Most business books are not very useful. They are written to build the ego of the author rather than the business of the reader.
They like to assume that the reader is a talented, charismatic, individual who has a dream of changing the world, no doubt because that's howthe authors see themselves. Instead, most readers are just looking for a shortcut to making a quick buck with minimal effort.
At least that's why I read them.
Shoe Dog, Phil Knight's book about his journey with Nike is a refreshing change from the "Bro" culture that seems to surround most start-ups. Knight is shy, introverted and insecure, a sort of indie band entrepreneur who didn't set out to get rich or change the world, he just wanted to build a shoe company.
Knight's book is a favourite of both Bill Gates and Warren Buffet and worth a read if you've missed it. It's certainly not a road map to success - some of his antics made me want to hide under the duvet, but it's an honest, self-deprecating view of what he did and how it worked out.
He also has a very good ghostwriter to help keep the story interesting. Maybe I should get one of them.
It's all a game
After a dogged, but unspectacular time as a college athlete, Knight dumped accountancy and decided to follow his dream to run his own shoe company. He treated running a business like he would running a 1600-metre race, more important than the talent was the absolute refusal to lose.
Knight wasn't brilliant at anything, but he had an utter obsession with creating the best company he could and was incredibly successful at finding others who shared that obsession. Life's a game, play to win.
Logo? Name your price
The freelance designer who came up with the Nike "swoosh", one of the most famous logos in the world, was paid $35. However, should you ask a design company to create a new logo your quote will have a lot more zeroes. Why? Because when presenting the company's new logo to the executive team the marketing director can't just say, "here you go, this is going on the packaging tomorrow".
They are required to have a creation myth as to why they've arrived at the infantile scribble that they are presenting. It doesn't matter whether or not the rationale is actually rational, just as long as there is one. Research also adds to the cost, though researching a design with consumers is about as informative as asking a dog what colour bowl it would like its biscuits in.
What's in a name?
People now think that "Nike" is an inspired name, but Knight didn't even like it. "What else you got?" was the initial reaction. "Nike" was a default chosen at the last minute because Knight's underlings all hated his favourite name, "Dimension Six".
The suitability of a product name can only really be determined in hindsight and depends almost wholly on the quality of the product to which it's attached.
Nike co-founder and former chief executive Phil Knight, pictured in 1995, standing next to a pair of sneakers on display in a gallery. Photo / Getty Images
"Golf" is a dumb name for a car but because consumers love the car it's seen as exemplary. The name "Apple" in a supermarket indicates a rather dull fruit. In a technical context, it conjures up visions of high-tech with a human face and incredibly intuitive software. It's not the name, it's the product that counts.
Consider the initials: IBM, FBI, BMW, CIA, Nato. They are all capable of triggering distinctive mental images despite being seemingly random groups of letters. Many people would struggle to remember what the initials were originally for, yet their meaning is highly distinctive in our minds, which is the only place that brands live. LMAO.
From the mouths of babes and serial killers
Nike's famous "Just Do it" line was developed by their advertising agency, and it changed the fortunes of everyone involved forever. The line is based on serial killer Gary Gilmore's last words as he was standing impatiently in front of the firing squad that would take his life. "Let's do it," he said. I have a similar reaction to dentist's visits.
I think it's a great line but I can see the issues of selling it into the exec team who might well comment that: "Yes, it's short, snappy and grabs today's FOMO attitude. But we're just not sure that the company is ready for a tagline that comes from a serial killer ..."
What if?
Would Nike have been just as successful if it was called Dimension Six? If they'd spent $200,000 on a logo? If they'd not stolen a serial killer's line?
Impossible to say, but be careful to bear in mind survivor bias when looking at Nike's success. Read the book and you'll discover that the whole thing could have fallen over many, many times. That it didn't is not just down to Knight's incredible competitiveness. The ultimate determinant of success is revealed, as ever, to be luck.
