Reading Reflection No. 1

Reading Reflection No. 1

Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

1) You read about an entrepreneur:

What surprised you the most?

• When Phil lied in a meeting full of executives (in Japan) at Onitsuka’s headquarters. Once again, Phil had to deal with the wrestling coach on the east coast, only this time the wrestling coach began selling the same shoes, now in his market. Knowing me, I would do anything in my power to maintain the relationship with my only distributor and he took a huge gamble to stay on top. 
• Blue Ribbon’s sales doubled every year. Phil focused everything on the concept of growth and understood that to stay relevant, his company had to continue to push innovation and consistently meet the increasing demand of his customers. 
• His core team collectively went by the name “Buttface.” As a playful joke, Phil wanted to be the only multi-million-dollar management team that went by “Buttface.” This told readers that however rich they become (his team), at heart they are still best friends from Oregon. 
• Customers embraced Nike’s new experiments, successful or not. Not every new shoe was a massive hit with customers, but because Nike was so respected for their innovation and creativity, customers never took it personally because they respected the brand far too much. 

What about the entrepreneur did you most admire? 

• Because this was written by Phil Knight, you would expect him to leave some things out – especially since the company is still active today. However, Phil recalls multiple instances where he didn’t necessarily have to. For example, Phil talks about his rages where he would shatter company phones, institute random rules for the office, and cases where he wasn’t exactly the nice guy (in other words, he let you know exactly how he was feeling). For this reason, the book was incredibly interesting since it gave me exactly what I wanted to read – because you can always read about the proper way to run a business in any textbook. Phil also acknowledges that not every idea was his, and goes further admitting that he never actually liked the “swoosh” logo for Nike. 
• How close he is with his superstars. From the outside looking in, one might expect these insane endorsement deals to be strictly concerned about money and brand recognition. On the contrary: Michael Jordan reserved a front row seat for Phil at his father’s funeral; Tiger Woods was the first to call him at 7:30 AM after his son died in a car accident; Lebron James gave him a Rolex with engraved with “Thanks for taking a chance on me.” Yes, you can make the case that these athletes are trying to preserve their relationship with Phil, though you can also admire that they treat each other like family and their relationship goes much further than business. 
• This quote from the book: “Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.”

What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

• Putting one of his store managers, Bork, in an uncomfortable situation of having to deceive Kitami (Onitsuka executive) that they were not selling Nike Shoes. For context, Nike was Phil’s back up plan, and Blue Ribbon (Phil’s current company) was still in a formal contract with Onitsuka to sell their shoes. Eventually, Bork quit his job as store manager because he did not want to work under a boss who forces their employees to deceive.

Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?

• After believing he was the sole official distributor of Onitsuka in the west (America), Phil receives word that a wrestling coach was already the exclusive distributor of Onitsuka in the United States. More specifically, the wrestling coach claims that Phil is infringing his rights to sell Onitsuka shoes. Confused and not getting any response from Onitsuka executives, Phil flew to Japan to settle the dispute – understanding that his future in the shoe industry relied on this meeting. The CEO of Onitsuka compromises with Phil and allows him to sell track shoes to only 13 western states, while the wrestling coach could sell wrestling shoes nationwide. Although you can view this as a loss, Phil still found a way to produce a solid compromise in a foreign country – all at a relatively young age. Phil made it obvious to the CEO of Onitsuka that selling these shoes meant more than making money, and the CEO saw reflections of himself embodied in Phil (the determination to achieve your goals and succeed through adversity).

2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? 

• Phil defines the word tenacity. There was never a case in this book where you read about Phil giving in to a competitor or succumbing to the pressure. Although he expresses himself perhaps somewhat untamed, aggressive, or even rude, I would not hire someone who feels timid or restrained. As business leaders and entrepreneurs, this is what it takes to stay at such a high level of success. Per Phil Knight, “Beating the competition is relatively easy. Beating yourself is a never-ending commitment." 
• Reliability that ensured the respect not only his business partners, but his customers as well. Littered throughout the book are reflections of Phil being in an extremely tough spot with impending doom upon him, and yet he continued to persevere and find a way through. 
• Finding coworkers who possessed similar beliefs and attitudes towards not necessarily his company, but his relentless work ethic and hunger to win. For Nike, Phil wrote that his only prerogative was to win, hence the word Nike – the Greek Goddess of Victory.

3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

• “American Selling Price (ASP).” This rule, instituted by the United States under the Fordney-McCumber Act of 1922, almost destroyed Nike as a whole. The United States was demanding a $25 million-dollar payment in 1981, though luckily, Phil and the government settled on $9 million. As defined by The Free Dictionary (link provided), the ASP indicated that a tariff on an import into the United States would be calculated according to the price of a similar, American-made good rather than the manufacturer's price. Although it seems not that confusing, Phil did describe the situation more technically, and some of the terms went over my head.

4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

• What is Nike’s general ideology or thought process when it comes to manufacturing shoes? In my perspective, Nike is operated primarily through creating demand for their shoes, then outsourcing to other nations for the cheap labor, contracts, land, etc. Overall, I would want to learn more about how exactly Nike creates these massive contracts while cutting costs to remain way ahead of competitors. 
• How would you compromise business time for family time?

5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?

• To put his work ethic into perspective, Phil worked 70 hours a week as a CPA for a small accounting firm, ran the startup Blue Ribbon, plus had an Army Reserve requirement that took up two Tuesdays a month and one all day Sunday (plus two weeks in the summer). All at the same time. Moreover, I know that I work hard and put in the hours, but when you read that sentence, it instantly makes me feel that I can be doing more.