Shoe Dog | Phil Knight

episode SUMMARY:

In this episode of the Books for Men podcast, host Douglas Vigliotti discusses the memoir Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, the creator of Nike. The book covers the period from 1962 to 1980 and tells the story of how Knight turned a small idea into a multi-million-dollar company. Vigliotti praises the book for exemplifying the American Dream and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the American ethos. He also addressed his initial hesitancy to read celebrity memoirs but ultimately found Shoe Dog to be well-written and compelling. The book is recommended for artists, creators, entrepreneurs, and anyone interested in the backstory of Nike. Vigliotti concludes by emphasizing the importance of finding the good in difficult situations, then encourages listeners to share the podcast to support the show, and reminds listeners they can connect with him on Instagram @douglasvigliotti.

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Welcome back to Books for Men, a podcast to inspire more men to read and bring together men who do. So this week we are pivoting back into a nonfiction book, and it is a memoir from the creator of Nike. So you've probably seen his name or heard his name before Phil Knight. He is the legendary founder of the iconic Shoe wear brand. And this is his memoir, like all good memoirs, it takes place over a very specific time period and doesn't try to encapsulate everything in that way. It's not a biography or an autobiography for that matter. It's an actual memoir. And this book takes place from 1962 to 1980, so 18 years. And it basically leads from the inception of the idea, which was just this small, silly, little idea or crazy idea as he calls it, all the way to going public in 1980 and basically goes from worth nothing to $178 million.

(01:17)

And as we know the journey goes on to be much more successful than that. I think Phil Knight is worth somewhere around $10 billion or something like that. So it's a pretty remarkable journey from nothing to something. And I think that's one of the big reasons why I wanted to share it with you, not because of the financial aspect necessarily, but I don't think I've ever read a story that exemplifies the American dream quite like this one does. And I thought coming off of a big idea book where I told you the power of less being more or more being less for that matter in the paradox of choice, I thought this would be a great book to juxtapose that and talk about what it means to strive for more or strive for a dream that you believe in. And it's worth reminding you that there is probably no better country to live in than America if that is something that you are trying to achieve.

(02:19)

And the story is just a magnification of what makes our country great, which by the way, is probably the same thing that hinders it. You've heard me talk on this podcast before about your greatest strength also being your greatest weakness. And I think many of the things that make America an amazing place to live and an amazing place to grow up and chase your dreams also make it quite the pain in the ass at times, right? I mean, I think we all can relate to the chaos of information and thought and opinions and controversy really, and just conflict inside of the country. But it's that same energy and openness of thought and expression that allows for a lot of great things too. So that American ethos is both our strength and our weakness, at least in my eyes. I've had this conversation multiple times over the last year or two, and I've come to the resolution that our freedom is also our frustration.

(03:21)

There's not much that we could do about that. But this book will help you look at that glass half full and the optimistic and strength side of that, I feel like, and I could tell you that it's the side that I usually like to look at it from, although I try to acquaint myself with the downside as much as possible as well. But for inspiration, I think that this book, Shoe Dog, by Phil Knight, is a great place to start. So if I'm being honest with you, I pride myself on that, so hopefully you understand that I am as transparent as possible with you. I had a little hesitancy to even read this book. So it came out, as I already mentioned, I believe, in 2016. And it took me a while to read it. It got a lot of hype when it first came out, and I'm being totally honest.

(04:07)

Celebrity books, which I consider Phil Knight, a celebrity, a billionaire American celebrity, I guess a lot of these books are ghostwritten. And this book is also ghostwritten. I have nothing against that. I featured another book on this podcast. The one with Michael K. Williams similarly was ghostwritten. Most of these celebrity books are, and I feel like it's a great opportunity for writers to maintain a career. And it's a big field. I mean, 90% of these books are, the reason why I hesitated or hesitate to read these books is because I feel like most of the time, and I'm pinching my thigh as I'm saying this, they are a money grab by the celebrity. It's like a tell-all or look like publishers approach these people to come and tell their story, and they pay them exorbitant amounts of money and they don't even write the books.

(04:58)

They work with somebody to write the book, and then they don't even credit the ghostwriter. And that to me seems a little crazy. Like, I don't know, it's like a weird thing. But with that being said, some stories are worth being told, and this one is, and that is why I read it. But I will say I was so happy that I did because it was super well done. The book reads almost like a novel, and it kept me reading like a novel would, which is kudos to JR. Mo Ringer, the ghostwriter who was also tapped by the way to write the Prince Harry memoir, the one that just came out. And he also has his own memoir, tender Bar, which you may have seen as a feature film on Amazon. So he's as legit as they come, really. And you could tell when you're reading this book because like I said, it is super, super well done.

(05:49)

And I don't want to take it completely off of Phil Knight's plate because he obviously has to work with the ghostwriter in some capacity to get these words on the page. But for me, unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, I read as a writer. So I'm looking at that first and foremost, usually when I pick up any book. And I always like to credit the writer when I think he does an excellent job, even if he doesn't have his name on the title. The reason why I consider this to be such a well-done book is because it's very show don't tell. And so anybody who's ever tried to write anything, you know that the hallmark of trying to write well is to show, not tell, right? I mean, at least that's what everybody tells you to do. Look at the picture and describe that picture with your words or what is the scene and show the scene with your words.

(06:46)

Don't tell us the scene. It really comes down to action on the page, right? So not action like an action movie, but the actions that people are taking and doing, create the scene or the chapter or the characters for that matter. And the reason why I bring this up is that this book does that very well. It places Phil Knight as a character, and you are kind of moving along the journey and the story with him in a way that's very compelling and there's just no other way to really slice it. And sure, there are all the great quotes and lines that come up that are very inspiring. He often quotes Buddha and Confucius, you cannot travel the path until you become the path to study The self is to forget the self. The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.

(07:37)

There's a lot of that in there. And then there are also a lot of quotes from generals like General MacArthur. You are remembered for the rules. You break or general patent. Don't tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do, and let them surprise you with their results. So you get a lot of that stuff in there. But he has a lot of his own good lines in there as well. One of the things that really left a mark on me was this very short quippy line that said, lead me from the unreal to the real. And I think that that's a really good example of what life is all about. Everything in our mind starts as a thought, as a belief, as a dream, as the unreal it's imagined, and then it's up to us to lead ourselves or lead people into the real, into making it happen.

(08:26)

And I found that to just be this really short, quippy, powerful, inspiring line. And yeah, you just get a lot of that stuff in there. And so I don't know, I really enjoyed this book a lot. I thought that it was a great example of what a memoir could be, and I highly recommend it to anybody who is an artist, a creator, an entrepreneur, or just somebody who wants to be entertained or find the backstory of how Nike got started. And I'll end the episode by sharing this final thought. It's really circling back to an idea that I mentioned earlier as strengths are weaknesses or bad can also be good, right? He was actually forced to start Nike and design the swoosh, the iconic swoosh because his current Japanese distributor at the time was going to end their distribution deal in the States. So he had to scramble to find a white-label option.

(09:23)

And voila, the Nike Swoosh was born from that. So his hand was kind of forced. And this happened in 1971, and as I already spoiled the punchline, this is a great example of something bad being good. And so I want to remind you, as I always try to remind myself that no matter how bad something might seem in the short term, if you're able to gain a little perspective on it, you could usually find the good and knit somehow. And I know that that's a tough pill to swallow, especially if you feel like the bad is really bad. And I'm not going to sit there and pretend like it isn't because it might be. But what I can say is that I promise you there is something good about it that you may not see right in that moment. And it might take a year, it might take two years, it might take 10, but you will be able to see it eventually.

(10:17)

All right, so this episode is a wrap. I want to thank you as always for tuning in. This is the point of the episode where I remind you if you enjoyed it to please share it with friends, family members, and other people who you think might enjoy it. Because word of mouth is everything when you're trying to spread awareness. And with this podcast specifically, it's to inspire more men to read. And I need your help to do that. So please share, share, share. If you want to double down on that support, you can by rating, reviewing, liking, subscribing, or following, whatever metric, the podcast platform you are listening to this on uses, do that, take 30 seconds. Because in doing any of that, you will help more people find the show. Lastly, you could always visit BooksforMen.org where you can get full transcripts for these episodes. As well as sign up for the newsletter, which is a monthly roundup of every episode, complete with full book and author information, all the best quotes, and newsletter-only book recommendations. So again, if you're interested in that, if over to BooksforMen.org.