1)
You read about an entrepreneur:
Shoe Dog by Phil
Knight is an autobiography of Nike’s founder shares his story on how he founded
one of the most iconic, profitable, and world-changing brands in the world. One that really surprised me about Phil
Knight is that he tried to stay out of the public spotlight for a very long
time. Many people did not even know who the
founder of Nike was, and Phil Knight did not mind it that way. Much of Nike’s history and reasoning for many
decisions were kept private. Phil Knight
did not reveal much information about Nike and his personal life until after
stepping down as chairman and writing this autobiography. One thing I admire about Phil Knight is his
passion for sports and desire to be a successful entrepreneur. This mindset and desire taught the lesson
that you only get a few chances to start something crazy, so go for broke when
you’re young. This shows that Phil did
not believe in failure unless you give it your all which I admire. One thing I least admire about Phil Knight is
that he kept much of
the information about Nike and his public life private. Phil faced adversity when he first was
interested in selling shoes. Phil Knight
wrote a paper called “Can Japanese Sports Shoes Do to German Sports Shoes What
Japanese Cameras Did to German Cameras?”
Nobody was impressed with the paper, but Phil became obsessed with the
idea of selling Japanese, high-end, low-cost running shoes in the US, which propelled
him to start the Nike company. He was
willing to take risks and this helped him create one of the most successful brands
of all time.
2)
What competencies did you notice that the
entrepreneur exhibited?
Throughout the book
we learn about the people that made a difference in his life as well as the
personal tragedies he had deal with. The
combination of the two helps show Phil Knight’s drive and ability to succeed
even in times of adversity. Using the
networking connections, he was able to take an idea he believed in and with the
help of some other turn it into a very successful product.
3)
Identify at least one part of the reading that
was confusing to you.
One part of the reading that was confusing was
that how Nike first started, and how Phil Knight made money and hired a group
of his friends to start up Nike. We learned that its better not to mix friends and business unless
they ae partners.
4)
If you were able to ask two questions to
the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?
As a sports fan, the first question I would
ask is which athlete was he most excited to get to represent his Nike brand? Athletes representing a specific brand can be
proven to be one of the major reasons for the success of Nike. The second question I would ask is when the
flip switched and when he knew he had created such a successful company even
through times of adversity? I think
learning about when Phil Knight thinks his company became successful would be
interesting to hear.
5)
For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's
opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?
I think Phil Knight would say that hard work
would be described as giving everything you have until nothing else can be done. Based on this book I can see that Phil Knight
does not believe in failure but instead just as an obstacle to learn from and
overcome. I agree with this but it is
not always easy to obtain this mindset of never giving up right away and may
take some time.
