Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

 This memoir of the co-founder of Nike totally captivated me because it was like a roller coaster ride that never let up. There was challenge after challenge, and I kept wondering, how on earth can Knight stand this level of stress? I enjoyed learning more about how a company can become a cultural phenomenon, and what level of commitment and crazy that takes. I enjoyed learning about atheletic sponsorships and the feet on the ground over years of work that eventually paid off. It was interesting to read about how Knight met and hired his inner circle (the Buttfaces) that took this fledgling company into the behomoth it is today. 

What was heartbreaking to read about was how totally consuming this effort was, while his two sons languished with his wife. There's a chapter where he writes that one son refused to wear Nike's and both refused to be in sports. This was their retaliation for his absenteeism and it's a sad story. You can feel Knight's regrets, but that doesn't make it easy to read about.

He often depended on his father for encouragement and as that relationship developed over time, it was interesting to watch Knight understand some things about his own drive and impulses. It was impressive that his wife Penny stayed with him through all of the ups and downs. The Japanese characters were also intriguing to read about, and it opened a curtain on some of the cultural challenges that doing business there can uncover. 

He's definitely cut from a different cloth. I can't conceive of hanging in there when contracts were broken, when innovations didn't work, and when slapped with a 25 million dollar tax bill... Wait, what? You keep going as if it's all going to turn out well? Knight's life has not been easy! I liked how it was never about the money for him... And I liked how loyal he was to his friends and his state of Oregon and his school, the U of Oregon. All interesting things that I knew little about, and his writing style is captivating and engaging. There were lots of deals and accounting and banking things that I needed more details to understand. But if he had made them understandable, it could have been a boring and technical read. What I got was a snapshot of the issues like importing, going public, etc., and I would have appreciated more detail. Still, a good ride for sure. 

P.S. Here's a miracle! I was thinking about sending this book to Jane because I sensed she would like it, but I didn't. Then, in a recent convo, I told her about it, and she had just read it too!!! And yes, she did enjoy it and made lots of connections too, including one with her ex-husband, Larry, who wore Converse tennis shoes back in the day and laughed at her for suggesting better shoes would help his game... There wasn't such a thing as specialized shoes for specialized sports back then!