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Simon & Schuster

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and board chairman Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company’s early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world’s most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands. Young, searching, fresh out of business school, Phil Knight borrowed fifty dollars from his father and launched a company with one simple mission: import high- quality, low-cost running shoes from Japan. Selling the shoes from the trunk of his Plymouth Valiant, Knight grossed eight thousand dollars that first year, 1963. Today, Nike’s annual sales top $30 billion. In this age of start- ups, Knight’s Nike is the gold standard, and its swoosh is more than a logo. A symbol of grace and greatness, it’s one of the few icons instantly recognized in every corner of the world. But Knight, the man behind the swoosh, has always been a mystery. Now, in a memoir that’s surprising, humble, unfiltered, funny, and beautifully crafted, he tells his story at last. It all begins with a classic crossroads moment. Twenty-four years old, backpacking through Asia and Europe and Africa, wrestling with life’s Great Questions, Knight decides the unconventional path is the only one for him. Rather than work for a big corporation, he will create something all his own, something new, dynamic, different. Knight details the many terrifying risks he encountered along the way, the crushing setbacks, the ruthless competitors, the countless doubters and haters and hostile bankers—as well as his many thrilling triumphs and narrow escapes. Above all, he recalls the foundational relationships that formed the heart and soul of Nike, with his former track coach, the irascible and charismatic Bill Bowerman, and with his first employees, a ragtag group of misfits and savants who quickly became a band of swoosh-crazed brothers. Together, harnessing the electrifying power of a bold vision and a shared belief in the redemptive, transformative power of sports, they created a brand, and a culture, that changed everything. Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scribner; First Edition (April 26, 2016)


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 400 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1501135910


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 10


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.35 pounds


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 1.46 x 6.38 x 9.21 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #3,743 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #6 in Company Business Profiles (Books) #16 in Biographies of Business & Industrial Professionals #147 in Memoirs (Books)


#6 in Company Business Profiles (Books):


#16 in Biographies of Business & Industrial Professionals:


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • Great Memoir, Great Entrepreneur, and Great Company!
Wow. I loved this book. Having worked with Nike on a few jobs, I had a lot of gaps of its history. This book isn't so much about shoes as it is about the epic journey of entrepreneurship, friendship, and self-discovery. Knight writes with such honesty and humility at times, it's hard to believe that this is the man worth billions that created the most iconic sports apparel brand in the world. What I like most is Knight's mindset. He had determination and fire in his belly. His belief in his brand was relentless despite some major setbacks. And in this book, he talks about a lot of them. The only part that got sluggish for me was the end with all the US government negotiations stuff. Other than that, it was a very interesting read. It's a bonus that it was written from an Oregonian because I'm a Native Oregonian--and never have I been so proud to be one. His talk about the Men of Oregon echoes the kind of things pioneers and founding fathers sound like. You can tell that Knight wanted to leave a legacy in he could be proud. He was grateful for his roots. They way Knight talks about Steve Prefontaine is so endearing. It was interesting to hear an insider's version of this amazing track athlete. In fact, because I knew so little about Pre, I started to feel like a bad Oregonian (in my defense, he did die before I was born). Now I know why everything that Nike stands for can be traced in the spirit of Pre. He was a charismatic rebel with a cause. (If you go to the Nike HQ museum, they still loop his Olympic run on an old television.) Through it all, you get a sense of what loyalty and friendship meant to Knight: it's literally the glue that held his business together. Since I'm friends with many Nike directors and executives, it's clear now why most of them have worked there for over thirty years (I think their campus badges are black). That's practically unheard of. I'm biased because I've done work with Nike and grew up in Portland. But I'm unbiased in that I'm a loyal fan of Asics running shoes. Ironically, that's how Knight built his empire so I don't feel all that bad. Still, I do have lots of Nike gear and now I look at it a whole lot differently. The swoosh is much brighter than before. Part of my neutrality with Nike was all the talk about the sweat shops in the late 1990's. Knight clearly gives his two cents on that towards the end of the book which still leaves room to interpret the whole issue. But now I see both sides of the coin. Since they changed their tune, put more money into philanthropies (hundreds of millions), and are the model for corporate sustainable development, ultimately I think they're a good force in the universe. Reading this book I soon realized that no matter what Knight was talking about--Nike's flaws or Nike's triumphs--he was a great storyteller. Just as he mentions embedding his sons into historical events in their nightly bedtime story, Knight mindfully embeds the reader into the history of Oregon, America, and the shoe industry. Somehow he made it all sound exciting. I was worried that the book would not be complete. It doesn't have a table of contents so until you get it, you don't know that it's the history of Nike from 1962-1980. Each year is a chapter, and then he sums up the last twenty years of Nike in a chapter at the end. But it all makes sense: Knight ends the book in the year he took his company public. I'm sure he had more adventures to tell, but he got out the main story of all of his hard-fought battles with competitors, athletes, governments, and ultimately himself. Since I've been to the HQ (which employees call the campus), I know there are dozens of more stories. They're all bigger than life. Each building has a history of its own and every time I'm out there, they're building another cluster of buildings. (I was told they stopped naming buildings after people who are alive because of the Lance Armstrong debacle.) Pretty soon they'll buy the whole town of Beaverton and just call it Nike Town. There are stories like Tiger Woods breaking a glass window that houses the lap pool--an entire football field away. That's what you get with Nike: incredible story after incredible story. Guess what the call the marketing department? Nike Story. It makes perfect sense. It's where they articulate the soul of Nike to the world. If there ever was a company with soul, Nike is it. (No pun intended: sole/soul.) This book really captures the amazing story of a businessman and his vision. Anyone interested in entrepreneurship, teamwork, leadership, track, shoes, or Oregon should pick it up for sure. You won't regret it! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2016 by P.W.A.
    • If your a founder trying to build a great company, read it.
I have to say I only picked up Shoe Dog, Nike's Phil Knight's autobiography (or *memoir*? What's the difference?), because of it's mention on Gates Notes, Bill Gates' blog, where the Microsoft founder publishes an yearly holiday book list based on what were his top reads of the year (in this case, 2016). Here's what Gates had to say about the book: >[the] memoir, by the co-founder of Nike, is a refreshingly honest reminder of what the path to business success really looks like: messy, precarious, and riddled with mistakes. I’ve met Knight a few times over the years. He’s super nice, but he’s also quiet and difficult to get to know. Here Knight opens up in a way few CEOs are willing to do. I don’t think Knight sets out to teach the reader anything. Instead, he accomplishes something better. He tells his story as honestly as he can. It’s an amazing tale. I tend to trust book suggestions by people whose reading habits I admire. It's the case of Bill Gates. My trusting bias is leveraged by the facts that he's a very successful entrepreneur (maybe the most) and a very avid reader. These two traits lead me to believe that his suggestions will most likely be useful for other entrepreneurs and aspiring CEOs like me (since he's damn good at it) and well written (since he's very well read). Shoe Dog proved my assumptions right. The book has earned its place among a handful of other reads I consider powerful aides on my journey to build a long-lasting successful company. Made in America (by Sam Walton), The Hard Thing about Hard Things (by Ben Horowitz), Gringing it Out (Ray Kroc), Pour Your Heart Into It (by Howard Schultz) and now Shoe Dog, all have something in common: they discuss the hardships, sacrifices and joys involved in building such a legacy in a way that feels like these guys are your mentors meeting you for weekly 1-on-1s over coffee. Knight's book teaches us a lot about resilience ("don't ever stop"). Nike's cofounder fought a number of life-threatening fires during his journey, and maybe that's really a big part of building such a successful company: remaining in the game. He lost credit lines when his business depended on them; he repeatedly almost lost his partnership with Onitsuka (I didn't know Nike had started selling Jap shoes) when distributing them in the U.S. was the only business he had; he was fined for more than a year's revenue by the Government. But he lived to fight another day, meditating, counting backwards, running, doing "whatever it took to hold it together". I can relate to that. Another recurring theme in the book is Knight's reluctance in going public. Founding a company that's built to last is a commitment that's best measured in decades, and so an IPO was very far from his goal, a vision unlike Silicon Valley's. We all see many startups going public with founders holding less than 10% of the equity, and quickly stepping down to start other companies and do it all over again. Building a huge company takes a very long time, and the really great founders behind the really great companies do everything in their power to remain in control (see Google, Facebook and Amazon). So knowing he'd be around for decades running Nike was a huge factor in Knight's holding up an IPO as far as he could, so that he wouldn't abide too much equity, and I think he was right. I, too, want to build Qulture.Rocks for the long long run. He says "the cowards never started, and the weak died along the way." He might as well have said "the cowards never started, and the weak died - or sold out - along the way". Of course, that really stems from the fact that he wasn't really chasing money, but the amazing road that's building a company for the long-term. Reflecting on his 30-plus years with Nike, he looks back and reflects on the journey being the end goal, "because, honestly, I wished I could do it all over again". That helps a lot to put my path in perspective... Remembering all the sacrifices and hardships I've been going through are actually the thing I'll miss when all is conquered and set. Not that everybody thinks, or even should think, this way: that's the privilege of a small part of entrepreneurs, who do it for the love for their products and the excitement of building something bigger than themselves. Another thing I could relate was Knight's view of the importance of money in building Nike, not as the endgame, but as a means to build greater things: "For us, business was no more about making money than being human is about making blood". I can also relate to that. I'd love to be selling ten times what I'm selling right now so I could hire more talent, build a great office and pay top dollar to our amazing team. And that's what money's for. That's enough. If your a founder trying to build a great company, read it. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2017 by Avid Reader
    • A Fascinating Journey Behind the Creation of Nike
Review Image by Alex Covtun Alex Covtun
Review Image by Alex Covtun Alex Covtun
Review Image by Alex Covtun Alex Covtun
The memoir offers an incredible, behind-the-scenes look at the creation and growth of Nike, one of the most iconic brands in the world. Phil Knight recounts his personal and professional journey from the early days of selling shoes out of the trunk of his car to building a global empire. His storytelling is engaging, and the book provides fascinating insights into the challenges, risks, and lessons learned along the way. What I found particularly compelling was Knight’s honesty about the struggles and setbacks he faced in building Nike. It’s a candid and inspiring account of perseverance, vision, and the drive to succeed against all odds. Shoe Dog is a must-read for entrepreneurs, business enthusiasts, or anyone interested in the story behind one of the most successful brands in history. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2024 by Alex Covtun Alex Covtun

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