HBR On Leadership Looking Back on Nike’s Evolution from Startup to Global Enterprise
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Mar 11, 2026 
Phil Knight, co-founder and former CEO of Nike and author of Shoe Dog, reflects on starting the company with coach Bill Bowerman and shaping its innovation-led culture. He discusses early product breakthroughs like the Cortez and waffle sole. He also talks about leadership lessons, crisis-driven on-the-job training, and the challenges of CEO succession.
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Stanford Paper Turned Into A Shoe-Sourcing Trip
- Phil Knight used an entrepreneurship class at Stanford to argue shoes could be made in Japan cheaper than Germany and built a thesis around importing Japanese shoes.
- He then traveled to Japan, sampled factories like Onitsuka in Kobe, and ordered samples that launched the business.
Cortez Came From Tearing Apart A High-Jump Shoe
- Bill Bowerman tore apart a high-jump shoe's cushion and redesigned it as a running shoe, creating the Cortez.
- The Cortez became the first major running-shoe breakthrough in 50 years and a cornerstone product.
Nike's Waffle Sole Origin Story
- Bowerman improvised an outer sole design using a waffle iron after his wife served waffles; the prototype worked and the waffle iron is now a trophy.
- The waffle-sole innovation solved a long-standing lack of outer-sole advancement and helped define Nike's early product edge.