Reading Highlights: "Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike"

(Free on Substack) Reading Materials (NKE US) (Not Covered)

A version of this was published on my Twitter account.

Below are my highlights from the book, focused on insights on business, career and Nike. I have picked one highlight per chapter, with one relevant extract each. I chose these as I read through the book, and wrote my final conclusion at the end. You can buy the book here.

0/ Intro

The best advice in Phil Knight's opinion, after half a century, was: "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".

1/ 1962

The ingredients for starting Nike included: a historic window where Japanese manufacturers had disrupted cameras but not yet shoes, Knight's personal interest in running track, his research while at Stanford Graduate School of Business, funding from his father, as well as his natural salesmanship (he had sold securities at Bernard Cornfeld’s Investors Overseas Service).