48 pages • 1 hour read
Phil KnightShoe Dog
Phil KnightNonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2016A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 4-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary: “1965”
At the beginning of the year, Knight offers Jeff Johnson a job as a commissioned salesman, and Johnson accepts. Johnson begins to send Knight an endless stream of letters in which he reports his sales, his plans, his suggestions, and his thoughts. He sends so many letters that Knight worries he is “unhinged.”
In April 1965 Johnson reports that he quit his job as a social worker in Los Angeles. Although Knight tries to convince Johnson that work at Blue Ribbon could be unstable, he ultimately accepts Johnson’s offer to become the company’s first full-time employee.
Knight runs into problems with his banker, who believes Blue Ribbon is growing too quickly for its equity. The banker observes, “Growth off your balance sheet is dangerous” (77). Knight, however, feels that growth is vital to his company’s survival. He continues to place orders with Onitsuka that are twice the size of the previous order and convinces the bank to approve the necessary loan.
Given so much uncertainty about the company’s future, Knight decides to find “a real job” (80). He’s hired as an accountant at Price Waterhouse, where he meets a man named Delbert Hayes. Hayes is a large man with a large appetite. He drinks often and smokes at least two packs of cigarettes a day. Hayes is flamboyant but also extremely talented as an accountant. Knight joins Hayes at local Portland dive bars after work and on road trips visiting clients.
While in Japan during the 1964 Olympics, Bowerman visits the Onitsuka headquarters and bonds with Mr. Onitsuka. When Bowerman returns to Oregon, he corresponds with Mr. Onitsuka, sending shoe ideas to the factory. Eventually, Onitsuka makes samples according to Bowerman’s notes and sends them to Oregon. Bowerman issues the prototypes to his runners, who use the shoes to win races.
Chapter 5 Summary: “1966”
Johnson’s endless stream of letters continues from California, and Knight continues not to respond. Given free rein to do as he likes, Johnson works obsessively for Blue Ribbon. He creates a database of customers with whom he regularly keeps in touch.
Knight moves out of his parents’ home and rents an apartment in downtown Portland. Around this time Johnson writes Knight to say that he’s been in a car accident. Though critically injured, he manages to meet his obligations with Blue Ribbon. Knight proposes that if Johnson can sell 3,250 pairs of shoes by June 1966, Knight will let him open a retail store. Johnson hits the goal and opens Blue Ribbon’s first retail space on Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica that fall.
Knight receives word that the Marlboro Man is beginning to sell Onitsukas on the East Coast again. Once more, Knight flies to Japan hoping to secure exclusive rights to sell Onitsukas in the United States. When he arrives at Onitsuka’s headquarters, he meets in the conference room with Kitami, who has replaced the previous export manager, Morimoto. Knight attempts to persuade Kitami and the other executives that Blue Ribbon should be Onitsuka’s exclusive US distributor. Kitami says that this won’t be possible as Blue Ribbon is not established enough, nor does it have offices on the East Coast. Knight bluffs that Blue Ribbon does have offices on the East Coast. This seems to change Kitami’s mind. The next morning, he awards Blue Ribbon a three-year contract as Onitsuka’s exclusive US distributor.
Chapter 6 Summary: “1967”
Knight hires a local track coach named John Bork to run Johnson’s retail store in Santa Monica and then flies down to LA to convince Johnson to move to the East Coast and quickly open a factory there. At first, Johnson is reluctant, but he ultimately agrees. Then, Johnson threatens to quit working for Blue Ribbon unless he is made a partner and given a raise. Knight flies to Palo Alto, where Johnson is staying with his parents. There is a meeting between Knight, Johnson, and Johnson’s father. Though Johnson’s father argues that Johnson deserves to be made partner, Knight merely offers Johnson a $50 raise. Johnson accepts and continues working for Blue Ribbon.
Knight hires two former University of Oregon track runners to work for Blue Ribbon: Geoff Hollister and Bob Woodell. Woodell had been a rising long-jump star when an accident left him paralyzed. Over lunch, Knight offers Woodell a job opening Blue Ribbon’s second retail store in Eugene, Oregon. Woodell accepts.
Onitsuka sends Bowerman a shoe prototype based on Bowerman’s suggestions. In preparation for the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, they call the shoe the “Cortez.” With the help of the shoe, Blue Ribbon ends the year meeting its sales expectations of $84,000. Having grown out of his apartment, Knight rents a cheap, simple office space next door to a tavern called the Pink Bucket.
Over on the East Coast, Johnson opens an office in Wellesley, outside Boston. He draws on his file system of customers to begin creating a new base of clients.
Chapters 4-6 Analysis
Though Shoe Dog is primarily the story of Knight’s challenges as the founder of Nike, it is also the story of those who help build the company’s culture. In Chapter 4, Knight meets Delbert Hayes, a talented accountant and eccentric character who becomes part of the company’s core. In Chapter 6, Knight hires Bob Woodell, who likewise proves to be a trusted friend and an invaluable part of the company. Though talented, the men are also characterized as misfits at an athletic shoe company. Hayes, for example, is overweight, while Woodell uses a wheelchair. Though later employees will call attention to the fact that they do not resemble the stereotypical athlete, Knight insists that it is this that makes them so valuable—a testament to the image of rebelliousness that Knight cultivates throughout his memoir.
Perhaps the greatest misfit of all Knight’s early hires is Johnson. Johnson is so enthusiastic about his work selling shoes for Blue Ribbon that Knight grows concerned for Johnson’s mental health and finds himself unable to respond to any of Johnson’s letters. Even this seemingly small detail of ignoring Johnson’s letters turns out to have fateful consequences. In the absence of clear guidance, Johnson is given free rein to let his enthusiasm fly, and as a result, Johnson expands Blue Ribbon’s client base and business prospects considerably. Over time Knight treats other employees with the same hands-off style that he treats Johnson, and these later employees likewise respond positively. Thus, Knight’s management style is informed by his earliest experiences with his first full-time employee.
In building his company Knight faces many early stumbles. One significant challenge involves his relationship with his bank, which believes that Blue Ribbon is growing too quickly. To Knight, this is both frustrating and paradoxical, as a company must grow quickly to build up equity. He skirts his bankers’ requirements and expectations by pretending to agree to their rules and then following his own gut—a practice at odds with Knight’s emphasis elsewhere on Telling the Truth as a Successful Business Strategy. He reflects, “Everything my banker said, I ultimately accepted. Then I’d do exactly as I pleased” (78). Usually, this involves placing new orders with Onitsuka that are double the size of the previous order and then pleading with his banker, Harry White, to cover the order.
Such bold maneuvers recall a line that Knight often repeats to himself, one originally credited to General Macarthur: “You are remembered for the rules you break” (32). This habit of Breaking Rules in Order to Succeed will characterize Knight’s company for years to come.
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