Shoe Dog

While many people associate success in business with ruthlessness and deceit, Knight repeatedly makes the case that honesty and truth-telling were crucial to Nike’s success. The first time Knight realized the connection between honesty and good business is as a young man selling Dreyfus funds in Hawaii. While he had little success selling encyclopedias, he found that simply by sticking to what he knew helped him make connections with potential Dreyfus funds clients. At Nike’s first appearance in the National Sporting Goods Association Show in Chicago in 1972, Johnson spoke with other tradesmen to find out why they showed faith in Nike’s shoes that year, even though they were still clearly inferior products. The men told Johnson that they trusted Blue Ribbon because while everyone else “bullshits” (203), Blue Ribbon always told the truth about its products.

Knight also told the truth during a speech he gave to his employees at a crucial moment in Nike’s history. After Onitsuka cut off their supply to Blue Ribbon, Knight was direct and honest with his employees, which inspired them to see this potentially risky situation as a moment for opportunity. When Johnson congratulated Knight on his leadership, Knight simply responded, “I just told the truth.