Shoe Dog

I am writing this at the airport, and during my flight I kept reading “Shoe Dog” from Phil Knight, the founder of Nike. 

What a wonderful piece of writing! For so long, I haven’t come across such a book that I feel that I just cannot leave it. It kept going, Phil kept speaking, and I felt that I was having a private conversation with Phil Knight.

Early last year, I applied to Stanford University and its Knight-Hennessy Scholarship. I was reading about the journey of Phil Knight and appreciated that he was the co-leading figure of this prestigious scholarship in Stanford University.

I want to share with you some key ideas that I noted while reading the book. Please pay attention to the fact that none of them was written by Knight word by word. Those are my notes:

• When you ask a question to the air, if all you get is silence, you basically receive the best advice from the universe. It is all about perspective, and all about silence.
• Human foot is a masterpiece of engineering. A work of art. Leonardo da Vinci specifically appreciated it.
• In a good friend, we should find one quality: Easy to speak to. In a best friend, we should find two qualities: Easy to speak to. Easy not to speak to.
• When you are dedicated, the road opens. Roads are opened by walking and keep pursuing. If you need to work in two extra jobs to pay your rent and devote capital for your startup, there is absolutely nothing wrong about it. It is your path. It opens for you as long as you become the path. When you become the path, it is the moment that you really walk on it.
• Adidas was dominant when Knight started. The idea was not to become a shoe company. The idea was to be the assistant of the runner.
• The Japanese way of conducting business is confusing from a Western standpoint. Personally, I love it.
• Each road starts with a small step. Each mountain is built out of millions of pieces of stones. 
• If you are reading to be motivated, you are not on your path. If you read to seek the truth, to learn and to unlearn at the same time, it is simply beautiful. 
• If you want to make an impact on the world, how can you do it without seeing it fully with its full depth?
• Best leaders do not micromanage. Best leaders talk rarely.
• The single easiest way to understand how you feel about someone: Say “Goodbye”.