About Phil Knight
Overview and Thoughts about the Book
In Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike, Phil Knight takes the reader on a front seat ride through his journey from borrowing $50 from his father to start a shoe company to creating one of the most profitable retail brands in the world. As many others have said before, including Warren Buffet in his 2016 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter, "Phil is a very wise, intelligent and competitive fellow who is also a gifted storyteller."In a time where Adidas and Puma dominated the shoe market, Phil Knight and his business partner and coach Bill Bowerman overcame tremendous odds to create a company to compete on the same level. Phil takes us through with tremendous detail his business negotiations with not only the Japanese manufacturers, but his bankers, employees, how he met his wife, and even chalks up a couple life lessons he's learned along the way.
“What if there were a way, without being an athlete, to feel what athletes feel? To play all the time, instead of working? Or else to enjoy work so much it becomes essentially the same thing.” —Phil Knight
He reveals his secrets of how he become a successful entrepreneur. In the early days while working on Blue Ribbon, Phil juggled working firstly with Price Waterhouse, and then Coopers & Lybrand. Then became an accounting professor at Portland State University (PSU). The reason he did so was so that he could stay on his feet or in effect somewhat hedge his bet against his business, while growing his business at the same time. But, he quickly quit both to focus on shoes.
As someone who has been more curious about how businesses thrive and build competitive advantages, Phil offers enormous insight using Nike as somewhat of a case study. He had a great business partner in Bill Bowerman who was constantly inventing and improving shoes for his Olympic athletes. In addition, his extreme passion for sports and shoes helped him get through the ups and downs. By combining constant innovation from feedback from athletes on the highest levels, athletic endorsements, and shrewd manufacturing tactics, Nike became what it is now today.