Baller 21

The Unauthorized Story of Nike

by Chris Harvey on 04/08/10

In college, a book on the shelf of one of my Kinesiology professors caught my attention. That book was entitled, Swoosh: The Unauthorized Story of Nike and the Men Who Played There.

What is intriguing about this book is that it was the first book about the inside story of Nike, Inc., told by it’s own, and yet without formal consent from the head executives, including co-founder and chairman Phil Knight.

A note from the authors:

“When coauthor J.B. Strasser started working on this book in Portland, Oregan, in 1983, she wanted to write a story about the drama that went on around the clock at what would become the world’s most powerful sports company. The result, eight years later, is a story about the people of Nike, from president to the savvy secretary; from the factory worker to the promo man on the road. In our view, the most interesting parts of Nike history are glimpses into how this company was established. For that reason, we chose to end our story where the pioneering slowed. In the corporate world, some people lay track and some people drive the train. This story is about the people who laid the track.”

The historical account of how the multibillion dollar company, formerly an importer of Japanese shoes as Blue Ribbon Sports, got its start, the origins behind the Nike name and famous swoosh, the dedication from it’s soldiers, the deals made with top athletes, and the details of how it stormed into battle of the worldwide Sneaker War is fascinating.

Carolyn Davidson is the creator of the Nike swoosh. Davidson designed the swoosh in 1971 while a graphic design student. Phil Knight, who was teaching an accounting class at Portland State University, noticed Davidson working on an assignment, and asked her to do some work for what was then Blue Ribbon Sports, Inc. Needing to choose a logo in order to meet looming production deadlines, Knight settled on the swoosh, after rejecting various other designs. At the time, he stated of the logo, “I don’t love it, but I think it’ll grow on me.” She billed the company $35 for her design. Knight, years later and after significant financial growth, presented her with a diamond ring engraved with the swoosh, and Nike stock.

Jeff Johnson, the first employee of the company, had the daunting task with others in a creative meeting, during a secretive transition period as a undercover brand, to come up with a name for the new company and its shoe box deadline only a day away. Some of the name ideas included, Bengal, Falcon, and even Dimension Six from Phil Knight. Johnson came up with Nike, in connection with the winged goddess of victory from Greek mythology. Knight finally decided, “I guess we’ll go with the Nike thing for now. I really don’t like any of them, but I guess that’s the best of the bunch.”

A co-worker of mine recently was astonished, after discussing the origins of Nike laid out in this book, in regards to how they started with nothing and yet reached the level of success they are currently at. There are a number of factors that contributed to the success of the company, but one distinctive factor is the drive of its leaders and early team members.

“It was a holy mission, you know, to Swoosh the world.
To get Swooshes on everybody’s feet. We were Knight’s crusaders.
We would have died on the cross.”

–Jeff Johnson
Nike’s first employee
1990

There are many more stories and interesting facts in this book, including the deals made with Michael Jordan and Bo Jackson, and the chapter on Shoe Wars, but I’ll save those for later posts.

I enjoyed the read and was captivated by the leadership moves made (many successful, many failures, and some just crazy) as a recent start-up leader of an organization myself.