July 2, 2020

Businesses are hardly ever overnight successes, and the Nike empire is no exception. Although Nike is such a household name and a strong symbol of athletic prowess today, it wasn’t like this from the beginning. 'Shoe Dog' is the honest story of how Nike got started and all the obstacles author Phil Knight faced in turning his big 'Crazy Idea' into a leading, multibillion-dollar sporting goods company.

I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir and reliving every year of Knight’s life with him from the 1960s to 1980. I loved learning about his business endeavors, as well as his family and romantic relationships between the pages. I admired how much resilience, passion, and commitment the entire founding team exhibited, time and time again, against all kinds of players in the market and a constantly overdrawn bank account. And I was overwhelmed by the wisdom he shared at the end of this memoir, after reflecting on the entire journey, reminiscing and regretting, but mostly revelling in the experiences and emotions of chasing a dream.

Knight pleads young graduates to focus less on finding a salary, job, or even career, but instead to seek your own calling. Find what you are each passionate about, and then do what you love. It’s important to reflect on what you want and who you want to spend the next several decades with, because embarking on an expedition anchored on a calling will make all the inevitable fatigue, burnout, and disappointments more tolerable and all the successes the most gratifying. Because there will always be obstacles. There will always be people working against you and finding ways to bring you down.

But once you’ve found your own calling, find others who are equally passionate about your dream and who will lift you higher and be at every step of the climb with you. Not only did Knight take risks and work hard, he had a supportive family, an amazing team, and a wide network of highly reputable business partners that devoted their lives to and opened doors for Knight and Nike. These partners became family to him and Nike became more than just a business. In fact, it should never be just business and just about the money. 'If it ever does become just business, that will mean that business is very bad.'