Reading Reflection No. 1

Reading Reflection: Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

1. What surprised you the most? What about the entrepreneur did you most and least admire? Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?

The most surprising thing about Phil Knight, the founder of Nike, was how long it took for him and his team to come up with an idea that generated any success. Thus, I admire his persistence and dedication in finding a solution. I least admired his perfectionism, since it can lead to a lack of efficiency in finding a product that can be successful on the market. He probably could have found other workable product models if he had settled for slightly less than his vision of perfection.

2. What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?

He was brave and willing to take on risk in that he left his stable job as an accountant in order to start his own business. He had a consistent work ethic in that he was persistent and focused on finding a product model that would generate success.

3. Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

I found it “confusing” how focused they were on finding the right name for Nike. It is strange to think that the success of Nike could have been deterred by something as simple as its name.

4. If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

1. What kept you going as your many trial-and-error runs were failing in the early stages?
2. If you could do one thing differently, what would you do?

5. What do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?

I think he definitely found it to be important, which I agree with. Rather than pawning off all responsibilities to third parties, Phil Knight was actively involved in the development of Nike, which likely made a big difference in how much success the brand garnered.