“The trouble in America is not that we are making too many mistakes,” says Knight, “but that we are making too few.”
The road to the top is one often paved with risks, and no one is more aware of that fact than Knight. In making Nike the multi-billion dollar success it is today, Knight dared to take steps in new directions, to make decisions others were afraid to, and to create a company that would be as well known for its leadership as the athletes that promoted its products.
Knight made history once when he signed Michael Jordan to endorse his running shoes. Recently, he tried to make history a second time. He attended high school games in order to find the next number one NBA draft pick and that was where he discovered LeBron James. Knight was convinced James was the next Michael Jordan and immediately signed him on to a $90 million endorsement deal. James was not even signed on to the NBA yet, but that didn’t matter to Knight. He was going to take a chance like he had done years before with Jordan. Jordan was retired and Knight knew he needed to protect his franchise with young consumers. James was his answer. It was a gamble, but a gamble that paid off, and paid off big.
Knight didn’t just take chances when it came to the basketball court. On the soccer field, Knight made headlines when he signed the 14-year-old Freddy Adu to a $1 million endorsement deal. Knight predicted that soccer was just on the verge of kicking its way into America and Adu was going to be America’s first potential breakthrough soccer player. “If you fly across the state of Oregon on Saturday morning, every field is filled with kids playing soccer,” says Knight. “Someday, they’re going to grow up.” In signing Adu, Knight demonstrated that his days of taking the kind of risks that propelled Nike to the top were far from over.
In a different kind of court, Knight is also trying to lead the way through unfamiliar territories. In 1998, after much negative publicity regarding its labour policies, a consumer activist from California sued Nike under the state’s false advertising laws, claiming the company was making misleading public statements. After the California Supreme Court ruled against Nike, Knight took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, where the issue has become an important First Amendment case that is likely to have far-reaching implications once it is ruled upon.
Despite being used to courts that are “much more fun,” Knight says his recent visits to the country’s top court have been energizing. “It was like a Super Bowl in another venue,” he says. “It was an electric atmosphere, very intense. The intellect in the room was huge.”
Whether it’s on the basketball court or in a court of law, Knight has demonstrated he is not afraid of taking risks and of going where others before him have been unwilling.
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