Shoe Dog: A Memoir By The Creator Of Nike

Couldn’t put it down. Really enjoyed reading it

Very interesting and entertaining book.

This is such a well.written and exhilarating book you forget its a non fiction. This book is both entertainment and insight. Rare find

Books arrived intact with two layers of plastic even though the title was a paperback. The second book in this consignment arrived in a pathetic shape, wuth only the delivery packaging.

One of the most enjoyable and rewarding books to read. A promised great read

Great book. Felt like a novel. Decent quality of print.

Read before anything else you plan to read. Period.

Delivery was quick - book is incredible (and slightly addictive)

This book is definitely a must read for all entrepreneurs. Very well written, easy to read, it describes the Nike empire birth and the personality of Phil Knight. This guy deserves Respect. For some people, I heard he was/is the most hated CEO in US because of his raise, but I invite you all to read and know what the guy had been through, and how well he manage it. What I also like, this book has no boring part, goes straight to the point, no blabla to make extra pages such as many authors is this field. 5 stars for me !

Me encantó este libro, Phil Knight es un grán narrador, cada uno de los capítulos te envuelve en la historia de Nike que es en paralelo su historia personal, está tremendamente bien escrito y en verdad es de los pocos libros que he leído este año que disfruté tanto que no quería que terminara, en más de una noche me desvelé de lo picado que estaba en la historia. Lo he reomendado por todos lados a mis conocidos, algo que me llamó la atención es que leer la historia desde la óptica de P.K. me cambió mucho mi prespectiva de Nike y ahora veo con otros ojos la marca, es un perfecto ejemplo de persistencia, emprendedurismo, esfuerzo e ingenio. Recomiendo mucho este libro para personas de negocios, en particular marketeros así como emprendedores que quieran tener una fuente de inspiración sobre cómo es posible crear una empresa de cero hasta hacerla una de las más grandes referencias mundiales en su industria.

Now this was bloody awesome. It evokes more emotions than just make you think. The writing style is amazing

Even if you’re not a fan of memoirs this is truly a book worth reading. Phil Knight reveals his extraordinary pathway to success by divulging stories of his fascinating travels, the gambles he took, insecurities that burdened him, missteps along the way, personal and professional triumphs and losses. His unconventional approach to business inevitably meant surrounding himself with a gifted group of eccentric and nonconformist employees that led to the creation of a massively successful shoe empire envied worldwide. The authentic relationships he formed throughout the early years of Blue Ribbon to Nike’s years of growth provided him with a second family of sorts and a solid foundation for an incredibly prosperous company. I love that his personal story is told in such a forthright, candid yet casual, voice that feels like an after-dinner story being told by a dear friend. I would highly recommend this book for new graduates and entrepreneurs of any age. It sounds trite and inadequate to simply call Shoe Dog and inspirational read – it feels like more than that. I loved the accounting of his relationships with his track coach and his father – and his deep desire to make them both proud. He was surrounded by people who supported and believed in him early and steadfastly helped him achieve all he set out to achieve – his mother, his wife, his eccentric employees all played an important role. But even the untrustworthy businessmen that he encountered along the way, who also had an important role in creating a hostile environment that forced him to take greater risks and push harder to pursue his dreams. At a time when world events and politics can leave a person feeling a bit emotionally bankrupt, a book like this comes along and reminds me of all the positivity and goodness in people and the excitement of building something astonishing from the gossamer threads of a crazy dream. Shoe Dog is an excellent book so I highly recommend it. I hope my review is useful to others.

Wow. I loved this book. Having worked with Nike on a few jobs, I had a lot of gaps of its history. This book isn't so much about shoes as it is about the epic journey of entrepreneurship, friendship, and self-discovery. Knight writes with such honesty and humility at times, it's hard to believe that this is the man worth billions that created the most iconic sports apparel brand in the world. What I like most is Knight's mindset. He had determination and fire in his belly. His belief in his brand was relentless despite some major setbacks. And in this book, he talks about a lot of them. The only part that got sluggish for me was the end with all the US government negotiations stuff. Other than that, it was a very interesting read. It's a bonus that it was written from an Oregonian because I'm a Native Oregonian--and never have I been so proud to be one. His talk about the Men of Oregon echoes the kind of things pioneers and founding fathers sound like. You can tell that Knight wanted to leave a legacy in he could be proud. He was grateful for his roots. They way Knight talks about Steve Prefontaine is so endearing. It was interesting to hear an insider's version of this amazing track athlete. In fact, because I knew so little about Pre, I started to feel like a bad Oregonian (in my defense, he did die before I was born). Now I know why everything that Nike stands for can be traced in the spirit of Pre. He was a charismatic rebel with a cause. (If you go to the Nike HQ museum, they still loop his Olympic run on an old television.) Through it all, you get a sense of what loyalty and friendship meant to Knight: it's literally the glue that held his business together. Since I'm friends with many Nike directors and executives, it's clear now why most of them have worked there for over thirty years (I think their campus badges are black). That's practically unheard of. I'm biased because I've done work with Nike and grew up in Portland. But I'm unbiased in that I'm a loyal fan of Asics running shoes. Ironically, that's how Knight built his empire so I don't feel all that bad. Still, I do have lots of Nike gear and now I look at it a whole lot differently. The swoosh is much brighter than before. Part of my neutrality with Nike was all the talk about the sweat shops in the late 1990's. Knight clearly gives his two cents on that towards the end of the book which still leaves room to interpret the whole issue. But now I see both sides of the coin. Since they changed their tune, put more money into philanthropies (hundreds of millions), and are the model for corporate sustainable development, ultimately I think they're a good force in the universe. Reading this book I soon realized that no matter what Knight was talking about--Nike's flaws or Nike's triumphs--he was a great storyteller. Just as he mentions embedding his sons into historical events in their nightly bedtime story, Knight mindfully embeds the reader into the history of Oregon, America, and the shoe industry. Somehow he made it all sound exciting. I was worried that the book would not be complete. It doesn't have a table of contents so until you get it, you don't know that it's the history of Nike from 1962-1980. Each year is a chapter, and then he sums up the last twenty years of Nike in a chapter at the end. But it all makes sense: Knight ends the book in the year he took his company public. I'm sure he had more adventures to tell, but he got out the main story of all of his hard-fought battles with competitors, athletes, governments, and ultimately himself. Since I've been to the HQ (which employees call the campus), I know there are dozens of more stories. They're all bigger than life. Each building has a history of its own and every time I'm out there, they're building another cluster of buildings. (I was told they stopped naming buildings after people who are alive because of the Lance Armstrong debacle.) Pretty soon they'll buy the whole town of Beaverton and just call it Nike Town. There are stories like Tiger Woods breaking a glass window that houses the lap pool--an entire football field away. That's what you get with Nike: incredible story after incredible story. Guess what the call the marketing department? Nike Story. It makes perfect sense. It's where they articulate the soul of Nike to the world. If there ever was a company with soul, Nike is it. (No pun intended: sole/soul.) This book really captures the amazing story of a businessman and his vision. Anyone interested in entrepreneurship, teamwork, leadership, track, shoes, or Oregon should pick it up for sure. You won't regret it!