Shoe Dog

You have to cast a wide net to find the golden fishes. This book taught me that reading is the same. You need to read and read and read until you find that book--the one that changes everything.

For me, that book came from a highly unusual place. Shoe Dog by Phil A. Knight is a memoir written by the founder of Nike about his experiences starting a company. To me, it’s a book about an undying commitment to yourself, and the highest form of self-confidence that you can find: wholeheartedly believing in your dream. I think that to best respect these lessons as learned by their creator, I’ll let Phil Knight explain them to you in his own words.

One of the most surprising things about reading Phil’s memoir is simply a contrast between how shy he seems to be, compared to the incredible gambles that he was able to wage. Following each of his decisions, he was extremely open about his fears, doubts and feelings of shortcoming. It almost seemed as if he was waging a war against himself, which nearly defeated him. To that end, I think he found solace in the practices of wholeness that other religions, cultures and histories have found. He quoted that “Reality is nonlinear…No future, no past. All is now… To study the self, said the thirteenth-century Zen master Dogen, is to forget the self. Inner voice, outer voices, it’s all the same. No dividing lines” (25). This is what has caused such insecurity in our generation. We overthink everything because of this divide between what we see and everyone else's perspective. Merge them into who you are working hard to be, and stop being concerned if the outer voices can't figure it out.

And yet, when interacting with other people, Phil’s perspective gave him life. “Confidence. More than equity, more than liquidity, that’s what a man needs…But confidence was cash. You had to have some to get some. And people were loath to give it to you.” (158). The belief that he was able to infuse into Nike, his business, as well as the man that he was becoming, I think, made all the difference to the life that he was attempting to produce out of thin air. But, having a trajectory that was vastly different from other people’s as well as attempting to break through a new market as an individual is what makes Nike stand out as a company of personal faith. It just takes one, however.

LeBron James, towards the end of Knight’s career, took him for a private moment. Both were stars in their own right, attempting to break through the pre-establishment of what it looked like to play and run their games in the 1970s. When they were alone, he handed him a 1972 Rolex watch, with an engraving saying “With thanks for taking a chance on me… He was pretty close to a sure thing. But taking a chance on people--he’s right. You could argue that’s what it’s all about.” (348). I think that in life it will be the same: you need to take chances on the people around you. That’s what is going to keep you inspired by the life that is constantly growing and shaping you. It’s just like reading. You need to continue to meet and be open minded to the connections, because maybe just one will be your goldfish.

In that breath, I’ve struggled frequently with feeling confident in the ideas that I have about being nontraditional… writing a blog, or a book… or creating. The biggest wall that I needed to break down was simply that nobody cares what you’re doing, and when you attack it with your best effort, perhaps someone will listen. Phil subscribed to that mindset entirely. It was his lifeblood.

Phil Knight encountered many incredible athletes, businessmen, and geniuses whose names may not have received the spotlight. However, he was proof that the quietest names of accountants, managers, and businessmen and women are responsible for making the greatest corporations of our generation run smoothly and hopefully responsibly. But when looking to our leaders for guidance on who we hope to become, it comes down to the fact that “No matter the sport--no matter the human endeavor, really--total effort will win people’s hearts,” (203). Knight is living proof of this. While some of the business men that he worked with certainly hated his guts for having outworked them, the consumers and critics alike are forced to step back and consider that maybe his ideas and vision weren’t so outlandish after all. He, after all, was just a man with a dream.

But with that dream came a need for personal fulfillment. There was no life for Phil without the people who helped him along the way. It was most shocking to me when Phil, despite being the creator of the company, even decided to give up complete control of the company, yielding for help and support. It is so easy to fear losing credit for what you came up with because you’re actually in need of help along the way. The giving up of one’s entitlement is what allows others to take stock in the dream, even if you were the one to create it. Ownership is not absolute. “You measure yourself by the people who measure themselves to you… Oneness--in some way, shape or form, it’s what every person I’ve ever met has been seeking” (352).

And perhaps most important to the story of the ultimate leader and hopeful entrepreneur is to: “Have faith in yourself, but also have faith in faith. Not faith as others define it. Faith as you define it. Faith as faith defines itself in your heart” (364). Even in the eyes of growing up, I think that nothing is more important than setting one’s compass towards their dream and stopping at nothing to reach it.

And just like that, you’ve done it. You have mastered in quick essence the heart of becoming a Shoe Dog, a person who lives, breathes and survives on the power of the movement.