Not many are familiar with him, but most of us have bought the products he inspired. Phil Knight is the founder of Nike, the inescapable, all-around sportswear company. Introducing Nike as a sporstwear company feels like introducing coffee as a beverage; there is hardly anyone that has not heard of it. Most of us even have an opinion of its products. The name of Phil Knight, on the other hand, probably won't ring a bell for anyone except the most ardent Nike fans. His face isn't recognizable either. He once ran into Bill Gates and Warren Buffet outside a movie theather and realized that passers-by could only identify two out of the three, even though his personal wealth is on a similar level.
Phil Knight was brought up in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon. At the University of Oregon, he trained under legendary track and field coach Bill Bowerman, who would later become the cofounder of Blue Ribbon, Nike's predecessor. Having graduated, Knight decided to travel around the world to visit spiritual places such as Mount Fuji and the Ganges river. At the same time he dreamed of putting an old business plan in action: importing running shoes from Japan.
The trips to post-war Japan are some of the more memorable parts of an otherwise adequate but not extremely titillating book. Knight took an amazing leap of faith by ordering untested foreign running shoes to import to the United States. He sent most of his money to the Onitsuka company as an advance for his first order. There was no explosive beginning, just a series of years, when Nike grew slowly and struggled to raise cash for growth. First the shoes were sold from Knight's parents' home, then from a small office, then from one store in California. At the time, ordering and producing the shoes was slow, so Knight was constantly on edge, as he waited for the next shipment to arrive.
Shoe Dog is mostly pop culture and meant for casual fans. There is a business book in there somewhere as well. Knight is not an ideal leader, he says so himself, and his gaffs are both heartbraking and hilarious. You can trace his development from a wide-eyed twenty-something into a pin-stripe suited corporate master. As he yells at his colleagues and tries to outsmart his suppliers, you can feel his idealistic past peel off. Whether or not this is intentional, I cannot say. It is this arch from idealism to capitalism that drives the reader's interest. Will he completely abandon his principles at the altar of the goddess of victory?
Phil Knight was brought up in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon. At the University of Oregon, he trained under legendary track and field coach Bill Bowerman, who would later become the cofounder of Blue Ribbon, Nike's predecessor. Having graduated, Knight decided to travel around the world to visit spiritual places such as Mount Fuji and the Ganges river. At the same time he dreamed of putting an old business plan in action: importing running shoes from Japan.
The trips to post-war Japan are some of the more memorable parts of an otherwise adequate but not extremely titillating book. Knight took an amazing leap of faith by ordering untested foreign running shoes to import to the United States. He sent most of his money to the Onitsuka company as an advance for his first order. There was no explosive beginning, just a series of years, when Nike grew slowly and struggled to raise cash for growth. First the shoes were sold from Knight's parents' home, then from a small office, then from one store in California. At the time, ordering and producing the shoes was slow, so Knight was constantly on edge, as he waited for the next shipment to arrive.
Shoe Dog is mostly pop culture and meant for casual fans. There is a business book in there somewhere as well. Knight is not an ideal leader, he says so himself, and his gaffs are both heartbraking and hilarious. You can trace his development from a wide-eyed twenty-something into a pin-stripe suited corporate master. As he yells at his colleagues and tries to outsmart his suppliers, you can feel his idealistic past peel off. Whether or not this is intentional, I cannot say. It is this arch from idealism to capitalism that drives the reader's interest. Will he completely abandon his principles at the altar of the goddess of victory?