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Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by [Phil Knight]

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Phil Knight

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike Kindle Edition

by Phil Knight (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

27,360 ratings

Goodreads Choice Award nominee

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In this instantand 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 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.

Print length

399 pages
Language

English
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On Kindle Scribe
Publisher

Scribner
Publication date

April 26, 2016
File size

1257 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“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. Here Knight opens up in a way few CEOs are willing to do. I don’t think Knight sets out to teach the reader anything. Instead, he accomplishes something better. He tells his story as honestly as he can. It’s an amazing tale.”—Bill Gates, one of his favorite books of 2016

“Shoe Dog is a great American story about luck, grit, know-how, and the magic alchemy of a handful of eccentric characters who came together to build Nike. That it happened at all is a miracle, because as I learned from this book, though we are a nation that extols free enterprise, we also excel at thwarting it. This is Phil Knight, one on one, no holds barred. The lessons he imparts about entrepreneurship and the obstacles one faces in trying to create something, are priceless. The pages I folded down are too many to mention.”—Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone

“‘The best book I read last year. Phil is . . . a gifted storyteller.”—Warren Buffett

"I’ve known Phil Knight since I was a kid, but I didn’t really know him until I opened this beautiful, startling, intimate book. And the same goes for Nike. I’ve worn the gear, with pride, but I didn’t realize the remarkable saga of innovation and survival and triumph that stood behind every swoosh. Candid, funny, suspenseful, literary—this is a memoir for people who love sport, but above all it’s a memoir for people who love memoirs."—Andre Agassi, New York Times bestselling author of Open

"Shoe Dog is an extraordinary hero's journey, an epic tale of faith, unparalleled determination, excellence, failure, triumph, hard-earned wisdom, and love. It's nothing short of a miracle that Nike exists. I finished the last sentence in complete awe, inspired and grateful for the experience."—Lisa Genova, New York Times bestselling author of Still Alice and Inside the O'Briens

"A touching, highly entertaining adventure odyssey, with much to teach about innovation and creativity. Phil Knight takes us back to the Big Bang of the swoosh, recalls how he first begged and borrowed from reluctant banks, how he assembled a crew of eccentric but brilliant misfits, how they all worked together to build something unique and paradigm-changing. An inspiration for everyone with an unconventional dream."—Michael Spence, Nobel-prize winning economist

"A fresh historical perspective on one of the most profiled companies in the world...[Shoe Dog] builds characters of the people behind the brand."--ESPN.com

"Loaded with hard-earned wisdom...Want a simple recommendation? Go get a copy."—Portland Business Journal Review

"Shoe Dog is, at its heart, an origin story, of both a global brand and a footwear lifer...it reads like pure adventure story, boys facing steeper and steeper challenges and finding ways through, often by the skin of their teeth. As Knight collects the misfits and oddballs who become the core of his growing company, Shoe Dog is more like The Lord of the Rings than a typical mogul memoir."—Complex

“A rare and revealing look at the notoriously media-shy man behind the swoosh.”—Booklist STARRED review

"The best memoir I recall ever reading. As a business biography, it ranks with such recent works as Neal Gabler’s Disney and Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs. But as a personal memoir Shoe Dog reaches a depth of emotional honesty that even the best biographies haven’t touched."—Rich Karlgaard, Forbes

“Ranks among the best business books and autobiographies I’ve ever read.”—Jim Cramer, CNBC-TV

"A blueprint not just for success, but for motivation.Shoe Dog illustrates the unlimited amount of hurdles one might run into while trying to reach a major goal. It's Knight's account of seeing a vision through against all odds."—Mic.com

"An extraordinary memoir... one of the best stories of entrepreneurship I have ever read."—Fareed Zakaria

“The ultimate entrepreneur’s guide to the top of the mountain. I could not put it down.”—Bill Walton, Wall Street Journal

“A fascinating warts-and-all account of the company’s early years, a rascally tale of scrappiness and survival, a great read . . . Knight provides plenty of entertaining reading and laugh-out-loud moments.”—Motley Fool

About the Author

One of the world’s most influential business executives, Phil Knight is the founder of Nike, Inc. He served as CEO of the company from 1964 to 2004, as board chairman through 2016, and he is currently Chairman Emeritus. He lives in Oregon with his wife, Penny.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0176M1A44
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scribner; Reprint edition (April 26, 2016)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 26, 2016
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1257 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 399 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #12,032 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #5 in Basketball Biographies (Books)
- #6 in Football Biographies (Books)

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4.8 out of 5

27,360 global ratings

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Johnny P. Lamb

I Never Knew

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 19, 2022

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I bought my first pair of Nike running shoes back in 1980. I was in the U.S. Air Force, assigned to the Presidential Honor Guard, and going through difficult times. My friend talked me into running...but I wasn't a runner. In fact, my nickname from third grade until graduation was "Old Man," as I was always the slowest kid on any team. But I wanted a change and so told him I would run with him. I didn't own running shoes, didn't know anything about them. But my friend did...and took me to buy a pair of Nike shoes; I was captivated by the waffle soles. Move forward many years and I become more aware of Nike through the world of professional football. And not in a good way. My military veteran friends were saying tough stuff about Nike. My sense of Nike was still good but now a bit tainted. Upon retirement, I started running with a vengeance. I tried a variety of shoes...Nike recaptured my imagination and sense of adventure. I'm so glad. And then I found this incredible book. I could not put it down. Not only did I read it, I lived it as though I were there. I laughed, I wept, I was anxious and nervous and frustrated, and I was very hopeful. I heard Phil's voice through every written word. I learned so much about Nike, the Swoosh, about Phil, about Bowerman and Pre...and many, many other names that are so well known today. I came to appreciate Phil's position on life and people and opportunities and team and purpose and value. And I came to better understand friendship and loyalty and, dare I say it, love. I hope you read the book at a fast pace, seeing each page in movement as though the story were taking place right before your eyes. And I hope you fall in love with this great company -- imagine, hearing about such legends as Bowerman and Pre and how Phil's Crazy Idea came to fruition...as if though Phil were speaking directly with you! You will be impacted, inspired...I know I was; it's simply amazing and the best book, apart from that which is holy, I've ever devoured.

3 people found this helpful

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If you are looking for ‘my 7 secrets of great success’ in this book

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 30, 2018

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This book is about an entrepreneur’s journey, how one man took on the giants and won. The Dassler brothers, founders of Puma and Adidas, began their business in 1924 and Phil Knight began his in 1963.
Over the past 18 years of writing reviews, I don’t think I have reviewed more than 3 autobiographies. My experience has been that hardly any avoid being little more than an airbrushed account of an extraordinary genius, with depth of character and business prowess, written by the paragon him or herself. My visceral response to an autobiography is – ignore.
Shoe Dog came to my attention in 2017, and I ignored it. A week ago, a client, still in her mid-30s, and half way to building her company into a billion-dollar business, raved about the book.
I share her enthusiasm for this autobiography. Let me tell you why.
If you are looking for ‘my 7 secrets of great success’ in this book, you will find only one. And for that one, this 400-page book is not worth the effort. So why would Bill Gates call this book “…an amazing tale”? Primarily because, as Gates says, “Knight opens up in a way that few CEOs are willing to do.”
There are no two businesses that could possibly follow the same paths to success. Every business is one of a kind, with a unique history, built by unique people, facing unique challenges, and responding in their uniquely flawed way.
Everything about this book links back to Phil Knight’s love for running.
His humourless, stern and brilliant college track coach, Bill Bowerman, eventually became one of his earliest business partners. This was a man who would take the athletes’ shoes from their locker, tear them apart, examine them and redo them. He understood that if you remove one ounce from a shoe, you remove over fifty pounds from the runner. It was Bowerman who used his wife’s waffle iron to develop the soles for which Nike became famous.
In one of the many beautifully written passages in a remarkably well written book, Knight describes watching a race in which the legendary middle-distance runner, Steve Prefontaine participated. The joy and agony Knight and his wife experienced is described vividly – Knight was no passive spectator: he was experiencing the tension of the athletes, their physical exertion, their ‘digging deep’ into personal reserves to push through the last moments before the finish. At the end of the meeting, Knight describes – in passing – the physical exertion he experienced as a spectator, and the beauty and the art of these athletes.
Knight, trained as an accountant, didn’t start his sports shoe business, Blue Ribbon, because he had a vision of manufacturing sports shoes, and turning them into a universal, essential clothing item across the globe. He didn’t have the strong desire to get rich as even a part of his decision-making criteria. Throughout his business career he chose not to make real money in favour of other decision criteria: not spoiling the culture of the business by listing, or selling to the wrong people.
The culture of Nike is possibly best described as wild, made up of “losers”, (a disabled athlete confined to a wheel chair; an obese accountant who would never make partner in his firm because he was so large; a needy and obsessive letter-writing lawyer.) But all were perfect in their positions and each a “Buttface” as the inner circle was called. The interactions in the company were forceful, crude and remorseless, which is why truth was heard. No, they were not polite and sensitive: in fact, the essential common denominator across the various Buttfaces was a thick-skin.
For most of the history of the company, from the early days when it was still called Blue Ribbon to its emergence as Nike, the company was cash-strapped. All but the last chapters of the book had an underlying theme of financial survival. Initially it was to pay the few thousand dollars to be able to buy the next shipment of shoes from the Japanese manufacturer, to having the bank cut off their credit line, to being sued by the Customs Department for $25m of unpaid fees for an obscure tax (finally reduced to $9m.)
And all this time, there was an escape route – go public. And each time it was rejected because of what it might do to the ethos of the company.
So, what is the only lesson you will learn from this book? It is not that Knight was the quintessential, ‘Jack Welsh’ quality manager - confident, kind, clear thinking, and a team player. As a text-book manager Knight would not make even a department head. He is shy, introspective, and does not praise, or give much feedback unless it is to solve problems.
The lesson is passion. Having real passion for what you are investing your time, effort and money in. Real passion. The stuff that makes you thrill when you see a master take the race, with the grace of an artist, drawing down on resources he never knew he had. A level of passion that leads you to doing things you may regret – like being sorry your wife will not stay an extra day in hospital after giving birth to your second son, because you wanted to attend an athletics meeting.
Passion is why you teach accountancy to support your micro-business of selling superb running shoes. Passion is running almost every day of your life, knowing how important shoes are. Passion is when you enthusiastically encourage and support others who are masters of your passion – the athletes. And passion is the drive to see your heroes in your Nikes, not Adidas.
Passion is what makes an accounting graduate into a “shoe dog”, strong enough to take the whipping that life and business deals you. Passion is the only thing that will keep you going, and digging deep into mental and physical reserves you never knew you had.
If you are an aspiring entrepreneur you will grow in important ways from reading this book. If you are asked what you learned, you may not be able to articulate a single lesson beyond ‘passion.’ But this is all about you, the entrepreneur, and reading the frank account of the journey of a founder-CEO now worth $10b, will be a meaningful experience.

Readability Light -+--- Serious
Insights High +---- Low
Practical High ----+ Low
*Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on leadership and strategy, and is the author of the recently released ‘Executive Update.’

13 people found this helpful

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Sinchan

Sinchan’s review

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 7, 2023

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I wonder why I never read this book before. This is profoundly inspiring and extremely allegoric. I felt much like I could hear Phil Knight speaking every word from his heart. A deeply rewarding experience that is my first read of 2023

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 8, 2023

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Such a great book!! Keeps your engaged. I read the last 150 pages new years eve so I could start a new book for the new year.

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Gopi Vadsak

Pathetic book quality. Pirated copy

Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on May 5, 2019

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ONE WORD. PATHETIC. Book quality is so pathetic that I don’t even like to touch the pages of the book. There are so many issues with printing in this book, I can clearly tell it’s a pirated copy. I can clearly see the glue on the corners, that pretty much proves it’s also not new but old. I was so excited to receive this book, but the pathetic quality of book clearly has managed to turn my all excitement off. Totally returning the book.

I haven’t read the book, so I can’t really comment on the content that’s written in the book. I bought this just because I have read a lot of positive reviews. And I will definitely buy this again from some other seller who can provide good quality book. Can’t really stand pirated copies of the books.

145 people found this helpful

Hemanth Pradeep

Zero marks for the product delivered by seller

Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on September 29, 2020

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The media could not be loaded.

This is a feedback for the seller. An entirely blank book was delivered. The quality of the cover itself was suspicious. My doubts were confirmed a second later when I flipped through the pages.
Unfortunately have to go through a return process now.

43 people found this helpful

Athan

Thriller

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 3, 2020

Verified Purchase

Finally got round to reading this.

It’s as good as everybody says. I didn’t end up liking Phil Knight, but I do take my hat off to him.

I did not care for the tawdry bits of score settling.

I did not care for the sundry snippets of Asian wisdom.

I did not care for the habits of the inventor of the air soles either.

I sure did not care for how he lost his virginity at 24, other than to reinforce my belief that high achievers are in the main compensating for something.

And I really really really did not care for his messed-up, self-aggrandizing connections regarding destiny, what NIKE spells backwards on a phone dial or his exact position in the firmament of billionaires and philanthropists.

Regardless, this was for me a thriller. I could not put it down.

I had to keep discipline last week, as I was up at six fifteen every morning to teach arithmetic to my boy who’s taking the 11+. So three times I reluctantly went to bed with Shoe Dog unfinished and then spent the night worrying about the million dollar loan that came due, about the Onitsuka lawsuit, about the number of pairs sold, I basically lived this book.

And I lost track of who is who, so it’s not like Phil Knight is the king of character development, but he did one better: he hired all these amazing characters and created Nike out of nothing and he remembers how he did it all in enough detail to make this the best book I’ve ever read about entrepreneurship.

In short, I loved it.

13 people found this helpful

Londoner

Inspiring and captivating - Excellent biography

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 16, 2017

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Just finished listening to the audiobook. I also have the e-book which I red in parts. The book is very well written and read almost like a novel it's not just about business but also a fascinating story from the very beginning. This type of biography which is written by the founder himself is my favourite because you get to know the person as opposed to biographies written by somebody else who has researched the business person.

As somebody who has recently started his business, finishing listening to this book left me quite inspired and there are many parts I would want to re-read to re-listen. That last final chapters I couldn't put it down.

For many years I had mixed feeling about the brand itself. I always thought was too expensive and too much overhyped with advertisement until a few years ago I bought their more minimalistic Nike flex and since then it has been my favourite shoe of all time. Phil knight himself is quite fascinating character and at times feel such an ordinary shy guy! that gives me some comfort, tying to make it in business as an introvert!

36 people found this helpful

Shafqat Mobarak

definitely make you feel motivated

Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on October 3, 2017

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My fascination for Apple products led me to Steve Jobs. Irrespective of my love for Nike, I never did any information search of Phil Knight. Which is disappointing, because I may have related more to Phil Knight as a person than Steve Jobs. Through Nike’s products – shoes, applications, gears and endorsing celebrities, I imagined Phil as a hard-core extrovert marketer. He turned out as an introvert, a silent warrior.

The book ‘Shoe Dog’ is more like a conversation you have with your friend in a long weekend trip. How his life has shaped up from college, how people supported him, how challenges welcomed him with open arms (sometimes all at the same time) and how he survived after all. Nike began as an idea that Phil Knight presented in his post-grad days; importing shoes from Japan and selling it in America. His belief in the idea led to subsequent events, struggles and much-known success at the end.

In his memoir, he is not ashamed of how he remained impassive with his marketing team, his closest aides, and people who believed in him. He understood their encouraging presence and accepted that his dream is being supported by many others without any questions. Surprisingly, people gained strength from his behavior. The memoir won’t make you feel empathetic about his journey but like any other Nike’s advertisements, it will definitely make you feel motivated. Oh, it also made me believe that some quick decisions can be the best ones, Nike, the famous swoosh was among those.

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