[Outliers] Phil Knight: The Obsession That Built Nike

Shane Parrish· Host0:00

Every runner knows this: You run and run, mile after mile, and you never quite know why. You tell yourself that you're running towards some goal, chasing some rush, but really, you run because the alternative, stopping, scares you to death. So that morning in 1962, I told myself, "Let everyone else call your idea crazy. Just keep going. Don't stop. Don't even think about stopping until you get there, and don't give much thought to where there is. Whatever comes, just don't stop." That's the precious, prescient, urgent advice I managed to give myself out of the blue, and somehow managed to take. Half a century later, I believed it's the best advice, and maybe the only advice, any of us should ever give. That was an excerpt from the book I'm going to talk to you about today, which is Shoe Dog by Phil Knight. Today, Nike looks inevitable, but for nearly two decades, this company almost died daily. It was that close. Two banks dumped him, his only supplier tried to replace him, the FBI opened an investigation, the government hit him with a customs bill larger than their revenue, and that's not all. Phil's inner monologue during these years is extraordinary. He swings between extremes, beating himself up in one moment, and then positive affirmations of