13A – Reading Reflection No. 1

What surprised you the most?

What surprised me the most about Phil Knight's road to success was that he originally began selling Japanese shoes out the back of a truck and that his original company name was "Blue Ribbon".  I feel as if this can come off as less surprising to others if they knew more about Knight and Nike compared to me.  I have always worn Nike ever since I could remember and had never known this.  What I also found interesting was all of the different ways of work he went about before creating Nike.

What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

What I most admire about Phil Knight is his will to fight and his will to always finding a way while experimenting.  From reading Shoe Dog, I was able to understand all of the struggles that Phil Knight had went through.  I think coming from a state and city that in the 1960's didn't have much and attempt to become an entrepreneur was a bold move.  To show the impact that Knight had on the state of Oregon, in today's world, it is more relevant because one of the greatest sports company is from there.  It makes both the University of Oregon and Stanford University more relevant as well because those are the universities he comes from.  His impact on the world is truly what I most admire because of his hard work and will to never give up.

What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

If I had to pick one thing that I least admired about Phil Knight, I think it would be that in a way, he let others opinions about how to go about business influence him and that he was not very "strict" with the way he went about his business.  For example, he had stated, "One lesson I took from all my home-schooling about heroes was that they didn't say much.  None was a blabbermouth.  None micromanaged.  Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results."  This had made Knight go a different way about his business rather than doing what his heart was telling him to do.  I think while running a business or attempting to start up a business you have to be strict with the people you are working with.  In Knight's book, he states how he was not like this.  Obviously his company skyrocketed and is such an admirable company so he did it all right, but if there was one thing I had to least admire about him that would be it.

Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?

Phil Knight encountered a lot of adversity and failure in his Nike career.  Knight was constantly told by people that they did not think that he was going to make it.  He also thought to himself that coming from Oregon was going to be a struggle for him because nothing big ever really happened in the state of Oregon.  He had graduated from the University of Oregon while getting his masters at Stanford and did not come out of college with a job.  He had stated, "We knew we could fail, we just didn't think we would."  This was a common quote made by his team as they continued to fight for Nike.

What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?

I think the skills that were most important to Phil Knight's success goes back to the beginning of the entire book when he talks about being up before others, the birds, and even the sun.  I think this work ethic goes a long way and that is why I share the opinion as you can see in my response below.  I think this work ethic is what truly shows people their true colors.  Knight continued to use this strategy even when things weren't going his way.  He continued to fight and eventually was able to find a path to success.

Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
I don't really believe that there was anything in this book that I found confusing.  If I were to say something was confusing it would be just following his path and being able to connect the littlest of details.  I found that I would be thrown off a little if a missed a smaller detail earlier on in the book when it came back later in the book.  Even though this was a small issue, I was still able to figure everything out and follow the book.

If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?
If I had the chance to ask Phil Knight two questions, I would ask when getting married and starting a family in 1968, how did you handle this with your pursue to continue working day in and day out for Nike?  I would ask this question because when living life, there are many distractions.  Not that marriage is a distraction but I am curious as to how he handled it all for his success with Nike.  Another question I would ask would be what was the most challenging part of your life to chase Nike?  I would ask this question because I want to know the main struggle that almost made a successful man like Knight crack.

For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion? I believe Phil Knight's opinion of hard work is found on the very first page of the book.  "I was up before the others, before the birds, before the sun..."  This statement by Knight implies how he was the very first one up and the last one to go to bed.  You could also imply that he was constantly tired but continued to push through it knowing it would pay off.  In my opinion, I would say that I do share this opinion with Knight.  I believe that the hardest workers in the room are the ones who eventually find major success.  Waking up really and going to bed late at night is a perfect example of this.