Philip Knight Articles

In His Own Footsteps: The Early Years of Philip Knight - Click To Read Article
He might never have played pro sports or owned a sports team, but Philip Knight has been dubbed the “most powerful person in sports” by Sports Illustrated. Worth an estimated $7.1 billion, Knight turned an idea he first penned in a college essay into the largest sportswear supplier in the world. Today, Nike Inc. earns revenues in excess of $15 billion and has become one of the world’s most recognized brands.

Stepping it Up: Nike Reaches the Top of its Game - Click To Read Article
In 1962, Knight decided to finally put his theory into practice. He didn’t want his business idea to fade away in the halls of Stanford. He was convinced he could make a go of his plan to import cheap but well-manufactured running shoes from Japan, and he wasn’t going to retire the idea until he had tried.

Lesson #1: Become a Remorseless Marketing Machine - Click To Read Article
“Our job is to wake up the consumers” says Knight. “If we become predictable, that’s not waking them up.”

Lesson #2: To Make the Dunk You Need to First Take the Jump - Click To Read Article
“The trouble in America is not that we are making too many mistakes,” says Knight, “but that we are making too few.”

Lesson #3: A Clear Focus Will Take You Where You Want to Go - Click To Read Article
“We wanted Nike to be the world’s best sports and fitness company,” says Knight. “Once you say that, you have a focus. You don’t end up making wing tips or sponsoring the next Rolling Stones world tour.” From day one, Knight has had a clear vision about what he wanted his company to be, and where he wanted it to go. There have been many setbacks along the way, but it was in focusing on the larger end picture that Knight was able to keep Nike on track.

Lesson #4: Keep Your Company in a Constant State of War - Click To Read Article
“Sports is natural, instinctive, competitive, and, in the end, rewarding,” says Knight. “All of us at Nike get to earn a living in that world – a world that is easy to believe in.” Much like the competitions in which Nike shoes increasingly found themselves being worn, so too did Knight take his company to the top with his instinctive sense of competition. By tapping into his entrepreneurial DNA and constantly maintaining a sense of combat against his competitors, Knight was able to succeed where few others had.

Lesson #5: The Storm of Criticism Can and Must be Weathered - Click To Read Article
As Nike’s market share has continued to grow since the 1980s, so too has the amount of public criticism levied against the company’s business practices. Whether it is focused directly on Knight, who has become the public face and the lightening rod of the company in the media, or against the company in general, the criticism is more often than not harsh and unforgiving.

Victory in Motion: How Nike Soared To the Top - Click To Read Article
“Sports is like rock ‘n’ roll,” says Knight. “Both are dominant cultural forces, both speak an international language, and both are all about emotions.” Since the company first got its new name in 1972, Nike has appealed to the emotions of customers to become the leading athletic shoe retailer in the world. With the company’s ‘Swoosh’ logo tattooed on his ankle, Knight has become the embodiment of what it means to succeed as an entrepreneur in the 21st century. How did Knight climb to the top?

Philip Knight Quotes - Click To Read Article
Philip Knight Quotes


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