SHOE DOG - Summarized for Busy People

Book excerpt: This book summary and analysis is created for individuals who want to extract the essential contents and are too busy to go through the full version. This book is not intended to replace the original book. Instead, we highly encourage you to buy the full version. Shoe Dog is the enthralling memoir of Phil Knight—Nike's cofounder and board chairman—revealing the company's earliest days at his parents' basement and its rise to become one of the world's leading brands in the shoe-making industry. Young Phil Knight had just finished graduate school, yet he was already yearning to make his mark in the world. With the fifty dollars his father had given him, Phil managed to establish a company with a mission of supplying the American market with low-cost Japanese running shoes of such superior quality. Phil sold his first imports in 1963 out the back of his Plymouth Valiant. Phil certainly got a long way from that first year's $8,000 to today's $30 billion. Phil Knight's Nike is considered the gold standard in the modern era of start-ups. Representing greatness and grace, Nike's swoosh is among the few iconic logos that can be recognized by anyone anywhere in the world. Shoe Dog finally unveils the mysterious Phil Knight—the person who built Nike from scratch. After decades of keeping silence about the company's history, Phil Knight finally opens up in this honest and humorous account of the hardships of starting a company. Phil Knight made the most important choice in his life when he found himself at a crossroad. He was only twenty-four years old when he set off to see the world. Phil was backpacking through Africa, Europe, and Asia and struggling with the Great Questions life had offered when he finally resolved that the right path for him is one where no one else would dare go. In Shoe Dog, Phil Knight recounts how he pleaded with harsh bankers, how he struggled to keep up with unforgiving competitors, and how he managed to overcome colossal setbacks. Phil also describes the meaningful relationships he had formed with the people at Nike: the company's cofounder and his former track coach, Bill Bowerman, as well as Blue Ribbon Sports' first employees, a strange group that shared the belief that sports is an instrument of liberation and put their faith in one another. United by a single daring vision and a familiar passion, Phil Knight and his merry band of brothers crafted both a brand and a culture that would change the industry forever. Wait no more, take action and get this book now!