Thinking Citizen Blog — Nike, Phil Knight, Michael Jordan, Deloris Jordan
Thinking Citizen Blog — Tuesday is Economics, Finance, and Business Day
Today’s Topic: Nike, Phil Knight, Michael Jordan, Deloris Jordan
Every successful company is the story of a dream come true. Take Nike. Phil Knight went from selling Japanese track shoes out of his green Plymouth Valiant in 1964 to owning a company with $46 billion in sales and having a personal net worth of roughly that amount. Every mother has a dream for each of her children. Take Deloris Jordan, mother of Michael Jordan, who was only 5 feet 10 inches tall as a high school freshman. She told her son to put salt in his shoes and pray. Four years later he was 6 feet, 6 inches. Later she insisted that, in order to sign a deal with Michael, the company had to give her son a piece of the revenue of every Air Jordan sold. That deal now earns her son roughly $200 million per year. Today, a few more notes on Phil Knight, Michael Jordan, and Deloris Jordan after doing a little research inspired by watching Ben Affleck’s 2023 film, “Air.” To me the highlight of the film was Viola Davis’s portrayal of
Deloris Johnson. Michael Jordan picked Davis to play his mother. To the NPR critic Aisha Harris, “Air” was a “craven exercise in capitalist exaltation.” and a “two hour ad for Nike and the super-rich.” Have you seen it? What do you think? Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
PHIL KNIGHT, THE NIKE NAME, THE SWOOSH
1. In 1964 Phil Knight, a college track star at the University of Oregon teamed up with his former coach Bill Bowerman to form Blue Ribbon Sports and peddle Tiger brand track shoes made by the Japanese company Onitsuka (now known as Asics).
2. “Jeff Johnson, Nike’s first employee, suggested calling the firm “Nike,” named after the Greek winged goddess of victory and Blue Ribbon Sports was subsequently renamed Nike in 1971.”
3. When Knight teamed up with Bowerman his day job was as an accountant. He had graduated from the University of Oregon in 1959, then Stanford Business School, served in the US army, worked as an accountant at Coopers and Lybrand, then at Price Waterhouse. He was also a professor of accounting at Portland State University.
NB: “Nike’s “swoosh” logo, now considered one of the most valuable logos in the world, was commissioned for $35 from graphic design student Carolyn Davidson in 1971. According to Nike’s website, Knight said at the time: “I don’t love it, but it will grow on me.” “In September 1983, Davidson was given an undisclosed amount of Nike stock for her contribution to the company’s brand. On the Oprah television program in April 2011, Knight claimed he gave Davidson “a few hundred shares” when the company went public.”
AIR JORDAN BREAKS NBA RULE THAT STIPULATED THAT SHOES BE 51% WHITE
1. The original Air Jordan was overwhelmingly red and black (the colors of his team, the Chicago bulls). It was only 23% white. So Jordan was fined $5000 per game when he wore them. Nike paid the fine but the publicity received was well worth the cost.
2. The original sales goal was to make $3 million in 3 years. Actual first year sales were $160 million.
3. Today, Nike revenues from the “Jordan brand” exceed $5 billion.
DELORIS JORDAN — mother, author, philanthropist, widow
1. “My mother is my root, my foundation. She planted the seed that I base my life on, and that is the belief that the ability to achieve starts in your mind.” — Michael Jordan
2. Michael was her fourth child.
3. According to Viola Davis, who played Deloris in “Air,” the source of the tremendous power of Michael Jordan’s mother came from her ability to observe and listen. “She’s gathering information before she comes in with the kill.”
NB: Deloris is the author of “Salt in His Shoes,” “Michael’s Golden Rules,” “A Child’s Book of Prayers and Blessings from Faiths and Cultures Around the World.” She is also a philanthropist. Her beloved husband and Michael’s beloved father, James, was murdered in 1993.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike,_Inc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Knight
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jordan
All About Michael Jordan’s Parents, Deloris and James R. Jordan, Sr.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
My spin — then periodically review, re-rank, and exchange your list with those you love. I call this the “Orion Exchange” because seven is about as many as any human can digest at a time. Game?
ATTACHMENTS BELOW:
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, (11/17/20)
YOUR TURN — Please share:
a.) the coolest thing you learned this week related to business, economics, finance.
b.) the coolest thing you learned in your life related to business, economics, finance.
c.) anything at all related to business, economics, finance.
d.) anything at all
