I was reading Phil Knight’s Shoe Dog which is a memoir by him on how he created Nike. Till now I have read two thirds of the book. Till now the memoir has beautifully taken me through his struggles and victories in his journey on creating Nike as a brand and leader in sports wear. Since it is a memoir each chapter gives how each year goes by. In the era of 1960s where technology was not what it is today it is astonishing on very different kind of challenges he faced. That was the time when there was no internet, no technology based logistics and transportation, no mobile phones and not the kind of fast communication we have today. Phil wrote this memoir in 2016 and what he has ensured is that he hasn’t let his knowledge of today dictate the facts of the book which is set in 1960s and 1970s.
Phil has highlighted his struggles in setting up the business during the period of global political uncertainty, wars and overall weak economic outlook. The memoir highlights his journey right after he graduated from Stanford and what to do in his life. One of his constant struggle during his initial days was to raise fund for operational expenses. If this was today, banks, private lenders, Non Banking Financial Companies would have made a bee line in front of his house to extend credit at a very low rate.
How did he face and cope up with these challenges and struggles in his journey ? He used his common sense, took help from people, spoke to expert, came up with ideas and more but one thing he always did when he faced challenges was to go for a run. For a runner, running is like meditation. And Phil Knight always used this method whenever he hit a roadblock while runnign his business or whenever he wanted to vent out his frustration due to things not happening in his favour.
From the book below are the few instances when the going was getting tough, the runner inside him got going.
A) Planning a trip across the world
After his graduation Phil wanted to travel the world. This was a time when he was quite confused on what to do. He was quite clear that he wanted to travel for some time. He said this trip would be the last chapter of his education before he went in the real world. This was in early 1960’s. That time he did not have access to the kind of information and ease we have today to plan out a trip. All he had was encyclopedia or books gave details on various places across the world. He wanted to travel for a long time and he wanted to explore South East Asia. Somewhere at the back of the mind he knew he wanted to do something with running. He was struggling to plan his trip like what all countries to visit, which cities to visit in those countries, where to stay, how to travel, what to eat, what to shop and tens of questions like these. Mind you he was in his early twenties when he wanted to travel around the world. At one time when he wanted to clear his thoughts in his mind, he decides to got for a run. Once he went for a run he was able to declutter his mind and get more clarity to plan his trip.
B) Starting a store in Boston
Phil and Johnson wanted to open up a store in Boston. Boston was the mecca of running in United States. The legendary Boston Marathon was around the corner. They wanted to start their operations on the east coast and what better place to market their store than Boston. They wanted to increase their visibility in the city. They were struggling to find customers, influencers. To overcome this challenge they decided to go for a run on the Boston Marathon route. Now both Phil and Johnson were great runners. They had run a lot for their university. This run on the marathon route helped them get lot of eyeballs and it was a great prelude for opening of the store.
C) Self realisation on weight gain
With all the stress in running a business, getting married to Penny (not a stress although arranging a wedding is an energy sapping process) Phil had completely ignored his health. by late 60’s he was overweight. One day when he looked at himself in the mirror. He was shocked to see that he had outgrown himself. He was sad looking at himself. This is something which every runner dreads i.e putting on weight at the wrong places. That very moment he decided that he is going to start doing which he loves most and that is start running regularly. He started running the very next moment and he was back in shape within no time.
D) Winning his confidence back
During the initial days of Blue Ribbon, Phil was looking at every option to raise money. He was already raising credit from bank, but banks at that time had a very rigid and strict process of extending credit beyond a certain limit. Phil more or less had exhausted the limit of credit being given by the bank. He now had turned to his friend and American great Jim Grelle to invest in his company. Grelle had inherited a large amount from his grandmother and he was investing in various ventures. One day he invited him for dinner and after dinner gave him all the information about Blue Ribbon. He explained the customer base, cash flow, inventory, order to cash process to him but Grelle refused to lend him money. Phil was disappointed. Grelle did notice this and invited him for run and also threw him a challenge that in case if Phil won he would pay him a dollar for the difference of each second between them. Phil won that challenge and Grelle paid him $36. This helped Phil win back his confidence and also his weight.
E) Onitsuka’s betrayal
Blue ribbon which was owned by Phil Knight was the distributor for Tiger Shoes in US. They were not the sole distributor but were distributing it for significant region in US. During the final years of 1960s Phil came to know that Onitsuka were looking out to exit from Blue Ribbon and also remove them as a distributor. Phil and Johnson came to know about this when Kitami visited US. The reason was not given for his visit but Phil realised that Kitami was visiting to remove Blue Ribbon and give the distribution to some other firm. This was a very shocking discovery for Phil. At this time the sales was more than a million dollars and he was employing close to 50 people. He had to announce this to all the employees and Phil being not a public and effective speaker he wasnt unsure on how to do this. To overcome this he and Johnson decided to go for a run. After his run, Phil had many ideas and was more confident on how he is going to address the employees and reassure them that the firm had plans to overcome this crisis.
These are the few important instances where Phil thought that going for a run is a great idea to declutter his mind and get more clarity on his thoughts to ensure they are converted into actions.
Phil Knight is a celebrated author and a great businessman. He has been a recreational runner through out his life. Anyone who loves running would definitely relate to the practice of running to declutter their thoughts. It is one of the most ancient and foolproof way of clear thinking. Millions have adopted this style and it is getting popular day by day. Maybe there are some hormones or some chemical changes which happens inside your body which helps in taking your mind at a different level.