Shoe Dog: 3 Life Lessons From the Founder of Nike

On a cool foggy morning in 1962, during his usual pre-dawn jog, a bright 24-year-old former athlete of the University of Oregon’s track and field team, made a decision that would change his life forever – and all of ours. He determined, once and for all, that he was going to make running shoes better and cheaper than anyone that had come before, especially the behemoths of the day, Adidas and Puma.

And just like that, the wheels were set in motion towards building one of the most iconic brands of all time – Nike!

What started as a simple idea, however, ended up being a journey for the ages, one marked by joy, sorrow, loyalty, betrayal, romance, heartbreak, defeat and finally, victory. In fact, thanks to Knight’s latest memoir, Shoe Dog, the story of Nike’s genesis may soon become even more legendary than the Goddess of Sport herself.

Though, perhaps what’s most fascinating about this riveting tale, is the man behind it all – Phil Knight. His grit, passion, brilliance and success fueled the creation of an unstoppable empire. He’s a titan of titans. Yet, strangely, his path to greatness also seems so relatable, almost achievable. It makes me wonder, are there traits in Knight that if applied would empower us to accomplish similar feats?

I’m convinced there are! After all, a journey of a thousand miles begins with just one step. So, let’s get started. Here are three life lessons that we can learn and adopt today:

Seek a Calling

By most accounts, Phil Knight was a dashing success - a standout athlete, a Master’s graduate from Stanford University, a Certified Public Accountant, and a soldier in the United States Army. Yet, despite this outward achievement, Knight was restless inside. He wasn’t satisfied with his ho-hum predictable life. He recalls, “I wanted to be successful. Unlike my friends, I didn’t know what that meant. Money? Maybe. Wife? Kids? House? Sure, if I was lucky. But deep down I was searching for something else…I had an aching sense that our time is short, shorter than we ever know, short as a morning run, and I wanted mine to be meaningful. And purposeful. And Creative. And Important. Above all…different.”

After several detours, Knight eventually found his purpose. More than just providing cheaper and better shoes, he longed to make something that would improve the lives of strangers, making them happier, healthier, safer, or better. Furthermore, he strived to do this in a way that was crisp, efficient, and smart, the way everything should be done but so seldom is. 

This is what drove him and enlivened his soul. Thus, Knight suggests that we shouldn’t, “settle for a job or a profession or even a career. Seek a calling. Even if you don’t know what that means, seek it. 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... When you do this, you’re participating more fully in the grand human drama. More than simply alive, you’re helping others to live more fully.”

Never Stop Running

Finding one’s calling is never easy, nor is it ever enough. It needs teeth. It needs a road map. But perhaps more than anything, it needs to be backed by boundless energy, zeal, and relentless determination.

For Nike, this type of can-do spirit helped them overcome the endless barrage of challenges that came their way. The most constant obstacle involved the issue of liquidity. As sales grew like wildfire, Nike never had enough cash to satisfy equity ratios required by banks. Thus, the funds ran dry and balances were almost always zero. The pressure from creditors was enormous.

For example, on one fateful rainy day in 1975, this cash crunch became seemingly insurmountable and they found themselves staring into the abyss. They needed to come up with $75,000 in less than 24 hours. With no money in the corporate account, the only thing they could do was drain all the registers at the stores and factories across the nation. Even then, they weren’t sure it’d be enough. Yet, as always, Phil Knight and his band of indomitable misfits, never gave up. Quite the opposite. Instead, they rose up, held their heads high, and yelled, “damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead.”

Two days later, though, an angry mob of factory workers whose paychecks had bounced, appeared at their door demanding answers. Desperate, Nike begged friends for a loan of five thousand dollars. Thankfully, the crisis was averted - until next month and the next, and the next. In fact, these types of problems plagued Nike for years.

It wasn't until the winter of 1980 when they went public that they finally got some relief. Through it all, however, the team never wavered. The lesson, Knight says, is to: "Never Stop Running! Everyone else can call your idea crazy, but just keep going. Don’t even think about stopping until you get there…Whatever comes, just don’t stop.”

Empower Others

Nike was founded by a rag-tag army of a few good (and brilliant) men. As with most start-ups, everyone did a little bit of everything. Because of this, Knight decided early on that the best way, perhaps the only way, to lead was to cast a vision, empower the troops, and then trust them to deliver. Knight described his managerial style this way: “don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you.”

Although this culture of empowerment isn’t for everyone, it created a thriving environment at Nike. Knight says, “clearly the (team) liked the culture I created. I trusted them, wholly, and didn’t look over their shoulders, and that bred a powerful two-way loyalty…This group found it liberating and empowering. I let them be, let them do, let them make their mistakes, because that’s how I always liked people to treat me.”

A good example of this hands-off approach is when Nike needed a new logo. Knight met a young artist at Portland State and commissioned her to create the design. His vision was simple and vague - “give me something that evokes a sense of motion.” The student was then given the freedom to run with it and create.

Two weeks later a series of sketches were presented, all with a similar style. One said it looked like a wing. Another said it looked like a woosh of air. Still others commented that it was like something a runner might leave in his or her wake. All agreed, however, that it was new, fresh, and yet somehow-ancient. Timeless.

On a separate occasion, Knight set another vision – “we need a new name.” With that, the team got to work. Quickly, two leading candidates emerged - Falcon and Dimension Six. Unfortunately, it was impossible to find consensus on either and the deadline was fast looming.

Then, miraculously, on the night before the drop-dead date to submit the new name, Jeff Johnson, employee number one, woke up from a dream and saw the letters before him: N-I-K-E. And just like that, Nike was born - proving once again that an empowered team sometimes has the most genius ideas of all.

Seek a Calling. Never Stop Running. Empower Others.

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