Review by Tanner Hafen
Book: Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike (2016) by Phil Knight
If you have a Crazy Idea, you’re in good company. Shoe Dog, the memoir of Nike founder Phil Knight, doesn’t read like your typical “business book,” but it does bring confidence to the budding entrepreneur. Through the story of the beginnings of what started as Blue Ribbon Sports, Knight, in an intimate and human way, tells the story of one of the world’s most-beloved companies and teaches important lessons, for business and life, along the way.
A common theme from the very beginning of Nike is that good ideas can be difficult to recognize. From Knight’s original “Crazy Idea” to sell Japanese shoes in the American market, to the Swoosh logo so ubiquitous and iconic today, to endorsing a hot-headed tennis player named John McEnroe, good ideas likely won’t be recognized as such by most people. This is clearly illustrated in Blue Ribbon’s efforts to come up with a new name for this shoe company; it is unimaginable to think that the perfect name, “Nike,” was nearly beat out by “Falcon” or, horrifyingly, “Dimension Six.” Knight shows us that taking a risk on an unproven idea can lead to big rewards.
Perhaps, in the success of an entrepreneurial enterprise, good people are more important than good ideas. Knight illustrates this throughout his memoir, as he shows how business partners and family members all played invaluable roles in the success of Nike. It’s important to see, too, that many of these founding members of Nike weren’t your typical business magnates. Knight shows us that the people who will help you succeed might just be the last ones you’d expect.
Though it’s a cliché, one of the most important lessons an entrepreneur can take from Shoe Dog is to do something that you believe in. If he didn’t believe in what he was doing, it is doubtful Knight could have overcome his innate shyness and distaste for sales to sell his first batch of shoes out of the trunk of his Plymouth Valiant. Who knows if he could have endured the instability of several years with no salary as fledgling Blue Ribbon’s CEO? In Knight’s own words, “Seek a calling…If you’re following your calling, the fatigue will be easier to bear, the disappointments will be fuel, the highs will be like nothing you’ve ever felt.”
Shoe Dog is thoroughly readable, entertaining, and thought-provoking. Instead of just recounting dates, data, and important decisions, it allows the reader to enter the mind of one of the world’s great business leaders. Such a glimpse into Phil Knight’s inner workings is surely invaluable for any entrepreneur with a Crazy Idea.
