27A Reading Reflection #3

Shoe Dog
               The book Shoe Dog is the story of the humble beginnings of Phil Knight and how he grew a $50 investment from his parents into a 30-billion-dollar shoe company that most of us are very familiar with. Nike shoes have become the gold standard for the majority of athletic footwear worn throughout the world. They have thousands of sponsors and numerous athletes that wear their shoes during athletic competition. Nike’s have been worn in every major championship across every major sport and even the Olympics. I think what I admire most about Phil Knight is that even to this day he still remains humble and knows that anything can happen, and failure could be right around the door if you don’t work hard. One story that Phil talks about in the book is that he would go into investor meetings at the early stages of Nike and he would tell them that there was a very high chance of failure. I don’t see this as a lack of confidence in his vision but him having the ability to see his company through an objective, non-biased lens. I think one thing that surprised me the most about Phil Knight is that he wasn’t the typical entrepreneurial success story. He didn’t have instant success, no millions of dollars in investment lined up. He was frequently broke or owing on bank loans as he tried to keep his company alive. This helped him understand the hard work and dedication that it takes for a business to be successful. That is something everyone hopes they don’t have to experience but I think if you were to ask Phil Knight if he could go back in time and do anything differently, I don’t think he would. He was also very revolutionary in this industry as well. He was one of the first shoe manufacturers to take his business overseas to Japan. This unique concept might have crippled his company because the shipping was extremely expensive but once he started selling a bunch of shoes it proved to be a very profitable move for him since the streamlined operations in Japan allowed their margins to be lower than if they were made in the US like most other shoe companies.

Comments

  1. Eric ENT3003April 15, 2019 at 11:03 PM

    Cameron,
    I read the book Shoe Dog for my first reading reflection. I was interested from the start because I have always been a customer of Nike and like their product. They also are a very successful company that sometimes takes some risks. Phil Knight never gave up and was determined to make his dream come true. He laid his own money on line multiple times to make Nike into the fortune 500 company it is today. Nike is now a house hold name that sponsors some of the biggest superstars in sports. He made his dream come true.

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