In this instant and tenacious New York Times bestseller, Nike founder and board chairman Phil Knight “offers a rare and revealing look at the notoriously media-shy man behind the swoosh” (Booklist, starred review), illuminating his company’s early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world’s most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands.Bill Gates named Shoe Dog one … brands.
Bill Gates named Shoe Dog one of his five favorite books of 2016 and called it “an amazing tale, a refreshingly honest reminder of what the path to business success really looks like. It’s a messy, perilous, and chaotic journey, riddled with mistakes, endless struggles, and sacrifice. Phil Knight opens up in ways few CEOs are willing to do.”
Fresh out of business school, Phil Knight borrowed fifty dollars from his father and launched a company with one simple mission: import high-quality, low-cost running shoes from Japan. Selling the shoes from the trunk of his car in 1963, Knight grossed eight thousand dollars that first year. Today, Nike’s annual sales top $30 billion. In this age of start-ups, Knight’s Nike is the gold standard, and its swoosh is one of the few icons instantly recognized in every corner of the world.
But Knight, the man behind the swoosh, has always been a mystery. In Shoe Dog, he tells his story at last. At twenty-four, Knight decides that rather than work for a big corporation, he will create something all his own, new, dynamic, different. He details the many risks he encountered, the crushing setbacks, the ruthless competitors and hostile bankers—as well as his many thrilling triumphs. Above all, he recalls the relationships that formed the heart and soul of Nike, with his former track coach, the irascible and charismatic Bill Bowerman, and with his first employees, a ragtag group of misfits and savants who quickly became a band of swoosh-crazed brothers.
Together, harnessing the electrifying power of a bold vision and a shared belief in the transformative power of sports, they created a brand—and a culture—that changed everything.
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I really enjoyed Shoe Dog. Granted, I am a sucker for both sneakers and memoirs, but this book is less about the shoes themselves (although there are some interesting bits, like developing soles using a waffle iron) and more about all the challenges Phil Knight overcame while growing his little import company, Blue Ribbon Sports, into one of the most iconic brands in the world, Nike.
Our journey of life towards the top of the mountain can inspire others to follow us on the path. If we want proof that the road we’ve taken is the right one, all we need to do is look behind us and see how many and which people are coming with, sharing our vision.
Inspiring book!
I found this book an absolute page-turner. I’m generally more of a fiction reader but every now and again I get grabbed by biography – my go to genre when I have the guns for reality. Phil Knight did not disappoint. He has a light writing style that is very descriptive and really relates a sense of time and place. Absorbing story of how he built Nike from nothing and the trials and calamities along the the way. Wonderful characters too. Highly recommended.
I’m a sports person so I really enjoyed reading Phil Knight’s story. It makes me look at Nike very differently – I can truly appreciate what they were trying to accomplish.
Really great!
So good!
Business memoirs can often run a little dry. Phil upped the game with a vividly personal recounting of his early days as a passionate runner and sports fan—the two things that motivated him to create Blue Ribbon sports, aka the eventual Nike.
Talk about ups and downs! Nothing was easy from the get go, especially dealing with the ever changing moods and personnel of Tiger brands, the Japanese shoe manufacturer Phil started importing shoes into the US from.
How he eventually broke free was fascinating and nerve-wracking, bankruptcy always on the horizon.
And how refreshing to learn of such an unorthodox corporate culture! Senior management were all referred to as Buttfaces at Nikes yearly planning sessions, not to mention 3 of the 4 top execs were all over three hundred pounds, prompting a client to refer to them as Nike’s ‘half ton of management.’
Really, Nike is all about a tight group of guys who stuck through the mire to make it all happen.
A great emotional read about the struggles of a man and a company we all take for granted today. Two thumbs up!
Pretty amazing just selling sneakers against a ton of competition
It was eye-opening to learn what it takes to get a business off the ground. Much respect to Phil Knight for creating a company, an amazing brand and an entire industry. I loved the book and hard a hard time putting it down.
Great read for all who have a great idea about starting a business.
I loved the founding story of Nike! How to change the world? Start with a crazy Idea.
Loved this one so much! Nike for life!
A book that probably was hurt by how much praise I’d heard about it. The Nike story is certainly interesting and entertaining but I didn’t find that many lessons to apply in my own life.
This book allows you to understand how an iconic company is formed and prospers – yet somehow you walk away thinking that with a few steps down the wrong path, Nike may never have become Nike. Well written and fun, teaches a lot American psyche and our love of sports.
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight is one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read by a business person. The way he bares his soul about his shortcomings as a leader, and how his loyal ragbag team were pivotal to Nike’s early success is genuinely refreshing. The most eye-opening revelation was the continued difficulty Knight had in securing financing for a business that kept growing at a phenomenal rate year after year.
An outstanding memoir of the founding and growth of Nike into one of the world’s greatest companies.
Shoe Dog, A Memoir by the Creator of NIKE by Phil Knight dispels any thoughts that America is an entrepreneurial Shangri-La where a good idea turns to money quickly and easily. Rather, Knight claims that entrepreneurs are always outgunned and outnumbered by naysayers and businesses trying to thwart success with “No’s” and other roadblocks. Shoe Dog is a wonderful book showing Phil Knight’s uphill battle that turned a crazy idea within the head of a young man searching for meaning into a megabrand, multi-billion-dollar company.
It’s a biography , it’s history. Its not bad as those two go. Not sure what lessons I am supposed to learn from it.