Shoe Dog by Phil Night
Phil Knight
From the biography of Shoe Dog, I learned of all the amazing obstacles that Phil Night had to overcome as creator of Nike. I was surprised to learn that Knight actually began his entrepreneurial story as a company named Blue Ribbon by selling a Japanese shoe called "Tigers". He found this shoe to be superior to what was currently sold in the United States, thus he decided he wanted to be the first to sell this shoe in the Western Hemisphere.
What I admire most about Knight is his persistence throughout his whole journey within the shoe business. He faced many difficult challenges, and instead of giving up like I am sure most people would do in his position, he pushed through until he was successful. He did not take "no" for an answer. He knew the value that he was bringing to the market, and worked arduously until this value was recognized. For example, Onitsuka of the Japanese shoe company tried to sue Knight because of his involvement with other shoe companies. Knight had to think on his feet quickly, and hire cousin who was a lawyer to be able to handle the situation. This brought Knight and his company to their breaking point, using all their resources and strategies to fight the case. Knight came out successful, and in the long run was able to create his own shoes rather than sell somebody else's.
What I least admired about Knight was the relationships that he severed in the name of businesses. For example, his long-time partner, Strasser, had a passed away before Knight and him could resolve their issues. According to Knight, Strasser no longer wanted to take orders from anyone and broke from Nike to join Adidas (372). Although this was a huge act of betrayal, it did not seem as though Knight took any initiative to work on their friendship after that event.
Knight was faced with great adversities and failures. In every case, he pursed to correct the wrongs, and build the company even stronger. An example of this was when he released the first line of air shoes. He had to issue a huge recall, because the paint was sharp and popped the air in the shoes out. However, he fixed it and was able to continue to profit.
The competencies that Knight had was his perseverance, ability to lead others, determination, spontaneity, influence when speaking with others, and his belief in his company. I think of all his attributes, the belief he had in his own company was the most important. This is what drove his each and every day to accomplish his goals and fight his challenges.
One part of reading that was confusing
A part of the reading that I found confusing was the argument that Knight had with his board about 'going public'. I did not really understand what this meant, and why some were and were not in favor of going public. I do not think this was well addressed in the book, but it seemed to be a big issue as Nike began to grow big.
Two questions I would ask Knight
From the biography of Shoe Dog, I learned of all the amazing obstacles that Phil Night had to overcome as creator of Nike. I was surprised to learn that Knight actually began his entrepreneurial story as a company named Blue Ribbon by selling a Japanese shoe called "Tigers". He found this shoe to be superior to what was currently sold in the United States, thus he decided he wanted to be the first to sell this shoe in the Western Hemisphere.
What I admire most about Knight is his persistence throughout his whole journey within the shoe business. He faced many difficult challenges, and instead of giving up like I am sure most people would do in his position, he pushed through until he was successful. He did not take "no" for an answer. He knew the value that he was bringing to the market, and worked arduously until this value was recognized. For example, Onitsuka of the Japanese shoe company tried to sue Knight because of his involvement with other shoe companies. Knight had to think on his feet quickly, and hire cousin who was a lawyer to be able to handle the situation. This brought Knight and his company to their breaking point, using all their resources and strategies to fight the case. Knight came out successful, and in the long run was able to create his own shoes rather than sell somebody else's.
What I least admired about Knight was the relationships that he severed in the name of businesses. For example, his long-time partner, Strasser, had a passed away before Knight and him could resolve their issues. According to Knight, Strasser no longer wanted to take orders from anyone and broke from Nike to join Adidas (372). Although this was a huge act of betrayal, it did not seem as though Knight took any initiative to work on their friendship after that event.
Knight was faced with great adversities and failures. In every case, he pursed to correct the wrongs, and build the company even stronger. An example of this was when he released the first line of air shoes. He had to issue a huge recall, because the paint was sharp and popped the air in the shoes out. However, he fixed it and was able to continue to profit.
The competencies that Knight had was his perseverance, ability to lead others, determination, spontaneity, influence when speaking with others, and his belief in his company. I think of all his attributes, the belief he had in his own company was the most important. This is what drove his each and every day to accomplish his goals and fight his challenges.
One part of reading that was confusing
A part of the reading that I found confusing was the argument that Knight had with his board about 'going public'. I did not really understand what this meant, and why some were and were not in favor of going public. I do not think this was well addressed in the book, but it seemed to be a big issue as Nike began to grow big.
Two questions I would ask Knight
- At what point did you consider Nike successful?
- I would want to ask Knight this because it seemed that for the majority of his shoe career, he was usually struggling or never seem fulfilled in what he was accomplishing. Knight always sought more for the company and vision.
- Why did you never give up on your company?
- Knight was sued twice, once by a Japanese company, and another time by the US government. In both these cases, had he lost, his company would have gone out of business. However, he pushed through these enormous obstacles and it eventually payed off. However, from his position, he could not yet see the results.
For Fun
I think that Knight's definition of hard work would be constantly pursuing the goal until it becomes a reality. No obstacle is big enough if your dream is bigger. I would share this opinion because I do believe that individuals are capable of amazing feats when they truly have a vision. I see that anything is possible when you have a clear dream.
Hi Perla!
ReplyDeleteIt's so amazing how Knight was able to keep striving on and persevering even after being sued twice. It's easy to see now, because Nike is such a big company, that it's so worth to stick through with it to the end. But at the time, it's so cool to see that Knight kept pushing for his company to succeed despite not knowing where it's future lie.