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When asked how he founded a space company without a background in rocket science, Elon Musk noted that he picked up a book. Reading/seeking knowledge on the relevant subject is a crucial part of building anything successfully.
For entrepreneurs and innovators who want to succeed, reading Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, the co-founder of Nike, is a necessity.
It has shifted, informed and revolutionized how I am building my startup. Maybe the lessons it contains will do the same for you.
Here are some of those lessons and the quotes that inspired them.
Don’t Stop
Let everyone else call your idea crazy, just keep going. Don’t stop, don’t even think about stopping until you get there. Don’t give much thought to where ‘there’ is. Whatever comes, just don’t stop.
When Unsure, Follow Your Curiosity
I was following a path that felt like my path and though I wasn’t sure where it would lead, I was ready to find out.
When he was 24, after finishing University, Phil Knight had no idea what he wanted to do. The one thing he was sure of was that he wanted to leave a mark on the world.
He notes in his memoir that he was searching for something more. He wanted his life to be meaningful, creative and purposeful.
So, he traveled around the world. Along the way he stopped in Japan to find out if it was possible to import shoes from Japan to the USA.
Phil was a runner, and he was curious if Japanese running shoes could cut into the US market in the same way that Japanese cameras had cut into a US market once dominated by German cameras.
Dream. By All Means Dream
I remember that we took turns describing what our little company was, what it might be and what it must never be.
Your Belief is Infectious
Why was selling shoes so different? Because I realized it wasn’t selling. I believed in running. I believed that if people got out and ran a few miles every day, the world would be a better place. And I believed those shoes were better to run in. People sensing my belief wanted some of that belief.
The context of these two quotes is that prior to selling shoes, Phil had tried to sell several items, from encyclopedias to securities. He had failed miserably.
Confidence is Your Biggest Asset
Yes, confidence. More than equity, more than liquidity, that’s what a man (or woman) needs.
Your Founding Team Will Determine How High You Rise
Sometimes after a really cathartic guffaw, I’d look around the table and feel overcome by emotion. Camaraderie, loyalty, gratitude. Even love. Surely love. These were the founding fathers of a multi-million-dollar company that sold athletic shoes? I concluded in 1976 that we were a formidable team.
Years later, a Harvard business professor who was studying Nike agreed with Phil Knight that Nike’s founding team was something entirely apart.
“Normally,” he said, “if one manager at a company can think critically and strategically, that company has a good future. Boy aren’t you lucky? More than half the team think that way.”
Money is Important, Yes. It Shouldn’t be Your End All be All
For some, I realized business is the all-out pursuit of profits, period! For us, business was no more about making money than being human is about making blood. Yes, human beings need blood, but that day-to-day business of the human body isn’t our mission as human beings. It’s a basic process that enables our higher aims.
Essentially, although the day-to-day of running a business results in making money, that isn’t your mission as an entrepreneur.
Similar to how “life always strives to transcend the basic process of living,” your business will always strive to transcend the basic process of making money.
Money Will Try To Change You, Don’t Let It
When it came rolling in, the money affected us all. Not much, and not for long, because none of us was ever driven by money. But that is the nature of money. Whether you have it or not, whether you want it or not, whether you like it or not, it will try to define your days. Our task as human beings is not to let it.
Don’t Settle
Start and Do Not Quit
The cowards never started, and the weak died along the way. That leaves us.
It also leaves you and me—starters who will not quit along the way.
Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed the article and think others might as well, kindly share.
If this is your first time here, here are a couple of issues that you might have missed.
Building and succeeding in Africa: How Safaricom Did It
The Bitter Truth: Real Change in the Continent Will Not Come From African Leaders or Governments
P.S. If this was helpful and you’d like a summary of lessons from all the other books I am reading as I continue to build my startup, please leave a comment and I will make it a series.
For feedback, constructive criticism or a private chat, please shoot me an email at nafterthought@gmail.com. Alternatively, leave a comment.
Winning Lessons For Startup Founders From The Man Who Built Nike