13A Reading Reflection 1

I read Shoe Dog by Phil Knight.

1)

• What surprised you the most? What surprised me the most was that his wife was a student of his. I would have thought that student-teacher relationships were frowned upon. Maybe back then it was different than the way it is now, although I can't say for sure what the policies on student-teacher relationships stipulate. I was also surprised liquor stores sold airline tickets. Phil bought an airline ticket to Hawaii at a liquor store in California.
• What about the entrepreneur did you most admire? I liked how even though he kept telling himself almost every day that Blue Ribbon might not exist tomorrow he kept going with his idea. He never gave up hope even when the banks denied him credit and threw him out.
• What about the entrepreneur did you least admire? I thought he depended on the Chinese shoe factories too much in the beginning. I thought he would have looked to US factories when first getting started. This may have made sense though because back then the options were probably very limited and that could have been his only option.
• Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it? Phil encountered adversity all the time in the beginning especially when it came to having a big enough line of credit. In my opinion, Phil did not encounter failure. He faced many difficult hurdles but always found a way to get past them.

  2)

• What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? Phil was loyal to his team and showed great trust in them and their abilities whether they had experience or not. He was also committed and all in with his Blue Ribbon company. He also had great leadership abilities and took full responsibility for any outcomes that came from decisions he made.

3)

• Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you. I was confused about why the FBI was investigating him and his Blue Ribbon company and how quickly they stopped the investigation. Usually, when the FBI gets involved in something, it can be a long drawn out affair. 

4)

• If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why? First I would ask Phil why was it so hard to make a decision and why it took until the last second to change the company name from Blue Ribbon to Nike. I would ask this because I wonder if he had any worries that the shoes were already being made and it might have been too late which would have caused a huge problem. Second I would ask him how his lifestyle changed once he knew Nike was a success. I would like to know this because I wonder if he immediately went out and bought lavish things or did he just continue living in moderation.

5)

• For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion? I think Phil's opinion of hard work was finding the people with money to back him in the beginning. The sales of Blue Ribbon doubled each and every year, so the product was selling itself. The hardest work Phil faced was convincing the money people it wasn't always about having an account balance above zero, he always was paying the credit back, so that wasn't an issue. I agree with that opinion because if I had the choice of seeing my company grow that fast and the demand was out there, it would make sense to put everything into the business rather than pad my bank account and watch the demand pass by. In the end, the company would still be there with those kinds of sales.