Book Review - Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of NIKE by Phil Knight

Though Nike is one of the biggest brands in the current sports market and I am a user of many of its products, I was surprised that I didn't really know much about Nike at all, especially about its founder. If you threw the name "Phil Knight" at me, it would bounce right off without a reaction. As an avid follower of founders of big companies, it was a bit mortifying. But boy, that was before I read this book.

The autobiography highlights the author's journey in the creation of one of the most iconic brands in the world. It just didn't read like a memoir at all. The writing style is lucid and smooth. The beginning part itself, which described his journeys to India, Japan and other countries, was quite engrossing and got me hooked almost instantly.
The initial days of his interaction with Japanese shoe manufacturer Onitsuka, the conversations with co-founder and athletics coach Bowerman and his balancing his accountant's job with Blue Ribbon (erstwhile name of Nike), all give a fascinating insight into a founder's mindset during a company's infancy. This is followed by a detailed description of the company's growth over the years and the incessant waves of financial, legal and manufacturing troubles they faced and the measures they took to keep the company in continuous expansion mode. Finally, the book shows the fruits of his work with Nike securing sponsorship of top athletes like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods and gradually becoming one of the major forces in the sports industry.

Shoe Dog is basically a story revolving around Knight’s journey and doesn't serve as a business book in the strictest sense.  It serves more as an encouraging read to founders and entrepreneurs than as a guidebook to learn business. It doesn't dish out any business truths or hacks. Rather, it is unto the reader to take lessons from his journey and incorporate them into his/her own life. I, for one, loved his hands-off man management style and his no-nonsense attitude, while keeping true to the core values of the company.
For people wanting to get specific advice about founding startups and entrepreneurship, "Zero to One" by Peter Thiel would be a better read.

On the not so positive side of things, I thought the book stopped abruptly just as the golden period of Nike was starting. I wanted to know more about how the company managed to remain the top player in the market, the modern strategies they used to achieve that, and the challenges in the face of fierce competition from Adidas, Puma and other top brands. I was really interested in the demographic aspect of it as well, as seen from a manufacturing and marketing perspective.

Notwithstanding the above aspects, it was a thoroughly enjoyable autobiography. Highly recommended for just about everybody.

My Rating: 4/5 stars