Many books I’ve read about entrepreneurs follow a common, and I believe misleading, storyline. It goes like this: A sharp entrepreneur gets a world-changing idea, develops a clear business strategy, recruits a crack team of partners, and together they rocket to fame and riches. Reading these accounts, I’m always struck by how they make their achievements appear to be the inevitable result of some great prescience or unusual skill. It’s no wonder publishers churn out “how-to” titles packed with tidy checklists, 5-step programs, and other simplistic recipes for entrepreneurial success.
Shoe Dog, Phil Knight’s memoir about creating Nike, is a refreshingly honest reminder of what the path to business success really looks like. It’s a messy, perilous,
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He’s incredibly tough on himself and his failings. He doesn’t fit the mold of the bold, dashing entrepreneur. He’s shy, introverted, and often insecure. He’s given to nervous ticks—snapping rubber bands on his wrist and hugging himself when stressed in business negotiations. It took him weeks to tell Penny, the woman who would become his wife, that he liked her. And yet, in spite of or perhaps because of his unusual character traits, he was able to realize the “Crazy Idea,” as he calls it, to do something different with his life and create his own shoe …show more content…
He then went to Stanford for his MBA, where he wrote a paper about the potential market for importing Japanese athletic shoes to the U.S. At the time, Japanese cameras were making a dent in the German-dominated camera market. Why not do the same with Japanese running shoes which he thought could compete against leading German athletic shoe makers Adidas and Puma?
So far, this storyline may feel familiar. It’s the myth of the young entrepreneur with a world-changing idea who is headed down a straight path to success. But the rest of Knight’s journey rips that myth to shreds.
Much of the suspense in the book is built by the precarious nature of Knight’s finances. He started his shoe import business, known then as Blue Ribbon Sports, with $50 from his father. It was the beginning of many years of living in debt. Year after year, he goes on his knees to his bankers to beg for more credit so he could import more Japanese shoes. He rarely had any savings in the bank because he would plow all of his profits back into the company to order more shoes from Japan. Even as sales of his shoes took off, his business was constantly on life support. Meanwhile, he had a rocky relationship with his Japanese shoe supplier, whose executives were constantly eyeing other potential U.S. partners, despite Knight’s success selling and helping to improve the designs of their shoes.
...cott went on to graduate and learned in his own way what an education in entrepreneurship should include. First you should always make yourself valuable, learn different skills that will make you useful in multiple ways. Then, you should always take risks, even if you’re failing most of the time, in every try you learn something new. Third, is finding the action, move and find what you’re looking for. Attack luck, you aren’t always lucky, but the more you look for it the more you’ll find it. One of the most important things is to conquer your fears, step out of you comfort zone. To write simply so any audience can relate to it is very useful for and entrepreneur. And last but not least, to learn persuasion in all its forms. Although, Scott’s college professors taught him a lot about being an entrepreneur, he values highly everything he learned from his experiences.
The most valuable lesson I have learned so far from Ben Horowitz’s book is that there is always a solution. Really, I am amazed by how much resilience Ben had when his personal and professional life were shitty. Twenty-five years ago, my father left 3M to create his own company, he left a really good position in a global company to follow his dream and also because he couldn’t stand having a boss breathing over his neck anymore. I was less than one-year-old and he “gambled” everything over an idea. That is one of the thing I admire the most about him. My dad’s story and Ben’s book made me realize even more that to be successful the hardest part is to actually start. Having a lot of ambition but never taking to risk to fulfill it or loose some price is the worst that can happened to me.
What does this fantastic story tell us about the knight's character and beliefs? This tale gives us insight into the Knight's sense of romance, passion, courage, loyalty and justice or fortune. Firstly, it shows us his ideal of one true, romantic love. He is virtuous and passionate, especially in his love-life. There was only one woman to be ...
Collins realizes he was not prepared for the real world and concludes the realities he faces mark the “...beginning of sadness I say to myself/ as I walk through the universe in my sneakers.” Collins paints a picture of himself still unready for the responsibilities and hardships that he’s realized. It is evident that he’s still not ready because sneakers are associated with the idea of youth and when you’re an adult you may have to change what you wear in order to be taken seriously, especially for the workplace. As we grow older people are forced to change and the culmination of losing our innocent imagination and naive view on the world people forget how to have fun, thus ending happiness
For example, Bill Gates, the world’s richest man, earned a scholarship to Harvard University, and took his time and spent it all on the school's computer and he knew he had potential. So he dropped out of college his sophomore year, and started a company: Microsoft. This man is what is known a as a pure risk taker. Gladwell states, “Bill gates got to do-real-time programming as an eighth grader” (12). He then evolved his company and he launched it on April 4th, 1975. He knows how to sell his products to needing customers. He interprets how to communicate with customers to attract them to his product that he wants to sell. He excelled at monopolizing his company. In all, he went way beyond just ten years. He knew that in all these events that led to his goal, he was exceedingly lucky. This does not mean he wasn't a brilliant man or that he just relied on luck. He just had excellent communication skills and knows how to sell and induce customers to buy his product, and this led him to achieve a great
Norberg, Johan. “The Noble Feat of Nike.” The New World Reader: Thinking and Writing about the Global Community. Ed. Gilbert H. Muller. 4th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2014. Print.
saw the future demands of the computer industry. He was able to build a personal
Many global companies like Nike, Inc. are seen as role models both in the market place as well as in society in large. That is why they are expected to act responsibly in their dealings with humanity and the natural world. Nike benefits from the global sourcing opportunities, therefore areas such as production and logistics have been outsourced to partner companies in low-wage countries like China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. As a result the company is limited nowadays to its core competencies of Design and Marketing.
Phil Knight started his shoe company by selling shoes from the back of his car. As he became more successful in 1972 he branded the name Nike. In the 1980’s Nike Corporation quickly grew and established itself as a world leader in manufacturing and distributing athletic footwear and sports' attire. The Nike manufacturing model has followed is to outsource its manufacturing to developing nations in the Asia Pacific, Africa, South and Latin Americas; where labor is inexpensive. It quickly became known for its iconic “swoosh” and “Just do it” advertisements and products. Its highly successful advertising campaigns and brand developed its strong market share and consumer base. But, the road has not always been easy for Nike; in the late 1990’s they went through some challenging times when their brand become synonymous with slave wages and child labor abuses. During this period, Nike learned that it paramount that the company understands its stakeholders’ opinions and ensures their values are congruent with their stakeholders. Nike learned that their stakeholders were concerned with more than buying low cost products; their customers were also concerned with ethical and fair treatment of their workers. Because Nike was unwilling to face the ethical treatment of its employees, the company lost its loyal customers and damaged its reputation. Nike has bounced back since the late 1990’s and revived its reputation by focusing on its internal shortfalls and attacking its issues head on. Nike nearly collapsed from its missteps in the late 1990’s. They have learned from their mistakes and taken steps to quickly identify ethical issues before they become a crisis through ethics audits. This paper is based on the case study of Nike: From Sweatsh...
... the tale truly mirrors the Wife’s own life the knight better watch his back of he to will be dead soon.
Executive Summary Introduction Kimi Ford, a portfolio manager at NorthPoint Group, a mutual-fund management firm, was considering buying shares in the fund she manages, the NorthPoint Large-Cap Fund, with an emphasis on value investing. Ford held an analysts’ meeting to disclose its fiscal-year 2001 results and, most importantly, to communicate a strategy for revitalizing the company. Nike has maintained revenue of about $9 billion since 1997. However, its net income had fallen from almost $800 million to $580 million. Moreover, Nike’s market share in U.S. athletic shoes has fallen from 48% in 1997 to 42% in 2000.
Nevertheless, Nike is an extremely diverse company with outstanding organizational structure, impressive marketing strategy, and innovative products. The organizational structure of the Nike Corporation helped them become a leading innovator for the world with creative apparels and shoes. Their intelligent marketing strategies assist them in advertising their products to motive their customers and sell them. Their innovative product motivates customers with great performance footwear and quality designs to take on any obstacles. The Nike Corporation discovers various ways to improve their organizational structure to inspire the world.
Driven by an intense commitment and determined perseverance, entrepreneurs work very hard at what they do. They excel and want to win. Entrepreneurs are amazing people with a high respect of character. They use their mistakes as something to learn from rather than a failure. No matter the outcome, they believe in themselves and have an extreme confidence not only in themselves, but also in what they do.
We learned a lot of things in this course, but I think the most important lesson I learned is that it’s not easy to be an entrepreneur. I was surprised to hear in the first class that 80% of startups fail, but after reading The Art of Start and E-myth Revisited I understood why this happens more often than one might expects. Some people start their own businesses for the wrong reason and some start with wrong mindset. I’ve always thought that if someone has a brilliant business idea and hardworking they will succeed and grow their business. However, now I know that there are many things to consider before starting any business. In fact, there are many strategies that an entrepreneur could follow to achieve success, such as know your customers, work “on” the business, and how
Successful entrepreneurs have a clear image of what they want their future to be like. They hold a clear picture of the direction the company should take and have a clear plan of how they will make their vision a reality (9 essential traits of successful entrepreneurs, 2013)