Rating:  ☆☆☆1/2

Recommended by:   Aubrey Shick

Author:   Phil Knight

Genre:    Nonfiction, Memoir, Business, Sports

400 pages, published April 26, 2016

Reading Format:  Audio Book

Summary

Shoe Dog is the memoir of Phil Knight, founder and still majority shareholder of Nike.  He shares the story of the founding and rise of Nike that went from importer of low cost Japanese athletic shoes to an iconic global company with sales north of $30 billion.

Quotes 

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

 

“The cowards never started and the weak died along the way. That leaves us, ladies and gentlemen. Us.”

 

“I’d tell men and women in their midtwenties not to 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.”

 

“Life is growth. You grow or you die.”

 

“So that morning in 1962 I told myself: Let everyone else call your idea crazy . . . just keep going. Don’t stop. Don’t even think about stopping until you get there, and don’t give much thought to where “there” is. Whatever comes, just don’t stop.”

 

“Like books, sports give people a sense of having lived other lives, of taking part in other people’s victories. And defeats. When sports are at their best, the spirit of the fan merges with the spirit of the athlete.”

 

“I wanted what everyone wants. To be me, full-time.”

 

“Beating the competition is relatively easy. Beating yourself is a never-ending commitment.”

 

“And those who urge entrepreneurs to never give up? Charlatans. Sometimes you have to give up. Sometimes knowing when to give up, when to try something else, is genius. Giving up doesn’t mean stopping. Don’t ever stop. Luck plays a big role. Yes, I’d like to publicly acknowledge the power of luck. Athletes get lucky, poets get lucky, businesses get lucky. Hard work is critical, a good team is essential, brains and determination are invaluable, but luck may decide the outcome. Some people might not call it luck. They might call it Tao, or Logos, or Jñāna, or Dharma. Or Spirit. Or God.”

 

“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 that it becomes essentially the same thing.”

 

“The single easiest way to find out how you feel about someone. Say goodbye.”

 

“He was easy to talk to, and easy not to talk to-equally important qualities in a friend. Essential in a travel companion.”

“Driving back to Portland I’d puzzle over my sudden success at selling. I’d been unable to sell encyclopedias, and I’d despised it to boot. I’d been slightly better at selling mutual funds, but I’d felt dead inside. So why was selling shoes so different? Because, I realized, it wasn’t selling. I believed in running. I believed that if people got out and ran a few miles every day, the world would be a better place, and I believed these shoes were better to run in. People, sensing my belief, wanted some of that belief for themselves. Belief, I decided. Belief is irresistible.”

 

“But that’s the nature of money. Whether you have it or not, whether you want it or not, whether you like it or not, it will try to define your days. Our task as human beings is not to let it.”

 

“It’s never just business. It never will be. If it ever does become just business, that will mean that business is very bad.”

 

“Starting my own business was the only thing that made life’s other risks—marriage, Vegas, alligator wrestling—seem like sure things. But my hope was that when I failed, if I failed, I’d fail quickly, so I’d have enough time, enough years, to implement all the hard-won lessons. I wasn’t much for setting goals, but this goal kept flashing through my mind every day, until it became my internal chant: Fail fast.”

 

My Take

I really enjoyed Shoe Dog and learned a lot about Nike.  Phil Knight is an engaging writer and has a compelling story to tell.  He also imparts some pearls of wisdom about how to live your life, as well as the importance of taking risks and following your passion.  An inspirational and interesting book.