Just Do It

The Nike Spirit in the Corporate World

By: Donald Katz

Narrated by: Donald Katz, Brian Sutherland

The protagonist of Just Do It is Phil Knight, a reclusive billionaire who started a two-man operation importing Japanese running shoes and built it into a $4 billion company. Irreverent, unpredictable, and leery of the sports establishment, Knight created the most muscular jock culture in business, a place where employees routinely took two hours at lunch to work out and then strategized late into the night in their holy war against competitors Reebok and Adidas. To outsiders, Nike was a cult. Insiders believed they were furthering the company's mission: to improve the performance of serious athletes.

Not everyone could be a Nike guy. It required a certain attitude. For example: Michael Jordan refusing to wear Reebok at the 1992 Olympics, or Charles Barkley joking about becoming a porn star. In Just Do It, award-winning author Donald Katz shows how Nike created the spectacular imagery and marketing campaigns that made Jordan, Barkley, and Bo Jackson international icons. He also documented Nike's increasingly influential role in the management of its high-priced talent, taking us inside lucrative endorsement deals involving Jim Courier, Andre Agassi, Deion Sanders, Alonzo Mourning, and Pete Sampras as well as behind-closed-doors negotiations with the NBA and the NCAA as it considered a controversial plan for a collegiate Super Bowl brokered by Nike and super-agent Michael Ovitz.

Nike understood the power of imagery and knew how to market those images all over the world. A truly global corporation, Nike relied on capital from Japan to manufacture shoes in Asia sold to one out of every four athletic-shoe buyers in Europe. Katz follows Nike all over the world, taking us from a 19-year-old Korean gluing shoes in a factory, to an advertising wunderkind in Oregon creating the legendary "Bo Knows" campaign, to the fanatical Nike kids who rush into stores the day new shoes hit the street. Along the way, Katz describes the creation and design of Nike shoes, revealing technology worthy of a James Bond movie. He examines the charges leveled against Nike: that the company is exploiting Asian peasants, corrupting younger athletes, and recklessly stirring consumer fever in urban America. He also discusses the corporate spirit and strategies that have made Nike one of the great business stories of the late 20th century.

Just Do It is about the business of sports and the sport of business. It is also the story of a culture in which the sight of an athlete in flight can still evoke awe.

©1994 Donald Katz (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

A bit cerebral.

A bit cerebral, but entertaining his talented writer can make you think deeply about whether or not to buy an ice cream cone. The story has amazing insights into the decisions and personalities that built the Nike empire.

Good insights about Nike culture and history

I liked the audiobook due to the good balance between culture and history of Nike. Pace and voice were on point too - not too slow and dull-sounding. Interesting work as Nike is clearly still a current company with Phil Knight as the CEO.

This book referred to poor mothers as Stupid.

Poor vs Peer pressure is not stupid parenting ever. who ever said that is awful. sorry NIKE. You lost this moms vote.

lengthy and detailed: business or pop-culture?

the author's command of language and use of grandiose words helps to illustrate the nuanced life of an entrepreneur who is inarguably the major factor in the development of sports as a business. even though this is ancient history for many , it is told here with lively detail and well chosen examples linked together by subject matter and not mundane chronology. Stunning insight into American entrepreneurship.

Verses

Verses you have read many times will impact you in a new way when you hear them read aloud

Awesome

I am impressed with the book and happy. Hope every one like the audible. Thank you.

Nice

Good book. Must listen by every one. Thank you soo much ....... love it .

Inside look at early 1990's Nike

Would you consider the audio edition of Just Do It to be better than the print version?

It's a perfect companion and follow up to Shoe Dog from Phil Knight

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Inside access to the growth of sports marketing in general and the Jordan brand in particular.

Any additional comments?

It's worth full price - and it's free!

Great Read!

I really enjoyed reading this book. It really surprised and amaze me how much has gone on at Nike. I also learned a little more about the players that Nike endorses. I would recommend this to my friends

surprisingly great read

while I didn't like the guys voice, the book was worth listening too. really liked it