????10 Vital Lessons from the Creator of Nike— Mr. Phil Knight. ????????

#1 “Let everyone else call your idea crazy…just keep going. Don’t stop.”

– Phil Knight

 

The year was 1962 in a small town in Oregon Phil Knight had an intuition and urge to follow through with what most called a “crazy idea” at the time. Fresh out of completing his undergrad running track at Oregon, and graduate business school at Stanford behind him, he found himself back home with his parents. Staring at his track trophies and blue ribbons in his childhood bed he thought, is this it? Is this life? Now I will find a job I hate, or work with my dad and his business. A feeling I know all too well. In his final research paper in entrepreneurship, Phil wrote on his favorite topic of all running shoes. He argued that similar to how Japanese cameras had made deep cuts into the camera market which had previously been dominated by the Germans—the Japanese could do the same in the American shoe market. Most fell asleep during his presentation but his professor respected his passion on the subject , and granted him an A on the final paper.

 

Unheard of and extremely dangerous at the time Phil could not shake his urge to travel the world alone. He wanted to seek out the best running shoe company in Japan, and pitch to his “crazy idea”. Not coming from an extremely wealthy family it was going to be a long shot but he nervously pitched the idea to his father. He chose a time when he seemed to be in the best of moods, and pleaded for him to fund his trip. He knew very well at the time that 26 out of every 27 new companies failed, and so did his father as a business writer for the Oregon Journal, but to his surprise his father granted him the funds. Later he learned that traveling the world was a dream his father had always wished he could do at Phil’s age. So with tensions still high between the U.S. & Japan post WWII “Buck” , as his father would call him, took off on his adventure to Japan. With no idea what he was doing or how he was going to get what he was looking for. His grandmother was sure to remind him that he would never return and that the Japs would surely cut out his eye balls! Phil planned several stops along the way. Arming himself with knowledge from several diverse historical readings from some of the most influential philosophers and leaders. Phil not only made it to Japan, but successfully pitched to Tiger shoe executives. They would allow him to order samples and be the exclusive U.S. Distributor of Tiger shoes.

 

A common theme I learned with Phil is he didn’t always have a concrete plan and often he would rather get started and adapt to things as they came about, as oppose to, spending too much time planning-as some entrepreneurs continue to do today. “What company do you represent in America Mr. Knight?”, said a Tiger executive before the deal was sealed. Essentially lying and “faking it to make it” the first thought that nervously came into his head were the blue track ribbons sitting on his child hood bed at home. “Blue Ribbon sir, I work for a company called Blue Ribbon in the U.S. .” All the executives nodded in acceptance around the table. The shook hands and he had his first deal. Still having no idea what he was doing, or where he was going with this venture. But he didn’t care because it felt right and he was talking about a subject and passion that he knew he loved.

 Reading books on long train rides back home he loved the Catcher and The Rye, but noted a quote in Naked Lunch he simply didn’t understand at the time:

 “The junk merchant does not sell his product to the consumer. He sells his consumer to the product.” – Naked Lunch

 ______________________________________________________

#2 “The cowards never started, and the weak died along the way-that leaves us.”

– Bill Bowerman

 

A quote instilled by Bill Bowerman, Phil’s first business partner, and genius track coach during his time running at the University of Oregon. Traditionally he pounded this quote home in his pre-event locker room motivational speech to his players. Bowerman would remind his athletes that they were decedents of those remaining of the famous Oregon trail. Most would roll their eyes but Phil remembers locking eyes with coach and nodding in agreement. This quote would have a lasting effect on Phil’s life far after his college years, and throughout the adversity he would encounter along the way of building Nike, Inc. to the brand it is today. From initially hating Bowerman from his tough military styles of coaching-trying to break him-Phil would later return to Bowerman for advice on life. But more specifically Bill was the only man alive he knew that was equally obsessed with running shoes, and improving their performance for runners as much as he was. Bill would go on to Coach the U.S. Olympic team and foster the development of iconic runners like Oregon’s late Steve Prefontaine. An athlete that Phil credits as not only a pioneer in the running world—but in his opinion a huge part of Nike’s launch to success.

 

Both Army veterans, Bowerman would be the first to take a chance on Phil as his first partner. Bowerman would support his initial venture as a silent partner in his company. Always staying out of the business and operational side of things, Bowman would only advise Phil when needed or asked for it. Never the less Bowerman was a true shoe dog. He played a huge role in Nike’s success when it came to inventing initial prototypes, and experimenting with shoe development. Bowerman obsessed with the constant improvement of running shoes for his athletes, and failed his way into creating ground breaking models like the Cortez’s. From trials of mixing rubber with other materials into his wife’s waffle iron, and finally placing them on shoes, Bowerman was a true shoe engineer. He always had new inventions he was constantly working on. From creating material for one of the first artificial clay tracks for runners, to designing his every evolving concoction an electrolyte salt based drink to improve hydration in his runners. Bowerman as Phil recalls was one of the first men that really made him think about what people put on their feet. Bowerman would go on to retire from Olympic coaching after Steve Prefontaines tragic death in a car accident.

 “Somebody may beat me-but they are going to have to bleed to do it.”

 -  Steve Prefountaine

 ______________________________________________________

 #3 “You cannot travel the path until you have become the path yourself.” - Buddha

 

Like the theory of selective attention, Phil would begin to notice the style and trends of shoes on humans along his journey back to Japan more than anything. He was obsessed. I believe Phil realized like many people will tell you today the most important thing is not the goal. Not getting from point A to point B, or simply checking a goal off on your to do list. What is most important is the journey. And getting lost in it. And it will take some time to find your true purpose but when you have found it you will have no doubt. Energy or work ethic will be the last of your problems. When you learn this purpose you will compare every real life ordinary thing back to your passion in your mind. It will become difficult to turn off. You will link it back to what you are working on, and how it relates back to your vision in some form. Only with time and experience he would realize and think back to these many quotes and teachings, finally realizing what each really meant. He was no longer focusing on traveling some linear path but his life was becoming the path. He didn’t care about what the end goal would be, nor did he know. He simply focused on making the most of the present day and remaining in it. Becoming the path. So much for S.M.A.R.T. specific goals we learn in school huh? Phil hated cold calling, pitching sales to strangers, and feared the quota life of typical salesman. But when it was on a product that he honestly cared about, and was passionate about, it felt completely different. Unbelievably natural and easy. Not for a moment did it ever feel like “pitching” anyone again.

_______________________________________________________

#4 “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”

-Confucius

 Reading this quote and the teachings of Confucius on a mountain peak in Hong Kong, staring across at China-this quote of Confucius stuck out with him as he tried to figure out what exactly would be his purpose in life. While the quote almost discouraged him on how long or how much time and energy his endeavors might take it reminded him that above all the single greatest attribute that he or any entrepreneur would need to patiently display was-persistence. Unweathering ridiculous persistence. He found himself obsessed with the readings and teachings of great leaders like Alexander the Great and General George Patton. He hated war, but he loved the warrior spirit. He hated the sword, but he loved the samurai way. More importantly, I feel Phil realized that often times you won’t know how you are going to get things done, but it is far more important to simply get started. You will figure things out along the way. No man can learn without first making a mistake. Fail forward. Learn. Repeat. The teachings of Steve Jobs, I often studied, bared striking resemblances as I continued to learn from Phil along the way. More importantly it took me to my favorite Bruce Lee quote.

 “Balance your thoughts with action. If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.” – Bruce Lee

 ______________________________________________________

#5 “Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.”

– General George S. Patton

 

Although dealing with a generation that some marketing professors would label as baby boomers this quote embellishes the core of Phil’s leadership principles when it came to challenging the first few dozen employees of his company. Especially when delegating responsibilities. It would be at his core competencies for decades to come when it came to his internal team. His leadership style was one of complete macro-managment for lack of better terms. Far ahead of its time in the late 1960’s & 70’s. To him it was very simple—treat his employees exactly how he would want to be treated. The carrot never the stick. Instead of being pushy, negative or over their shoulders he found that giving his trust, and full confidence to them significantly increased their productivity, as well as, their creativity. They would be rewarded with new roles and even deeper intiatives. They felt very much a part of the process, and no idea was a stupid idea.

 

Eventually he would go on to have a once a year retreat. Where anyone could say anything without worrying about being judged. Although not a heavy drinker he encouraged that everyone drink heavily during these retreats. It was encouraged. Let their guards down. Tease and make fun of each other openly in a loving way and no one was to every take it personal. More importantly he also demanded that they not look at him as their boss, and encouraged them to make fun of him as well. A laugh together was everything, and in those moments he felt the best ideas came out for Nike.

 

Year after year everyone would head back to HQ with dozens of new ideas to put out for the following year and try on their own. Now that my friend is leadership. Everyone around him had been fired from their previous jobs, cut from a sports team, told they were crazy-or not good enough. Or even not good looking enough for their previous company. He had a knack for relating to these rebels and hiring exactly that. His most notable and valuable employee in my opinion came from a gentleman who early on in college was a promising runner, and while building a float for a rally went through a freak accident when the float slipped from a colleague’s hand fell on top of him crushing his spine leaving him paralyzed. Rarely did Bowerman get involved in business or recommend employees, but one day Phil got a call from the genius Coach demanding he hire Woodell. And time would later prove Woodell to be one of Nikes most reliable, loyal, and vital employees to its success. Phil would grow immensely close to him.

_______________________________________________________

#6 Athena Nike, The Greek Goddess of Victory.

 As would come with anyone finally bearing the fruits of hard work and success; Phil was visiting high schools and track coaches back home and beginning to thrive. Selling more and more Tigers than the executives in Japan had ever hoped him too. With the attention of this success came-the scavengers. Opportunists who tried to take his hard work but only after all the fruits of his labor began to ripen. As he and Bowerman showed their enthusiasm to improve the tigers and openly shared the feedback constantly to Tiger reps at their Japanese HQ. These same reps were plotting on how they could cut him out and take over. In more detail this will be followed up in #7, but what was more important was "nike", or victory. Not playing to win, but playing to never lose.

 When realizing the talent and value he and his team had not only added to Tiger with the many improvements they were constantly contributing he knew it was time to branch off. They continued were forced to improvise and create his own line and launch. One small problem though-he was completely dependent upon the manufacturing lines of Tigers in Japan, and would remain for several decades—completely broke.

 

One of his first employees, his best sales reps who would go through more adversity than anyone was a gentlemen named Woodell. One night in the final moments of having to choose a new name for Blue Ribbon. Woodell would wheel into Phil’s office to tell him that Johnson (his best sales rep) said that he shot up in the middle of the night and in a dream the name “Nike” came to him. After weeks of Phil coming up the worst names, and not being able find one that worked for his new independence from Tiger— this shocked Phil. He had never shared with Johnson his stories nor the thoughts of his visit to Greece while on his journey of travels. He thought back to his trip where while in Greece he stared for hours at the Temple of the goddess Athena Nike. Athena was thought to be the bringer of “nike”, or victory. She also rewarded deal makers, her stories would write of her stating, “I admire…. the eyes of persuasion.” She was known to be the patron saint of negotiators. What caught Phil’s eye at the time was that in her statue she was bending down to tie her shoe strap. When walking in a hallway at Oregon State he overheard a distressed female artist having trouble finding a job and in dire need of money. Phil offered to help. She would be his first graphic artist who would design Nike iconic symbol . To this day they cannot remember who called it the “swoosh” first, but at a pivotal tradeshow there after as booth visitors laid eyes on the first pair of Nike’s Phil would explain the name behind the Greek goddess. One of the first visitors would point to the logo and ask “what the hell is that?” a swoosh they had agreed. What the hell is a swoosh? Completely winging it on impulse Phil would say the sound you will make when running pass the guy in front. The group of booth visitors all smiled and nodded in agreement. Again, the junk merchant does not sell his product to the consumer. He sells his consumer to the product.”

 ______________________________________________________

 #7 “You are remembered for the rules you break.”

– Douglas MacArthur

 From the Case vs. Tiger for independence mentioned above, to many more legal conflicts that would arise overall Phil always did his best to show integrity. Honesty was key. Although at times this would often lead to more conflict and back-stabbing. Honesty he felt in the end would lead the way. At a time of questioning decisions that may not be the most honest thing to do he would think back to this quote from MacArthur. Of all the great fighting men in history Phil found MacArthur the most compelling. And if a time arose when he knew that he was simply not the bully that was being treated unjust or unfairly He would think that back to this quote, and compel himself to act in self-defense. Even when doing things that at the time could be deemed illegal his honestly overall won him over with judges or bankers. He would speak it even at times when his lawyers asked him not too. In key moments like a corrupt VP from Tiger shoes visiting his office, knowing his was on a visit to attempt to ruin him. He had no choice but grab a key document out of the VP’s briefcase while he was using the restroom. Although wrong, this theft would later play a crucial role in proving his innocence, and further proving that Tiger in fact had a plot to attempt to ruin him, and take his territory. A day later on the reps visit he with the help of Woodell he would slip the document back into the Japanese reps briefcase. Without him ever knowing. Whether it was: battles against the U.S. government, competitors conspiring with politicians to create new customs sales taxes, or bankers that would treat him unfairly and use of FBI to intimidate him, Phil was more than willing to fight when he knew it was the good fight. And he broke down barriers and paved new paths for future entrepreneurs in the process.

 ______________________________________________________

#8 Playing the float.

 If there was one problem Phil always dealt with for the first decades with Nike- it was funding, and never ever having enough. To my amazement even in days that Nike was finally on its feet to outside viewers boasting record sales numbers that doubled every year Phil was still be breaking even. Floating on nothing. And not taking a personal penny from what he called his third child Nike for years. He was constantly in debt for the better of two decades with Nike. And any time things would improve he would put the money earned right back into the growth of Nike and continue taking more risks. Grow or die he always thought. Naturally although his net worth and assets would continue to improve he would rarely have any cash flow available. And funders and bankers would hate this. This would also go against the principles of having an emergency reserve of funds incase an inevitable need for cash came about. But he didn’t care. Grow or die. In those moments they knew they would find a way to survive no matter what. At one point along the early journey although he hated numbers Phil got his CPA and worked at a small firm where some of his bosses at the firm would later work for him. In his mind, and when hiring employees he always preferred an accountant or a lawyer who didn’t have an ego. For every position at Nike. Even if it was for assigning a job or role at that nothing to do with the with either skill set, he wanted an accountant or a lawyer. He figured at least these individuals would have some type of “real” skills. They would either understand how to count, or were expert negotiators. Marketing majors he thought or psychologists were great but where was the real skills? How did he know they weren’t BS’ing the entire time?

 

Phil also had a quick stint teaching accounting early on at Oregon State while Blue Ribbon was growing. He would also meet his wife who was a student at the time in one of his classes. Although he hated numbers and never planned on becoming an accountant in terms of a career-looking back this move proved to be invaluable for him, and it helped to better understand his rapidly growing third child. Because of his breakeven style with Nike, and still carrying little to no cash, with ever increasing debts, still no bank would ever fund him. Risk was far too high, and in his mind he never ever wanted to go public. That was simply not an option.

 

 He notes a time that his former boss of his first CPA gig (that would later become the head of his numbers) lined up 12 banks when his main bank of decades stabbed him in the back and left him. He needed several banks to grant more funding when one payment slipped off time so he could  “foolishly” continue to increase Nike lines of new credit. The first 6 hung up on him, but the 7th Senior VP an avid runner gave him what he needed with no questions asked. Persistence paid. Of the bank that stabbed him in the back? Not only did they cut him off after years of on time payments but threatened the have the FBI begin to investigate him. At times of mere demise two heads of a Japanese mutual fund that was literally above his current floors of his offered to help. They believed in Phil’s vision and were impressed by how far Nike had come. After a look at all of Nikes growth and current numbers, and hearing about the current treatment he was receiving from his former bank, to his surprise they not only gave him the funding he needed but offered to take care of the current debt he owed to the adversarial bank. “People pay too much attention to numbers.” , said to the SVP of the life saving bank. Phil of course was elated, and the new bank was always paid in full for years to come. But more importantly they had Nikes loyalty for life.

 

In his early years Phil spent so much time constantly begging for funding and doing anything in power to keep his vision alive. He most importantly recalls the hardest check he ever had to take was one from the parents of Woodell his paralyzed employee. The insisted on cutting him a check for 8K for him to avoid bankruptcy and the demise of blue ribbon. He knew that this was the majority of the parent’s life savings. Phil never forgot Woodells parents or a single person that helped him along the way when blue ribbon had nothing. When Phil finally gave into an IPO nearly 20 years later. He personally came over to inform Woodell’s parents that the 8K that they initially contributed was returned in full and it would now be worth 1.2 million.

 

The crucial moment that finally won Phil over the fear of hundreds of no’s towards IPO offers over the years was when one of the latest executives he had hired, former government official Chuck Robinson informed him he could go public, get the everlasting funding he had always needed, while still keeping control on his company. How would he do this? By simply dividing shares into two classes. Class A and Class B.  Class B of the company would be put on the market, while the Class A majority of the company would still be in his, and his teams personal control. Problem solved. I guess sometimes the smallest of simple knowledge literally is power. I guess those tireless annoying quotes, and sayings do have extreme value to them. They are simply in the eyes of the beholder (cough) no pun intended of course.

_______________________________________________________

 #9 “A product I thought speaks for itself or it doesn’t. In the end, it’s only the quality that counts. I couldn’t imagine that any ad campaign would prove me wrong or change my mind.”

– Phil Knight

 Although Phil had his strong personal beliefs and intuitions like any leader, he always open to giving into his trusted colleagues whom he had hired to surround him. If they said they wanted to do something he would let them know how he feels, but in the end they had his 1000% support on their requests. But to this day, when it came to Nike products, he felt that; yes celebrity endorsements and marketing were important. But above all it was the engineering that went into the quality design of his products that were far more important to winning over consumers and keeping their loyalty. This was the base of the pyramid in his mind. So the most distaste would come when he had to deal with bringing ad agencies and marketers for new products and product line launches. He felt they would put so much focus on new slogans and changing his opinions with meaningless ads that they could blur the consumers perception on Nike products. It seemed like playing with fire to him and increased risk more than decreasing it. They only thing that matter was design & quality.

Although I have been a brand enthusiasts and strategic marketing major my entire life, while reading his side of things I couldn’t helped finding myself not in disagreement with Mr. Knight. Another lesson learned. I believe like Apple and many other design savvy innovators his philosophy not only gained the respect of loyal lifetime buyers of Nike product lines, but helped launch Nike into an expectation, a reputation, it identified as a “lifestyle”. The ultimate brand marketing achievement in my opinion; is when the product you are creating becomes synonymous with your brands name. i.e. it’s no longer can you pass me a tissue, its can you pass me a “Kleenex”. It’s not where is the vacuum? But where is the “hoover”? It’s not do you do mixed martial arts? It becomes do you do UFC? It’s no longer do you have some eye drops? It’s do you have any clear eyes? I think you get the picture….

 

The most important positive to this quality of design philosophy, that beats marketing every time, is that over the years this attracted knew “shoe dogs”, or shoe innovators over the years that would inquire to meet Mr. Knight to show him the new ground breaking shoe idea that they had. Most notably a scientist with a “crazy idea” of injecting air bubbles into the soles of sneakers for better comfort and increased athletic performance. Even the original genius Bowerman hated the idea. It will never work! The fact that it ruffled Bowerman’s feathers to Phil was a great sign. Phil slipped on the shoes right at the pitch and ran a few miles as everyone watched, he accepted the offer, and hired the young engineer full time to make improvement to the design he felt it needed.

_______________________________________________________

#10 “To study the self is to forget the self- Oneness.”

- Dōgen Zenji

Like the many “deep” quotes mentioned in this article this was another Phil struggled to understand until his later years. Like any athletes and obsessive pioneers Phil was very hard on himself. But more importantly he wanted so much for the growth and expansion of his third child Nike, he often asked himself in guilt if he was making enough time with his other two sons. Family was everything and I believe Phil definitely understood this deeply, but found himself constantly trying to keep both worlds pleased. And critiqued his personal performance as a father.

Of his two sons he took pride in the fact that he consistently made time to read to them every night before bed, always replacing their names with the names of the protagonists while telling the story. One son seemed to be more than devoted to his cause while naturally the other played the role of rebel blaming him for everything and reminding him that he wasn’t a great father. Eventually like all teens they grew out of this phase and naturally the rebel grew to be a great young- giving man. Who founded an orphanage in El Salvador he devoted his life too called, Mi Casa, Su Casa. Building homes for the needy and giving back to the local communities. Tragically during a deep dive scuba diving his son often did daily- something went tragically wrong causing Phil to lose one of his sons. Of the emotional roller coasters over the decades nothing hit Phil and his wife harder than the importance of giving back more than the loss of their son. Although Phil was always gracious and a giver, I feel he learned that the most important skill we should exercise, only second to love—was gratitude. And no one taught him that more than his son. Who dedicated his life to it. Phil still sits on the board at Nike today but he and his wife Penny consistently donate 100 million dollars every year. And will giving away everything they earned when Penny and he passes. To name just a few of dozens of examples of giving back Penny and Phil have just recently done:

 

• They built the gleaming new basketball facility at the University of Oregon. The Mathew Knight Arena. With the logo at half court in Matthews name in the shape of a torri gate with the inscription: “From the profane to the sacred.”
• Phil and Penny also just finished up a brand new athletic facility at the University of Oregon in honor of both of their mothers, Dota and Lota. On a plaque next to the entrance will be a plaque that reads: “Because mothers are our first coaches.”

 

In Phil’s final pages of his memoir his personal advice to us that stuck with me the most was that he has, and will continue to have, thousands of regrets that he wishes he could go back in time and fix. But he felt it was very important to write all these ups and downs down in hopes that some man or woman out there going through the same trials would feel comforted or inspired.

 He advises our youth to hit pause and think long and hard about how they want to spend their time for the next forty years and with whom they want to spend it. He urges men and woman in their midtwenties DO NOT settle for a job, or a profession, or even a career. Seek a calling. Even if you don’t know what the hell that means yet, seek it anyway. Because if you follow your calling, the fatigue will be a lot easier to bear, the disappointments will be fuel, and the highs will be nothing like you have ever felt or will get from a 9-5. He also candidly says that “I would like to warn the best of them, the iconoclasts, the innovators, the rebels, that they will always have a bulls-eye on their backs. The better they get, the bigger the bullseye. It’s not one man’s opinion; it’s the law of nature.”

 

Also he finally noted to understand that America isn’t the America Dream towards small business that everyone thinks. America is becoming less entrepreneurial, not more. And it has always been this way. Free enterprise always irritates the kinds of trolls who live to block others from their passions and to say no, sorry no. But to thrive anyway. Don’t stop. Don’t ever stop. Run twice as fast.

 -  A reflection by Roman Singh Nahal; I am truly honored and grateful for the insights and knowledge Mr. Phil Knight. Thank you so much for sharing sir.

__________________________________________________