Phil Knight

(sneakerhistory.com ())

"Just Do It" - The iconic saying that people across the world know is from Nike. Nike's mission statement is to "bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world" and goes on to explain the asterisk with the words "if you have a body, you are an athlete." Nike has grown from small beginnings into a world leader in athletic footwear and apparel under the helm of a very successful and selfless co-founder, Phil Knight. Phil Knight was born in Portland Oregon, on February 24, 1938. Born into the middle class, Knight was not handed anything. His drive towards success is what got him where he is today. He decided to go to his hometown college, The University Of Oregon for his undergraduate degree. During his time there, he worked hard throughout those years both academically and also starred on the track team. One of his favorite things to do while at Oregon was attend sporting events which we see in his later life is still important to him through his donations. After completing his degree, he went to Stanford University for graduate school getting an advanced degree in business. At that point, he looked back at his junior high days and remembered he did not like the running shoes he used for track. Knight's assignment while at Stanford was to write a term paper on starting a small business on a topic he knew well. He picked something he excelled at while at Oregon, running. The focus for his new business idea was to develop a plan for a company to compete with Adidas using Japanese labor to make better and lower cost running shoes. After graduating from Stanford, Knight decided to actually start a shoe company he wrote about while in school and called it Nike, named after the Greek goddess of victory. He also paid a student at Portland State $35 to design the "swoosh" logo.

(www.businesspundit.com ())

A hero is someone who puts others before them and possess characteristics like caring, selfless and courageous in ones efforts to help others. Phil Knight is not only one of the most successful businessmen but he also possesses characteristics of being a hero through his generous donations and his loyalty to his hometown and local university. Phil Knight worked hard in his life and those efforts led to his very successful company and his great wealth. After accumulating such massive wealth, he immediately looked for ways to donate his money to research projects that aide others and his former universities. Knight loved his time at Oregon and Stanford so when they needed some money to help with a research project or just to help the colleges, he was the first to respond: "Nike co-founder and chairman Phil Knight is donating $500 million to cancer research after Oregon Health & Science University met his earlier challenge to raise the same amount" ("Nike's Phil Knight"). Phil Knight donated money to the University of Oregon to help raise the funds necessary to start a cancer research project. He could have used this money to promote his own family or for his own use but he realized his donations to broad and helpful research projects or improving the facilities at Oregon and Stanford would impact so many other people in a positive way. Knight is aware of his wealth and because of it, he continually explores new projects and donation opportunities to help others. Knight also gave to the Oregon Health and Science University for greater donations: "Together, the $1 billion from Knight and OHSU will be used to create the first large-scale program to overhaul early detection of lethal cancers and will help fast-track recruitment of 250 to 300 scientists to launch such an initiative. That includes bringing on about 25 of the world's top researchers, OHSU said." ("Nike's Phil Knight") This donation between them is helping people all over the world. He is putting the people whose life are endangered over his. This is yet another example of him being selfless and finding ways to use his money to advantage so many others.

Phil Knight had an interesting way of viewing his business and what he could do to make it more and more successful. He did not fully believe in advertising as a way to grow his business and did not think his company should invest large sums of money on it. Rather than spend money no commercials and posters during his early days at Nike, Knight focused on getting top athletes to wear his shoes hoping others would see them during sporting events. "Knight's marketing strategy was simple. Rather than rely on advertising (which he admittedly loathed), he would get top athletes to endorse his shoes, and then let his sales force sell the product" ( "Philip H. Knight." Entrepreneur. ). Advertising was key in that point of time, however, Knight did not see the point in that. His beliefs were that of the professional sports players were wearing them, then everybody would. Although this put most of his employees at risk because this move was considered different than other successful shoe companies, we can see many years later that it was crucial to Nike's success. Having the ability to do something different and take a risk using only the confidence of your instincts also demonstrates qualities of a hero. The risk taking part is what gets people out of the normal crowd. This is just one thing he did to be noticed by other people. Also during this time, Nike was receiving publicity on the subject of race and diversity. Nike had no black employees at that time. This was just another road block Knight had to overcome. "In 1990, it came under fire from Jessie Jackson who maintained that while African-Americans accounted for a large percentage of Nike's sales, Nike had no black vice presidents or board members. Jackson launched a boycott that led to the appointment of Nike's first black board member. That same year, stories of teenagers being killed for their Air Jordan's sparked outrage at what was perceived as Nike's overzealous promotion of its shoes." ( "Philip H. Knight." Entrepreneur.) Phil Knight's staff was mostly white at the time so he decided to hire an African-American, not caring what other people or companies thought of it. He not only hired Jesse Jackson to demonstrate his support of the African-American community, he also turned out to be one of Knight's closest allies during tough times. Hiring this man brought more attention to the company. Most of the people observing Knight's business decisions thought it was not a good move and that his company would eventually fail. Once again, his brave move while counter to conventional thinking worked out best for Knight and Nike.

Even today, Phil Knight enjoys attending sporting events at the University of Oregon and Stanford University. Since he ran track at Oregon, he enjoys supporting their athletics. " Mr. Knight's impact on Oregon athletics and the university at-large is well-documented. He and his wife have donated over $300 million to the University of Oregon and to the athletic department over the past 20 years." (Oregon Blue Book) All of the students at Oregon look up to Knight, so he does what he can to help with the school and make the students happy at the school. One of Phil Knight's favorite places on the campus was the library where he spent most of his time studying. "His first philanthropic venture was helping to fund the $27 million renovation of the library in 1994."( Oregon Blue Book) Knights contribution to the University in general have been large and he focused on the students at the school and found out what would make them the happiest. Knight knew that his money was not the only thing that the students liked. He tried to be at all the sports game to cheer on the Ducks and to be involved with the students. His actions towards the University were extraordinary. The amount of time and money he still gives to those colleges is amazing. The students love it when he is around and what he has done for them.

(www.complex.com ())

Phil Knight is a hero through his actions of supporting the Oregon and Stanford alumni, his business decisions that gave employees at Nike a chance to succeed and his donations to help other people and Universities. He did not spend time focused on his own wealth but rather how his wealth could help others. He loved the colleges he attended so that's where a lot of his wealth was donated. He wants to help other people in any way possible. When he ran Nike, Knight had a specific goal in mind and he knew how to reach it. The company was not created for his own self-interest but rather to give many people jobs and a way to make a living and most importantly, to sell affordable shoes to anyone in the world that wanted them. Phil Knight has inspired me and others to follow our dreams. From humble beginnings, Knight found something while at graduate school that he could work towards and he went out and made it happen. This inspires to me find the one thing that interests me and strive to achieve it. His life can also prove to people that being wealthy is not the point. Giving back to everyone and everything that helped you along the way is what he did and what a lot of others should also do. The amount of milestones Nike passed was incredible. The hard work payed off in the end and as Phil Knight always said, "Just Do It".