This book is based on a fundamental idea: the connection between life success and family and nurturing it, and society in its emergence and historical transformation. It is impossible to isolate the individual from his cultural context, especially the structure of this society, which allows for investment in ideas and highlighting the active role of the individual at a given moment. This moment is what allowed a young man of twenty-four years of age to implement, as he says, "my crazy idea." Perhaps my crazy idea might... succeed? Perhaps.
In his book, The Shoe Giant, Phil Knight, founder of Nike, tells the full story of his company's success in the first moments of his experience. Knight, the runner, believed there was no finish line when he started running. He ran and ran, mile after mile, without stopping, telling himself on that morning in 1962: Let everyone else think your idea is crazy... just keep going. And don't stop. Don't even think about stopping until you get there, and don't think too much about where "there" is. Don't stop no matter how many difficulties you encounter.
This is the urgent, forward-thinking advice the shoe genie suddenly managed to give himself, and somehow adhered to. Half a century later, he rewrites his crazy idea, his experience building Nike's origins, creed, and ethos, and presents them to the reader as lessons on optimal cross-border commodity investment. Didn't he say, "Commerce is war without bullets, but in reality, it's a bulwark against the outbreak of wars." For the author, this means that if the goods don't pass, the soldiers will, even though we are, in fact, still living in the age of let it pass!
In this biography, Knight tells us about the efforts that made Nike different, distinctive, and even global, and how it became such an innovative company today. The author says, “It would be nice to tell the Nike story. Everyone has told it, or tried to tell it, but they always tell half the truth, if they tell it at all, and they don’t mention any of the company’s ethos. Or vice versa. I might begin or end the story with regret. Hundreds—perhaps thousands—of bad decisions. I’m the one who said Magic Johnson was ‘a position player who’d never make it to the NBA.’ I’m the one who thought Ryan Leaf was a better NFL quarterback than Peyton Manning… How do I want to say all of this? A memoir? No, not a memoir. I can’t imagine how all of this could fit into one unified narrative. Maybe a novel. Or a speech. Or a series of speeches…”