In this success post, we are going to share the success of Phil Knight, an American business magnate, and philanthropist from Oregon. Knight is the co-founder and current chairman of Nike Inc. He is also the owner of the stop motion film production company ‘Laika.’ Knight was ranked by Forbes as the 28th richest person in the world.
As of 2020, Phil Knight’s net worth is estimated to be around $33.5 billion dollars.
Phil Knight Early Life
Phil Hampson Knight was born on the 24th of February 1938, in Portland, Oregon. Knight is the son of lawyer turned newspaper publisher Bill Knight and his wife, Lota Knight. He grew up in Portland and attended Cleveland High School.
Knight used to work the night shift tabulating sports scores, and every morning, he ran home the full seven miles. He continued his education at the Univesity of Oregon in Eugene, where he is a graduate brother of Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity.
Phil Knight Career
Knight began his career working as a Certified Public Accountant, firstly with Coopers & Lybrand and then price Waterhouse. He then became an accounting professor at Portland State University.
After getting degree and graduating from the University of Oregon, Knight enlisted in the Army and served one year on active duty. After one year of active duty, he enrolled at Stanford Graduate School of Business.
The first Tiger samples would take even more than a year to be shipped to Knight; During that time, he found a job as an accountant in Portland.
When Knight finally received the shoe samples, he mailed two pairs of Bowerman at the University of Oregon, hoping to gain both a sale and an influential endorsement. The company name would later be transformed into Nike.
His first sales were made out of a now-legendary green Plymouth Valiant automobile at track meets across the Pacific Northwest. In the year 1969, the early sales and marketing allowed him to leave his accountant job and work full time for Blue Ribbon Sports.
Today Nike’s logo of “swoosh” now is considered to be one of the most powerful logos in the world. As of 2020, Phil Knight’s net worth is $33.5 billion dollars.
Entrepreneur Lessons from Phil Knight
Now that you know all about the Phil Knight net worth, and how they achieved success. So, let’s have at some of the leadership lessons we can learn from them:
1. Advertising Do Not Have To Come Before Selling
As we saw in the introduction, Nike is considered as one of the great brands of our times. Yet founder Phil Knight is not a branding and advertising man. Moreover, he was an accountant for most of the early years of Nike. That is right; he did Nike as a side job before going all in.
2. Don’t just believe in Everything You Read In Conventional Management Books
Another area where Knight sheds modern best practices is in management. Conventional wisdom says managers should be available. They should be there to help their employees. To be in service of their teams. They should also praise people often and so on.
3. Inspiration = Leadership
Leadership is always about inspiring others. Without inspiration, there are no followers. Without followers, there is no leader. But great leaders go beyond that and encourage others to become leaders themselves.
Also Read: Mukesh Ambani Biography: Success Story of Reliance CEO
