Name: Here’s What Nike Founder Phil Knight Has to Say About Entrepreneurship
Uploaded: 2016-04-26
Duration: 8 min 14 s
Description: Watch the full interview thanks to our partners at USA Today

I'm Susan Page, Washington Bureau Chief of USA Today, and this is Capital Download. We're in Beaverton, Oregon on the campus of Nike with the founder, Phil Knight, thanks so much for being with us. My pleasure. You have a new book out, it's called Shoe Dog. What's a shoe dog? Shoe dog is a guy that makes shoes. Are you a shoe dog? I guess so. Do you think you were born a shoe dog or did you become a shoe dog. No no, I became a shoe dog. I came off the running track at the University of Oregon, and it evolved. You know its been more than 50 years since you started the company that would become Nike. And I wonder, are you now, do you just distinctively notice what shoes people are wearing? Yes I do. So do you know what shoes I'm wearing? You're not wearing athletic shoes. I'm not wearing athletic shoes, no. So that's something I don't care. [ LAUGH ] [ LAUGH ] Tell us about the shoes that you're wearing. This is the Air Max that serve as my dress shoes. That they're way more comfortable than any other shoe for me. Do you ever wear formal shoes? Never. Never? I wear these with tuxedo. I don't get in a tuxedo that often. When I do, I wear these shoes. You know it's only toward the end of the book that you write about what propels you to write the book. In the first place, it's Christmas time 2007. Outside Palm Springs you go to the movies. What are you gonna go see? What did we see, Bucket List Bucket List, And you run into two people you know, Who were they? Bill Gates and Warren Buffet Yeah. So you're at this movie. So they're seeing The Bucket List. You've all decided to go to this particular movie theater. On the same night at the same hour. On the same night. What are the odds? Yeah that's not very high odds. That's right. A lot of things in that book don't have very high odds. Mm- hm. That would be one of them. So, this encounter with them. Now you'd think, I think I think a lot of people would look at 3 billionaires, so you're the most successful businessman in the history of the United States, and say they cannot possibly have a bucket list, because they have done everything they wanted to do. Well I never interviewed them about their bucket list, either before or after the movie. It was just sort of a coincidence that we saw each other, for Bucket List the movie And then I kind of build off of that build my own bucket list. And part of that was to look. You say you wanted to write the book. You dedicate it to your grandchildren so they will know. So they will know what? They will who and what their grandfather was. And when you think about Founding this company in the basement of your parent's house. Mm- hm. With, based on the bank of dad is what you call it. Mm- hm, mm- hm. At least for a couple years. Now the largest maker of athletic apparel in sportswear in the world. Did you envision that would happen? Well, in those early years absolutely not. It's been a wonderful and very pleasant surprise. And it's been a journey that I can imagine anything that I would rather done and I feel very very lucky. And why did it work out? Well its like anything. That the people made it work and the people that work like in there early years were, are very a, bizarre group and they made it work and then That sort of created a culture and a atmosphere that the people who work here today came out of that. And they have the same kind of competitiveness and come off that culture, and they make it work today. You were a A young man just out of, you had gone to Stanford Business School. You went to Japan. You got yourself a meeting with some Japanese shoe manufacturers. They said, who do you work for? And you said? I said Blue Ribbon Sports. Which you'd just made up. Yes. On the spot. Yes. Blue Ribbon Sports, precursor to Nike Could somebody today, could young person found a company like [ UNKNOWN ] Sports and Thrive? I think every day. I think that the entrepreneurship opportunities are in many ways much better today. I mean for one thing, you have venture capital firms. We didn't have that so we have a lot of struggles in the early years that are described in the book That you might not have today. But you also write in the book, America is becoming less entrepreneurial, not more. And you say there was an index that I think that Harvard Business School did that ranked the United States now below Peru when it comes to being entrepreneurial. Well, I think those things go through cycles and I have faith that the entrepreneurial cycle will be back. You say when you go to colleges and talk to business students that they're more pessimistic though. Some of them are. It depends that, yeah, you see that sometimes with some of the college students in the political campaign. And I choose to believe that that's just a down cycle that will come out of that. You think we're in a down cycle? I do. I think that a little bit of a pessimistic cycle as far as the whole country, really. Why do you think that is I think you know obviously the economy has something to do with it that their wages have gone down, but there's a business cycle too and I think it affects the emotional cycle, I think You know, your company has been based on the idea of global trade, first manufacturer was in Japan you worked to open markets in China and around the world. you say, international trade always, always benefits both trading nations. Mhmm >> but you know, you really see, I mean especially in this political year, Mhmm >> a feeling against trade Mhmm >> and feeling that these free trade agreements have been bad for America. Does that worry you? Yes it does. I think that's a very troubling trend right now. I think it's wrong. I think that I do believe that international trade agreements benefit both nations, always. That everybody's railing on NAFTA now, but since 1996 when we signed NAFTA, the gross national product of the United States has risen three times. Do we really think it would have gone more than that if we hadn't had trade agreements? So I think it's a troubling trend to be against international trade, and hopefully it's short lived. What do you think makes a good leader in the business world? Well I think it's the same thing that makes a good leader in anything. I think obviously that you can take a look at the sports world and see the difference between good leaders and bad leaders most clearly. You can tell that by wins and losses. But I think you have good leaders in any area, and I remember when I was in the army. They said, take a look at which officers you respect, and model yourself after them. And I think that's true of any endeavor you're in, or any industry. 30 years ago, almost to the day, you signed the partnership agreement with Phil Baroman. You've named the boulevard here after him, your coach. What does he mean to this company? I think everything. That he's in one of the maxims today, that we have 11 maxims that sort of guide us. And the 11th maxim is remember the man, which is Baroman. That he was an outstanding leader in his own right. He was probably the best track coach of all time. He won four national championships. He coached more four minute milers when he retired than any other coach but he never considered himself a coach. He said, I'm a professor of competitive response and That he used to, he came to all the board meetings. He didn't really care about profits and losses. But he would rail on the product and say you make the worst shoes in the world except for everybody else, which I think is a great way to look at it to this day. That's kind of what people say about democracy, right? Yeah, same idea. Churchill I guess said that. You talk about the state of leadership in the business world. Do you think it's pretty good? Yes, I think that the great business leaders, I think that we have great business leaders in this country. Does America have the best business leaders in the world? I think basically, yes. How about politically? Do we have the best political leaders? Yeah, I think we do but I don't know that we are choosing the right ones. Who are the political leaders that you- Well, I don't to. I'll talk about the book. I'm not going down there. Both Democrats and Republicans buy shoes right and buy books. That's very true. You're going to be stepping down as chairman this year, after all these years of running this company you founded. Is that hard, to step down? Right now its not, I'm comfortable with that and I'm comfortable in my own shoes but when the day comes, I may get a little emotional. Maybe like Kobe, going out with a few tears that day, Well thanks for joining us on Capitol Download .>> Thank you

Watch the full interview thanks to our partners at USA Today