By Megan Thomas
This is the memoir of Phil Knight, the creator of Nike, and I must admit I spent ages resisting reading it. I thought it would be a business how-to book and while I’m not opposed to those in general, there are a lot of books I would opt to read first. But increasingly I was hearing rave reviews, so I thought I’d make sure I could weigh in the next time it came up.
I tend to roll my eyes at the idea that some people are born to be successful and others are not – the “we all have the same 24 hours” bullshit that overlooks the fact that your upbringing and subsequent opportunities might lead to an uneven playing field. So much of business success is a smorgasbord of luck and privilege to varying degrees. However, I do think that when it comes to success of this nature, there is a lot to be said for perseverance that borders on, but does not slip into, single-mindedness.
Knight dealt with so much rejection building Nike, in many ways, not just the fact that people couldn’t fathom a world in which people wore running shoes for leisure. With retrospect, it’s hard to imagine the ragtag band of whoever agreed to work with Knight forging a shoe empire. But one thing remained unwavering and that was Knight’s perseverance. The significance of this characteristic not slipping into single-mindedness is the lengths he was willing to go (both metaphorically and geographically), the plans he was willing to change and adapt, and what I found to be an inspiring flexibility to achieve his dream.
I was disappointed by how briefly he glossed over the issue of sweatshops, but that would be a whole different topic – and possibly not one wholly relevant to a personal memoir, even if it is through the lens of his business. For now, though, I do think this is a thoughtful, interesting and motivational memoir and hope to see more on the wider issues of exploitation within this industry in future reading materials.
BUY THE BOOK: Waterstones | Amazon
Disclaimer: I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Please get in touch if your preferred online platform is not listed here – I’ll see what I can do!
Read more memoirs:
Have You Read This 