Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike

by Phil Knight

★ 4.47 (309K) • 2016

⚡️ 11 Quotes from the book

“I’d have found it difficult to say what or who exactly I was, or might become. Like all my friends I wanted to be successful. Unlike my friends I didn’t know what that meant.”

“I did decide that the world is made up of crazy ideas. History is one long processional of crazy ideas. The things I loved most—books, sports, democracy, free enterprise—started as crazy ideas.”

“Life was grand. I even had a sort of girlfriend, though I didn’t have much time for her. I was happy, maybe as happy as I’d ever been, and happiness can be dangerous. It dulls the senses.”

“The art of competing, I’d learned from track, was the art of forgetting, and I now reminded myself of that fact. You must forget your limits. You must forget your doubts, your pain, your past.”

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

“Imagine that, I thought. The single easiest way to find out how you feel about someone. Say goodbye.”

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

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

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

“We had to admit: We could do better. We told ourselves: We must do better. Then we told the world: Just watch. We’ll make our factories shining examples.
And we did.”

“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.”

4 Minute Summary

In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and board chairman Phil Knight shares the inside story of the 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.

Young, searching, 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 Plymouth Valiant, Knight grossed eight thousand dollars that first year, 1963. 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 more than a logo. A symbol of grace and greatness, it’s 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. Now, in a memoir that’s surprising, humble, unfiltered, funny, and beautifully crafted, he tells his story at last. It all begins with a classic crossroads moment. Twenty-four years old, backpacking through Asia and Europe and Africa, wrestling with life’s Great Questions, Knight decides the unconventional path is the only one for him. Rather than work for a big corporation, he will create something all his own, something new, dynamic, different. Knight details the many terrifying risks he encountered along the way, the crushing setbacks, the ruthless competitors, the countless doubters and haters and hostile bankers—as well as his many thrilling triumphs and narrow escapes. Above all, he recalls the foundational 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 redemptive, transformative power of sports, they created a brand, and a culture, that changed everything.

Follow the author

Phil Knight is an American billionaire and the co-founder, former CEO, and current Chairman of Nike. His leadership integrated sports with popular culture through innovative footwear and apparel. Knight graduated from the University of Oregon and Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Publications

Gates Notes: An honest tale of what it takes to succeed in business

The Wall Street Journal: Five Things We Learned (Or Didn’t) From Nike Co-Founder Phil Knight’s Memoir

Complex: History is Written By the Victors: Nike Co-Founder Phil Knight Writes His Memoir

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