Have you ever been stuck in a cycle of thinking of an idea, planning the steps in your head, and talking about it but not putting it into action? Over and over again? I sure have! I recently realized I have lived in the same cycle for the past few years.
At a certain period of the year, I usually decide to change my life and plan how to become a better version of myself. I’ll start implementing small changes in my routines, but as you can already tell, I don’t stick with it. Two weeks to a month in, I decide that change is too much of a hassle, and I retire to my comfy beanbag chair.
This past month I read Shog Dog by Phil Knight, the co-founder of Nike. I enjoyed his storytelling technique which made the memoir very captivating. In it, he retells his journey of building Nike from the ground up. It all started with his Crazy Idea. The most profound thing I learnt from this book is you don’t need to wait until you iron everything out before starting something; you need to start then everything will gradually fall into place.
Shoe Dog was such an eye-opener, and below is a summary of the key lessons I got from it:
- You don’t need to have it all figured out to start
When reflecting on his journey, Phil says his life began at 24. That was when he decided to travel around the world. Through traveling, he experienced different cultures, learnt various business operations, and met new people who became part of his dream. At one point, he was selling encyclopedias. During his journey around the globe, he remembered his Crazy Idea and decided to actualize it. You start to determine whether it’s the right venture for you. He never imagined in his wildest dreams that he would be worth billions. Even when his father told him he was jackassing around, he still believed in his Crazy Idea and worked hard to achieve it.
Like it or not, life is a game. Whoever denies that truth, whoever simply refuses to play, gets left on the sidelines, and I didn’t want that. More than anything, that was what I did not want. Which led me, as always, to my Crazy Idea. Maybe, I thought, just maybe, I need to take one more look at my Crazy Idea. Maybe my Crazy Idea just might… work? Maybe. No, no, I thought… It will work. By God I’ll make it work. No maybes about it.
2. People will believe in and support the right cause
While building Blue Ribbon, Nike’s original name, Phil Knight had people who believed in whatever he was doing. Once, he went to his father for money, and when he wouldn’t cough it out, his mother made her stance known by ordering a pair of Tigers and wearing them as she went about her day. Also, hundreds of employees contributed to and supported his decisions when the company was nearing bankruptcy. Phil Knight made the founding employees take up roles they had no experience in, but they did it anyway because they believed in his Crazy Idea.
Also, the consumer trusted Nike because the shoes were of good quality, and they dared to disrupt the industry by trying new designs. Bill Bowerman, the co-founder, and Jeff Johnson, Employee Number One, were constantly readapting the shoe designs to make them more effective for the consumer.
In the late 1970s, I redefined winning, expanded it beyond my original definition of not losing, of merely staying alive. That was no longer enough to sustain me, or my company. We wanted, as all great businesses do, to create, to contribute, and we dared to say so aloud. When you make something, when you improve something, when you deliver something, when you add some new thing or service to the lives of strangers, making them happier or healthier, or safer, or better, and when you do it all crisply efficiently, smartly, the way everything should be done but so seldom is — you’re participating more fully in the whole grand human drama. More than simply alive, you’re helping others to live more fully, and if that’s business, all right, call me a businessman.
3. You’ve got what it takes
At first, Phil Knight never imagined his company would grow as big as the giants then — Adidas, Puma, etc. He consistently took risks to develop Nike and didn’t let small wins get to his head. If anything, he usually felt like he always had problems to solve. He often consulted close employees, and the one thing he knew with 100% certainty was that he had to win. You might not have the resources to compete with the giants in your industry, but you can’t give up. You fail fast and fail often.
The cowards never started and the weak died along the way. That leaves us, ladies and gentlemen. Us.
4. The nay-sayers will be many
It is a no-brainer that your competitors will try to destroy you once you start outperforming them. However, your threat might also be people who are scared of the rate at which the business is growing. Several banks terminated their financing contracts with Blue Ribbon because they believed the company was growing too fast that it was guaranteed to fail. In addition, before Nike went public, Adidas and other companies petitioned for Nike to pay import duty taxes guaranteed to drive the company to the ground. However, they beat them at their own game and did the same thing to them. They did compromise in the end, but the amount wasn’t as much as they initially had to pay.
I’d like to warn the best of them, the iconoclasts, the innovators, the rebels, that they will always have a bulls-eye on their backs. The better they get, the bigger the bulls-eye.
5. Building a company is hard but worth it.
Phil Knight embodied the Nike slogan ‘Just do it’ when he resolved to act on his Crazy Idea. He had no prior experience in running a business. He went to the Japanese to pitch his idea, made up a company, Blue Ribbon, and ordered his first shipment, knowing he did not have the money to pay for it. The evolution of Blue Ribbon to Nike was full of ups and downs, with the latter outweighing the wins.
If you are following your calling, the fatigue will be easier to bear, the disappointments will be fuel, the highs will be like nothing you’ve ever felt.
It’s time for this vicious cycle to end. This article doesn’t do justice in portraying what a gem this book is. But this is me breaking my cycle. Your Crazy Idea does not have to be groundbreaking or one-of-a-kind. You may be paralyzed by the fear of failing at implementing it, but you won’t know the outcome until you try. I know, I know — so many cliches in this article. Although, they are cliches for a reason, right?
Are you stuck in a cycle in your life? When does it end?
