In his autobiography “Shoe Dog,” Knight passionately explains the highs and lows of founding a shoe brand like Nike. Of the many lessons that Knight cites and teaches in this book, we examine only two important leadership lessons.
Phil Knight, the founder of Nike - one of the world's largest sports brands - was 24 years old when he founded Blue Ribbon Sports with his running coach in 1964. This shoe company was originally a distributor for the Japanese shoemaker Onitsuka Tiger, but Knight soon noticed that the demand for running shoes continued to grow and therefore decided to start manufacturing shoes himself. In this way, the foundation stone of the Nike empire that we know today was unknowingly laid. Market value: around 90 billion dollars. In his autobiography “Shoe Dog,” Knight passionately explains the highs and lows of founding a shoe brand like Nike. Of the many lessons that Knight cites and teaches in this book, we examine only two important leadership lessons.
It was no coincidence that Knight, together with his running coach Bill Bowerman, started importing shoes from Japan. Both gentlemen had an enormous passion for sports. As a coach at the University of Oregon, Bowerman tried to get the most out of his athletes and the equipment. As soon as new running shoes arrived from Japan, Bowerman immediately took the shoe apart to investigate what could be improved to improve the running performance of his pupils. Knight, on the other hand, was trying to sell running shoes at a time when running wasn't even practiced as a recreational sport. Yet he managed to sell every import to the man. This passion, this obsession was the driving force behind Blue Ribbon Sports and was an important safety net in times when things were not going well.
The lesson we can learn from Knight is simply you to pursue passion. Passion provides an inexhaustible source of energy, converting your intrinsic motivations into actions.
Contrary to what you might think, Knight is not the brain behind the iconic swoosh (the logo), the innovative “waffle soles” or the name Nike itself. In fact, Knight even proposed to continue under the company name “Dimension Six”. This name means something slightly different, so it was not surprising that everyone in the company was against it. It was also a sign that coming up with a company name was not Knight's strong point. What Knight did excel in is putting together a team. Take, for example, Nike's first employee: Jef Jonhson. Like Knight, Johnson was a professional runner and a competitor of Knight's in college. But competitor or not, one thing was certain: Johnson had an enormous passion for running. Johnson's appointment turned out to be a golden move, because Johnson was a fanatic about selling running shoes and he was the one who came up with the name Nike. But not only with Johnson, the same applied when hiring other future people: everyone had something to do with sports and was a pure team player. This fit Nike's culture and was necessary given Knight's strong vision.
The second lesson is not to hire someone based solely on qualifications, check whether someone also agrees with the company's objectives and vision.
For more insight into how Phil Knight built the Nike empire, read his book Shoe Dog!
