Shoes and Dogs —— Legend of Nike

The author of this book is phil knight, the legendary founder and leader of Nike in the United States, who has served as the chairman and president of Nike for many years. 65438-0938 was born in Oregon, USA. He graduated from the University of Oregon and graduated from Stanford Business School with a master's degree. My father is an ordinary publisher and my mother is a full-time housewife. Phil knight loves long-distance running and is an athlete himself. As an undergraduate, I majored in long-distance running at the University of Oregon and met the legendary American track and field coach Bill Ballman. Phil knight had an indissoluble bond with running and running shoes all his life. It was under this love that he decided to start a business and finally successfully founded Nike.

About this book

This book is the autobiography of Mr phil knight. This is the first time that he publicly and formally disclosed the development process of Nike from scratch, and summarized and reviewed his entrepreneurial feelings.

Core content

This book mainly tells the entrepreneurial history of Mr. phil knight from 1962 to 1980, that is, 18. This period is divided into two stages:1962-1972, which is the development stage of Nike's predecessor "Blue Ribbon Sporting Goods Sales Company". During this period, phil knight mainly represented the sales of Japanese Tezuka Tiger sports shoes in the United States; After 1972, it was the stage of creating Nike brand and developing the company independently. In simple and humorous language, the author of this book tells us about his personal entrepreneurial experience and feelings during the period of 18, as well as the story between him and his entrepreneurial partners.

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First, shoes and dogs.

The so-called shoe dog is not an animal, but actually refers to people-in the author's words, it refers to "people who are committed to manufacturing, selling, buying or designing shoes." It can also be understood as those senior sports shoes lovers who take shoes as their ultimate hobby, keep their hands on them all day and are addicted to shoes.

Phil knight, the author of this book, is the first shoe dog in the book. This person is a person who loves shoes, and thinks about shoes every day. Some people think he is crazy, but he never cares about other people's strange eyes. On the contrary, he has been immersed in the enthusiasm for sports shoes for decades, and he never tires of it, thinking it is a virtue of dedication. So he used the word "shoe dog" to express his identity and relied on it to find like-minded people.

Second, Bill Ballman.

This man is the author's hometown and his teacher. He is a professional track and field coach at the University of Oregon, with a rigorous style and few words. The author worked for him in college. Although this man is a coach, he is very strange. His interest lies in athletes' feet. He looks for all kinds of strange materials everywhere all day and makes his own running shoes.

When the author decided to start a business, he immediately thought of this eccentric teacher and invited him to join in. In the end, everyone only raised $500, and raised a total of $65,438+0,000-this is the beginning of Nike legend. Then this coach is the author's partner.

Bill Ballman invented "Waffle Running Shoes" in 197 1, which became one of Nike's iconic products after it went on the market. Because these shoes are so comfortable and beautiful, people not only wear them to run on the sports ground, but also wear them to work, school and shopping-a pair of simple sports shoes, which set off a social trend for the first time.

Third, Jeff Johnson

This person is a classmate I met when I was studying for a master's degree at Stanford University, and also the leader of the school track and field team. This man is also a real shoe dog. After graduation, he couldn't give up his obsession with sports shoes and helped Adidas sell shoes in his spare time. After hearing this, the author invited him to help him develop the market full-time. Therefore, this Jeff Johnson became the third veteran of the company, in charge of sales and marketing.

Although this man is a salesman on the surface, in fact he is more obsessed with the shoes themselves. Not only that, this man has a quirk. He insists on doing one thing every day-that is, writing a letter to his boss and writing a chat record between himself and his customers. In fact, this person is not looking for a sense of existence. He just really liked and loved shoes from the bottom of his heart and persisted for so long.

Fourth, love.

The author believes that the reason why he was able to start a business and set up a great company, Nike, came from following his inner hobby. At that time, phil knight was actually an ordinary young man. He was confused and struggling. He finished his master's degree in business school at university, and when he came home, he didn't know what kind of job to look for. In order to alleviate this anxiety and confusion, he often sneaked to his back hill before the sun rose in the morning, running in the Woods, spitting and feeling sorry for himself.

A crazy idea saved phil knight from mediocrity. He thought that Japanese goods were already very powerful. In the field of cameras, Japanese cameras have beaten German cameras, so in the field of sports shoes, Japanese shoes will definitely beat German Adidas sooner or later. Therefore, Japanese shoes should be recommended to Americans as soon as possible so that everyone can enjoy better and more comfortable sports shoes. He decided to listen to his heart as a breakthrough and began his entrepreneurial career.

The author did three things: the first thing was to sell his car, take out all his savings from his summer job and make up the travel expenses. 1962, he went to Japan alone. The second thing, in Japan, he came to Kobe alone, walked into the gate of Japan Shizuka Tiger Sports Shoes Company, and explained to the other party that he wanted to sell their sports shoes in the United States. The third thing is that after negotiation, we bought 12 pairs of sports shoes from Japan at a price of 50 dollars. This pair of shoes with a wholesale price of 50 yuan 12 is the whole starting point of his business.

Verb (abbreviation for verb) insists.

After the author started his business, his business was very smooth. This extremely unsatisfactory state has never really changed since he started his business in 1962 and Nike's debt crisis broke out in 1975. Every day is full of all kinds of depression, helplessness, even fear and embarrassment. Among them are the betrayal of partners, the decline of banks, and even the lack of support and understanding of family members-it is a long story.

Two short stories. First of all, 12 pairs of shoes, he excitedly gave money and went home happily, ready to do a big job. As a result, he came to the United States from Japan and walked on the road for more than a whole year-during which he sent telegrams several times to urge the other party, but he still made no progress, and he didn't know whether it was the delivery problem of the other party or the slow logistics on the road. During this time, I really have no choice but to go to an accounting firm first and find a job to make a living. But he didn't give up his original decision. A year later, when the goods arrived, he immediately began to promote sales and decided to start a company with Bill Ballman.

The second story, in the later days, Japanese company Tiger Keisuke has been unfaithful to phil knight, ostensibly promising him exclusive agency, but actually contacting other American companies privately, deliberately making things difficult and delaying the supply. In the sixth year of starting a business, phil knight hardly made any money, and he could hardly do it. He was forced to go to college, got a job as a teaching assistant, and paid his employees with his salary as a teacher.

197 1, by a very accidental opportunity, he peeked at the Japanese sales manager's folder and really got the evidence to fight back. After all this truth came out, Felknight didn't give up, but decided to leave the Japanese company and fly out with a group of shoes and dogs, so he founded Nike. Also in that year, 197 1, the famous Nike trademark: a flying hook was officially born. The word Nike means "victory".

Sixth, passion

At the beginning of its establishment, Nike regarded the word passion as an indispensable part of corporate culture. Then the culture advocated by Nike actually comes from an athlete culture in the field of sports. In my opinion, every athlete must have full passion on the field. Only in this way can he stay alive and leave his opponent behind. Once the passion disappears, even the best athletes can't achieve anything.

Introduce two typical signs. One is the Nike trademark, and the other is the flying hook-at 197 1, when Fernett decided to leave the Japanese company alone, these shoes and dogs got together to think about what kind of logo to design, which could perfectly interpret an athlete's passion. They thought about it, and finally the hook was born. In the author's words, it is: "Like a track and field athlete, whoosh, running past you quickly." Nike also has a famous advertising slogan: just do it-don't think so much, just do it. Such an exciting slogan was once a household name and loved by everyone-it even became the motto of many young Americans. Just like the famous hook, it has already gone beyond the scope of advertising and become a cultural phenomenon in the United States.

Then in the internal management of the company, Fairknight also carried out this passionate culture very thoroughly. For example, the most typical one is called "villain meeting"-the so-called "villain meeting", which is a work gathering invented by phil knight to promote exchanges between entrepreneurial partners. Every once in a while, he will call these brothers, shoes and dogs and fly from all directions in the United States. Everyone ran to a resort and booked a hotel room, laughing and cursing-anyone can say anything. This seemingly ridiculous party is actually to maintain the passion and vitality between him and his partners-and this kind of thing is the most precious wealth of a startup company.

Seven. Innovation and innovation

In this 18 venture, the author was challenged by Japanese companies, business partners and banks. In fact, these problems are only part of his entrepreneurial challenges. More difficulties came from the suppression of other brands at that time. At that time, at 197 1, when the author started to establish Nike, the entire American sports shoes market was already a red sea. Nike, which was unknown at that time, was able to fight its way out in this fierce competition, and it has been maintained until now by innovation.

The most typical example, and also the classic case that made Nike famous in World War I, is its air cushion shoes. 1977, five years after Nike was founded, Fairnet met a very eccentric man named Frank Rudy. Rudy recommended the technology of air cushion shoes to phil knight, which was readily adopted by Nike. With the continuous polishing and research and development of a group of shoes and dogs, after 9 months, this landmark product in Nike's history has finally been successfully listed.

Nike's air cushion shoes have brought huge profits and honors to this company. By 1979, that is, two years after the author met this magical aerospace engineer, Nike has been invincible in the American market, successfully surpassing Adidas and creating a commercial miracle. Then Nike's air cushion shoe technology, after that, still did not stop the pace of self-renewal. Until today, air cushion shoes are still the largest technical branch of Nike sports shoes family.

Golden sentence:

1. Cowards never start, the weak die on the road, and only we keep going and never stop.

People always respect those who break the rules.

I hope my life is more meaningful, purposeful, creative and can play an important role. Most importantly, I want to be different-I don't necessarily win in life, I just don't want to lose.

Dare to take risks and don't let your talents be buried in mediocrity.

Never mind what others say, your idea is crazy. Keep walking. Don't stop, even before you reach your goal. Don't care too much about where the "goal" is, and don't stop no matter what you face.

Author: Li

Narrator: Li

Brain map: Moses