Shoe Dog is the story of Nike and how it came to be one of the most iconic brands in history.  Who doesn’t recognize the swoosh immediately?  

The book is so well-written, concise, and compelling, I had to check whether the author, Nike founder Phil Knight, used a ghostwriter.  He did (JR Moehringer), apparently.  

Does anyone care?  It made for a must read business book even if you are not into the genre.  

Phil Knight’s story will inspire anyone who enjoys reading about someone turning an idea into reality.  How a few running geeks from the Pacific Northwest transformed an industry, taking on global powerhouses like Adidas and Puma.  

The book is more than a tale of corporate battles, interpersonal office dramas, and the legends of Bill Bowerman and Steve Prefontaine.  It is more than the fascinating story of how Nike was created in the first place, which was almost by accident.  Phil Knight was literally forced to create Nike to save himself.

Shoe Dog is truly a tale of American entrepreneurism at its finest.  

It made me ask myself multiple times: could an entrepreneur today replicate what Phil Knight accomplished starting in the 1960s and 70s?

Before we get there, below are my takeaways on not only what I thought the book did well, but how it could inspire all of us to live with a more entrepreneurial mentality.  The world would be better for it.

See the world first.

After Knight graduated from Stanford with a MBA, he traveled the world instead of getting a job.  At a time when nobody traveled the world after school.  The number of young American backpackers trekking the world in the 1960s was nil. 

Knight’s travel stories described the foundation he built before he ever stepped foot in the business world.  With a small loan from his parents, he saw the great wonders, from Greece to India.

First and foremost, this gave him perspective.  He realized the world was a big place.  Great men and women had accomplished amazing feats throughout history.  This trip inspired Knight from the get-go, as evidenced by the fact he repeatedly referred to it throughout the book. 

Fake it until you make it.

Within reason, of course.  Knight’s first foray into the shoe industry was serving as a United States distributor for Onitsuka Tiger shoes (now Asics), which were made in Japan.

His idea was to replicate what the Japanese were already doing in the American market with cameras and other electronics.  He convinced Onitsuka that he was their man in America, the person to bring Tiger shoes to the U.S. market.

Knight was able to convince them in part because he said he had a distribution company with an office in the United States.  Little did Onitsuka know, his “office” was his parent’s house.  His “company” was entirely funded by his dad’s bank account.  

After getting a small loan from his father, he was able to make his first purchase of Tiger shoes for U.S. distribution.  He hustled at track meets and colleges.  Basically, wherever he could find runners who might buy Tigers.

Some reviewers of Shoe Dog criticized Knight as privileged, accusing him of sounding entitled and even misogynistic throughout the book.  They pointed to the loans from his father and the introductions he received when he was in Japan.  

Don’t let their bitterness dissuade you.  If someone gave most of these reviewers even a few dollars to realize their dreams, few would even try. 

In writing the book, Knight could not change how he started Blue Ribbon Sports and Nike.  Knight couldn’t help if family and friends supported him along the way.  His father didn’t even take him seriously initially, thinking he would get a “real job” once he grew out of selling shoes from his bedroom.  

Should he not have accepted any help?  Does an entrepreneur’s path become tainted once he or she receives assistance?    

Somehow I doubt that the $50 loan from his dad in the 1960s was what tipped the scales to enable Nike to compete with existing behemoths like Adidas. 

It’s also hardly comparable to other success stories like Bill Gates, someone who had significant help from very wealthy parents.  Phil Knight was by all accounts middle class.  His father was a newspaper man, not the partner of an elite law firm like William Gates Sr.  

But those negative reviewers clearly tried to find anything to discredit someone who experienced enormous success and overcame major challenges, both in business and life.  Someone who made something out of nothing.  Their critiques seemed less about the book, and more about their own insecurities.

The bottom line is that Phil Knight always found a way.  When legal hurdles appeared, he leaped over them.  When interpersonal issues arose, he worked through them, keeping allies happy while expelling enemies. 

He acted like a Fortune 500 CEO from day 1 in his parent’s house, obsessed about his customers and business.  Knight even worked a day job as an accountant and at times as a college professor at Portland State, all while acting as CEO at night, just to fund his idea and keep the lights on.  

But he could not have achieved the success he did without a little help from his friends.

Surround yourself with people as crazy as you.

The most crucial partnership Knight had was with Bowerman.  Bill Bowerman was not only a legendary track coach at the University of Oregon, bringing all of the credibility and connections that came with him, but he was also a genius innovator.  His waffle shoe in particular changed the athletic shoe ecosystem.  

Knight also partnered with people who shared his enthusiasm for running and business.  They were as crazy as him, although they showed it in different ways.  One guy was an insane letter writer, constantly articulating his thoughts and ideas via snail mail (pre-internet days, guys).  Others were marketing, accounting, or legal gurus.  Yes, they were all men, but this was the 1960s and 70s, so it’s a little unfair to judge Knight under the lens of today’s standards.

Knight surrounded himself, like any good leader, with people who complimented and offset his skill set.  Many of these people drove him crazy at times, but in reality, they were just as crazy as him.  Which made Nike the juggernaut it is today.

It’s hard to be a parent and an entrepreneur. 

One aspect of the book that carried particular strength was towards the end.  Although it could have been even more effective had Knight woven it throughout other parts of the book.  That aspect was his family life.

Knight was honest about his shortcomings as a father, husband, and man.  In particular, he regretted not spending as much time with his sons, one of whom passed away.  He acknowledged that he wasn’t always there for his wife, who stuck with him through it all.  Props to her.

As someone who has struggled with work-life balance and now the challenges of being a stay-at-home parent, I appreciated his honesty in these parts of the book.  It would have been even more effective, however, had he explored that issue throughout because one of the biggest entrepreneurial barriers is family obligations.    

The death of American entrepreneurship?

Knight also mentioned this issue towards the end of his book.  In short, I don’t think he would be able to exactly replicate today what he achieved decades ago.  

The legal obstacles and complexities of operating an import distribution business and a global shoe or apparel company are too substantial today.  Anyone in the current sneaker industry would have to manufacture offshore in China or developing countries as Nike does.  Knight mentioned the controversies he’s faced around this, but didn’t go into much detail.  

He did make the argument that Nike didn’t create the situation some of the “laborers” were in, and that Nike actually improved their standards of living.  The ethics of that are debatable, although I am somewhat sympathetic to the point that the countries where the manufacturing takes place have significant controls on how much shoe workers can make.  For example, they don’t want Nike or others paying a shoe worker more than what doctors make in the country. 

Regardless, it can still be viewed as western exploitation of cheap overseas labor.

Unfortunately that’s largely the reality of manufacturing today (industry agnostic).  Anyone trying to build a shoe or apparel brand has to face it.  The economics of manufacturing in the United States are not there.  So to start from scratch now would be tremendously difficult.  When Knight started, Japan and China had not even entered the U.S. shoe market. 

Entrepreneurship in general has declined in America.  The number of companies less than a year old has declined as a share of all businesses by nearly 44 percent from 1978 to 2012, around the time Nike started to gain significant market share.  The Brookings Institution found that more businesses are dying than being born. 

It’s hard to say what the primary cause of this decline is, whether legal, tax, access to capital, or some other reason.  The pandemic certainly inspired people to try something new and unconventional, but whether that means freelancing or forming a company, my sense is that it’s more of the former than the latter.  

You do not have to be an entrepreneur to enjoy Shoe Dog.

Even if you are not one or do not plan to be an entrepreneur, Shoe Dog still has value.  We all have to overcome obstacles, and the story of how Phil Knight overcame his is simply riveting.  One small change at any point during his journey could have easily derailed his vision and dream.  Then we would know Phil Knight as an accountant and college professor, not the founder of a multibillion dollar company.  

Hopefully some of the lessons from this book and the way Knight approached his life inspires you to chase your dreams.  We only have one shot at life.  If more people were bold enough to think they could solve some of the world’s problems, big or small, perhaps it would be a better place. 

Rating: Five out of five stars.  

If you read the book, what did you think?