of people around him and placing them in the best situations to win.
- It was so much more difficult to be an entrepreneur in the 60’s and 70’s than it is now. It’s so much cheaper and easier to find the people and tools to grow your business. As someone with a business, I’m so glad I live in 2018!
Shoe Dog isn’t a romantic story of a founder reminiscing about his company’s early success. It’s obvious that Phil Knight wrote his memoir with future entrepreneurs in mind. His focuses on the grind and the struggle because each reader knows how the story eventually turns out.
Keep running and don’t stop.
Have you read this book before? What do you think?