Book Review: Shoe Dog – Phil Knight

This book, from the founder of Nike, provides a fascinating insight into the early years of the company, it details the challenges and tribulations they went through. It shows how a simple idea of importing cheap shoes from Japan grew into the behemoth that is now Nike, and how often it was close to going bust in its first 10 years. A great read for anyone who is tired of the more traditional business books.

Phil Knight was the guy behind Nike and if you do not know you he is I would not be surprised, as this is the way he would want it. This is not a business strategy book but provides so many great insights for business owners and shows the challenges that all businesses go through.

I was not aware that Adidas and Puma were the established players in the market and Nike really came from nowhere to establish itself. It covers all the obstacles along the way, there are even a couple of chapters that play out like a thriller when it comes to a legal challenge from their shoe supplies.

It is a tale of persistence, guts, hard work and ultimately faith. It is an enjoyable read from a clearly accomplished writer. There are a couple of lines that I absolutely love and will resonate with all business owners.

“the man who moves mountains begins by carrying away small stones”

And

“The cowards never started and the weak died along the way”

From starting alone to employing a bunch of misfits, with several years of nearly going bust.

Nike is now a Behemoth with Phil Knight worth an estimated 10 billion dollars. Yet I find it fascinating that his first emotion on his successful IPO that earn him 178 million dollars at the time was “regret”. Regret that he could not do it all again.

This is a great read that I would highly recommend for anyone.

I hope you enjoy and let me know what you thought of the book.