13A- Reading Reflection

I read Shoe Dog, an autobiography on the founder of Nike, Phil Knight.
1.  What surprised you the most? 
I was most surprised by the fact that when Nike was beginning, then called Blue Ribbon, running or running shoes were not popular. In fact, some people say that Knight was the first person to create the running shoe. This surprised me because Nike has now created a massive industry with multiple Fortune 500 companies.
2. What about the entrepreneur did you most admire? 
I admire the path to success that Knight took. It was not the usual path, and the book explains this well. He tried and failed many times before finally reaching his goals.
3.  What about the entrepreneur did you least admire? 
I least admired that he immediately brought the manufacturing of shoes overseas. He did not attempt to make it happen in America.
4. Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity or failure? Explain. 
Yes, Phil Knight failed many times while creating Nike. At first, he had to try and fail multiple times just to create a shoe that he thought was the best quality his new company could provide. He also failed in manufacturing and sales often. The book explains that at first he had many shoes made in Japan, but he could not even sell them. He used these failures to improve his shoe and his brand. Each failure was a learning point for Knight, and he eventually got it right.
5. What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? 
Phil Knight was very good at learning from his mistakes. He built the company from nothing, and continued to try to make a better product than the one he did before. He also had a talent for hiring the right employees, and getting everything he can out of those employees. He also possessed great marketing skills that I believe root back to him being so extroverted.
6. Identify one part of the reading that confused you. 
One part I was confused by was that he only paid the man who created the Nike swoosh $35.
7. 2 questions you would ask and why? 
The first question I would ask is when did he know that Nike was about to become an industry leader. I have always wanted to know at what point extremely successful people realize how successful they are about to become. The next question I would ask is "Is everything you had to do to get Nike to where it is today correlate with your core values as a person?"
8. What do you think the entrepreneurs definition of hard work it? 
I think that Phil Knight believes that hard work is never letting failure stop you, if anything, it should motivate you.

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