One of his professors described the character of an entrepreneur, and Phil instantly recognized himself. Every morning after work, he ran home – seven miles.Īfter later graduating college, Phil entered Stanford Graduate School of Business. As a kid he once had a summer job tabulating the day’s sports scores for a newspaper during the night shift, which would then be published in the next day’s paper. He loved following them and he loved doing sports. If you want to save this summary for later, download the free PDF and read it whenever you want.ĭownload PDF Lesson 1: You only get a few chances to start something crazy, so go for broke when you’re young. Have a crazy idea for a business to start? Let’s turn to Phil Knight to see how you can make it a reality and have fun along the way! Shoe Dog Summary Get a mentor and partner on board, who will believe in you and complement your skills.If you’re young and don’t have much to lose, it’s best to go for broke.Here are 3 lessons from Phil Knight’s life about how he built Nike, the most valuable sports brand in the world:

But as time progressed towards him stepping down as the company’s chairman (which he did in June 2016), he knew a memoir was in order. However, until now, much of the company’s history, many early decisions and a lot of Phil’s personal life hadn’t been well-covered publicly at all. At the time he founded Nike, back then called Blue Ribbon, in 1964, Phil had no idea what this crazy plan of his would turn into, how much it would change the world and that it’d make him the 15th-richest person on the planet. In fact, I don’t recall knowing who founded Nike until earlier this year, when debating the topic with my family and googling it. It’s very rare for a person like Phil Knight to elude the public spotlight for so long.

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