13A- Reading Reflection

1) The book I read was Shoe Dog, by Phil Knight. I chose this book due to my large interest in the athletics and sports field and I was curious on the steps Knight really took to create one of the biggest brands on earth. What surprised me most about the whole thing itself is how Phil Knight really started this huge company by completely winging a spontaneous meeting across the entire world when he was right out of school with no experience or money at all. What I most admired about Phil Knight was his passion. It was the sole thing that drove him and kept him going throughout all the ups and downs and without it, I don't think the company would be here today. However, what I didn't admire much about Knight was his occasional carelessness with some of his business tactics. He seemed to wing a lot things or wait until the last minute like when he ordered all those shoes just assuming he'd somehow get the money and waiting till the last minute for the name and logo which may not be the biggest pieces but really do have a big part in the marketing and global factors. Throughout his journey, Knight encountered many obstacles like when he walked into a meeting with a Japanese company and had no planned presentation or business plan or when his partnership with Onituska crashed down and he had to scramble to find a spot in Asia to make and ship his shoes to the States. He also faced legal troubles with the US government and with the rapid growth of the company he had troubled keeping up with the expansion as far as warehouses, distribution centers, and factories. Knight just trusted the process and worked harder than anyone else to get through the obstacles and in the end his commitment was well worth it. 

 

2) Some competencies I noticed that Phil Knight showed was his commitment, passion, and his perseverance. Knight never quit on his idea or his business at any point no matter how hard it got or how small the chance at success was. He held onto his love and passion for what he did and used that as fuel to make him work harder and also used it has a key characteristic when hiring employees so they would have the same drive and work ethic as he did.

3) What confused me a little bit was overall why a successful Japanese shoe company just took the call of a random person claiming to be a business man and actually sat in a conference room meeting with him and listened to what he had to say without even doing a background check or doing more research and then they signed a contract with him. Luckily it paid off and i'm sure Phil Knight was very convincing and back then it was a little more laid back with less resources but that still kind of threw me off.

4) If I could ask Knight two questions, I would ask him, "What made you almost instinctively make these risky and last minute decisions when you didn't have anything to fall back on?" I ask this because he took so many risks that could have gone completely wrong and it seemed as if he never had a doubt and never even thought about having a backup plan or something to fall back on with all these risks. I would also ask him, "Would you change anything about the process you went through to create what you have today?" I ask this because in the book he even says there were things he did not love like the name and logo and he had a lot of bumps along the way so there may have been moments or decisions that he may believe should have been done differently. 

5) I think Phil Knights opinion of hard work is very strong in that it is so vital to success. It was the only reason Knight got his company to where it is now and without his hard work, he would have been stopped at the first obstacle that came in his way.  I definitely share this opinion with him because I have always worked hard to get where I am and all good things in my life have come from hard work. Never had I heard in a situation were something becomes very successful and long lasting without hard work involved.