Building Nike Was No Shoo-in

Harsh Desai 20 January 2017

When was the last time that you felt a little breathless after you finished a business book, as if you had just come back from a three-mile run? When was the last time that you felt a distinct urge to go out and buy the product which the book is about and the only thing that stopped you was your measly cash balance? When was the last time that you called up your friend and used adjectives like unputdownable to describe a business book, a word used more often when describing a thriller? And when was the last time you were distinctly tempted to read a 400-page book at one sitting?

Well I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember the last business book I felt that way about. Phil ‘Buck’ Knight’s memoir is a roller-coaster of a journey that has a high for every low and a tear for every smile. It is riveting.

The book is divided into several chapters, each being a particular year in the life of Buck Knight and the company, Nike. You are taken on a year-by-year journey—from the creation of the company till its, finally, going public. It is the story of the most iconic shoe brand in the world and if you are worried that you need to be a shoe dog (a person completely obsessed with shoes), don’t worry if you are not one at the start of the book; you will be one by the time you end it.

The book begins in 1962 when Buck finishes his education at Stanford Graduate School of Business and, on a lark, takes a journey around the world. He gets seduced by the beaches of Hawaii where he spends some time but, ultimately, goes to a shoe company in Japan where he represents that he has a shoe company in America and could he please sell their shoes in America for them.

The Japanese economy is still struggling in the aftermath of the Second World War, but is slowly picking up its pieces and has already started dominating the car markets of the world. It is Buck’s hunch that what the Japanese did for the car market they, along with him, can do for the shoe market.

The hunch pays off brilliantly in the creation of a billion-dollar company. But much of the book is about dealing and negotiating with, the Japanese, ‘business Samurai’ and, ultimately, getting the upper hand over them. To students of business, it is a handbook about dealing with the Japanese and a case study about how to come out on top. It is fascinating to see how, by sheer mastery of technology, the Japanese have become an economic superpower.

It is also the story of Buck Knight’s genius in surrounding himself with slightly eccentric, but brilliant, men and women who were all shoe dogs completely obsessed with the making and selling of shoes. Many of them happened to be accountants because Buck Knight was also an accountant. And many of them happened to be lawyers because Buck Knight and the company got entangled in several legal snafus with the potential to make or break the company; Nike also had a life and death legal battle almost at its very inception which it won quite handily.

One of the unusual things about Knight is that he comes from the laid-back state of Oregon, which is not exactly known for its business prowess, because of which Buck had a continuous problem raising money; he went nearly broke on more than one occasion, including a time when everything came nearly apart and he was almost referred to the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation). But, like a cat with nine lives, he managed to survive that.

One of his most brilliant moves was to make the legendary running coach Bowerman a partner in the venture. Bowerman came up with many memorable designs, including the waffle shoe, and gave the company credibility among runners. He also hired a lot of runners who knew the product really well. One thing that repeatedly saves Buck is the belief that his company is more sincere and honest than his competitors’.

Buck Knight’s is a story that all young entrepreneurs should read. And, if you want to follow Buck Knight when you get into trouble the next time, go for a six-mile run.

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