Nike and the Blueprint for Good and Evil
Nike has long painted itself as the rebel, the outsider with a brash opinion and the guts to challenge the status quo. Yet somewhere along the way Nike became Goliath. With $150 billion in market cap and $40 billion in annual revenues, the company can buy influence, recruit the world’s best athletes and swooshify every market it enters. It’s extraordinary, then, that despite its clout Nike is able to maintain its underdog status in the mind of many consumers. There are two reasons for this: 1) Unlike most big companies, Nike is not afraid to court controversy. Most would steer clear of mixing politics and patriotism and a pro football player kneeling during the National Anthem. Nike, on the other hand, fans the flames; just last week it released a special edition Colin Kaepernick shoe that sold out in hours. 2) Perhaps better than any company on the planet, Nike understands its brand, and articulating that brand internally is central to ensuring the machine stays calibrated. To do this, Nike has a set of 11 principles that are used to inculcate new and veteran employees alike with a particular brand ethos. These Maxims, as Nike calls them, are a powerful tool; as I’ll discuss in this post, these Maxims serve as a guide for diagnosing how Nike can be both brilliant and, as recent headlines have indicated, ruthless, tone deaf and cruel.
If you’re a runner you may be familiar with the Nike Oregon Project, an elite running program Nike created in the early 2000’s to groom superstar middle distance and long distance runners. The program was operated out of Nike’s Beaverton headquarters and run with an iron fist by legendary marathoner Alberto Salazar, and it produced some exceptional results on the world’s biggest stages from athletes that included Galen Rupp, Mo Farah and Dathan Ritzenhein. However, according to a damning September, 2019 report from USADA, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the tactics employed by Salazar in running the Oregon Project crossed the line: Salazar trafficked in substances that were banned, including illegal testosterone, and tampered with doping controls. USADA gave Salazar a 4 year ban from the sport, and Nike ultimately shut down the Oregon Project. However, it appears something even more sinister was taking place under Salazar’s watch: according to former Oregon Project athletes Mary Cain and Kara Goucher (and backed up by several others), Salazar’s methods were so psychologically abusive and so bullying that in Cain’s case they led to suicidal thoughts and self-cutting.
While the USADA report and the subsequent allegations of mistreatment of many female athletes were bombshells to many, the Oregon Project had loomed under a cloud of suspicion for years. Surely Nike had to know something was wrong, right? How could they give a coach like Salazar free reign to push the envelope into the abusive and into the gray areas of science? Perhaps Salazar thought he was just following instructions.
Many companies have mission statements. Nearly all of them are largely ornamental, created by some executive team and posted on a wall or a website and quickly forgotten. At Nike, the Swoosh is deified, and the attitude is codified in a document, the Nike Maxims, that was shared with me years ago by an internal employee when I interviewed at Nike headquarters. At its best, the Maxims give Nike employees permission to be wildly inventive, to inspire and elevate athletic achievement to something sublime; at its worst, the Maxims can lead to bullying, bending rules and bad behavior. I’ve posted the Maxims at the end of this post*, and they’re very much worth reading, however, here’s the tl;dr:
The world is evolving fast — so innovate or die. Be relentless in the pursuit of better, faster, smarter, stronger. Be passionate, focus, challenge convention, and always stay on offense. Above all, respect the Swoosh and WIN.
These Maxims are, in effect, a halftime speech. They’re the coach screaming at you from the sideline. Push harder! Break your competitor! Attack! It’s easy to see, when reading the Maxims, how someone like Salazar could be so emboldened both by senior management and his own staff, and how Nike could give him the benefit of the doubt when the rumor mill swirled for years.
To me, these Maxims are a guide for how the company strayed from its path, but they can serve equally as a path back to redemption. Maxim #8, “Do the Right Thing”, discusses diversity and responsibility, but it’s unclear how it would give anyone the courage to stand up when Nike itself becomes the schoolyard bully.
I suggest Nike amend its Maxims. If it wants to stay true to its roots, it should remember that the real rebels are those who speak truth to power. Athletes like Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who raised a gloved fist during the National Anthem at the 1968 Olympic Games, Jesse Owens standing in the face of tyranny in Berlin, and yes, Mary Cain and Kara Goucher courageously coming forward to challenge the biggest, baddest sporting goods company on the planet.
The ball is in your court, Nike. Just do it.
*The Nike Maxims are widely available on the internet, but you can read them below:
Nike Maxims
The purpose of the Maxims is to outline the nature and future of NIKE. This is crucial for new employees. If you’re a long-time veteran, you need it even more. There is tremendous opportunity ahead, more than ever before. If we are to compete successfully, if we are to seize that opportunity and grow, we must do two things: Focus and change. Focus on the superior thinking and practices that pushed us to where we are. Change to meet and lead the demands of 21st century business and culture. When we can do these two things with unity and passion, we will be one of the great companies of the world.
Maxim 1 — It Is Our Nature To Innovate
NIKE has many synonyms for innovation: NIKE Air. Mars Blackmon. Swift. Waffle. Shox. Whatever the name, the approach is the same: Think something nobody else has thought, or improve something that already exists. Lighter, faster, stronger, bigger, smaller, funnier. Make it better. Make it worthwhile. Envision possibilities. Accelerate them through new relationships. Within and beyond product. This is what we do best.
Maxim 2 — NIKE Is A Company
A big company at that. We call it NIKE, Inc., and it lives in many worlds: product, sports, media, entertainment, lifestyle and retail. Our position allows us to create growth in any or all of these industries. And we will. It may be about sports. It may not. It may be a NIKE product. It may be a licensed product. It may have no overt NIKE connection whatsoever. It’s like this: NIKE, Inc. exists to organize the pursuit and acquisition of opportunity, as long as that opportunity brings with it innovation and the ability to serve human potential.
Maxim 3 — NIKE Is A Brand
We call it the Swoosh. A little red checkmark that is the symbol of global leadership in sports product and attitude. Internally, the Swoosh is our incubator for great research, design and development, and the machine to get that thinking on the athletes of the world. When we succeed at this, when there is a category we dominate, it is because we insist on complete involvement. Total immersion and investment. NIKE wins when NIKE is of the game, not just in the game. Conversely, when we’re in a category just to skim a few bucks off the top, we do ourselves more harm than good. The key is to stay true to growth and authenticity.
Maxim 4 — Simplify And Go
An opinion is not a point of view. Commentary is not commitment. Observation is not action. Life is too short and the competition too fast for us to spend time in pointless debate and gratuitous nuance. The more honest and clear we are with each other, the faster we move and the better the result.
* State your position clearly.
* Trust the expertise of others.
* Ask questions when you don’t know.
* Answer questions when you do know.
* Demand cooperation.
* Reject all measures of success other than quality.
* Innovate and win.
* Pretend to innovate and lose.
* Believe in dreams.
Maxim 5 — The Consumer Decides
Consumers are more sophisticated and educated in their buying behavior than in any previous generation. There are two paths to success with them. First, listen intently to find out what is meaningful in their lives. Then, provide a product that is useful on a practical and an emotional level. Or, build something so intuitively perfect or psychotically different that they must have it, even though they never imagined it could exist. Both ways are legitimate. Both are specialties of NIKE. The warning is equally simple: The day you take them for granted is the day they leave you.
Maxim 6 — Be A Sponge
The philosopher Sir Nicholas Bacon once wrote, “It is the wise person who knows there is more to know than what they know, you know?” Or was it Kevin Bacon? Either way it’s a good thought. Insightful. Take his advice. Look around you. Develop wide peripheral vision. There are great ideas lying around like diamonds in the dirt. The brightest are those you see out of the corner of your eye.
Maxim 7 — Evolve Immediately
Amplify what’s good, change what isn’t.
From > To
elite sports > active life
big > big and strong
resource hoarding > resource sharing
slow > fast
process quicksand > process agility
innovation > innovation³
core sports > new core and future sports
athlete icons > athletic heroes
exploitative > supportive
no and maybe > maybe and yes
confusion > clarity
advertising > communicating
isolation > alliance
brand awareness > brand respect
complacent > aggressive
consensus > courage
Maxim 8 — Do The Right Thing
* Take Responsibility. Embrace the truth. Offer transparency. Participate in and help shape our evolution as a global citizen. Talk openly about our challenges as well as our successes.
* Seek Diversity. Elevate performance through a constant search for diversity. Don’t look for the things that make us different. Look for the things that make us better.
* Drive Sustainability. This is not a result. It is a process. It starts with concept and design, continues through the entire product cycle, and extends into every corner of NIKE operations. Create zero waste. It is an overly ambitious objective, just the kind we like.
Maxim 9 — Master The Fundamentals
The great ones accept no substitutes. The commitment to excel and unwavering focus on process is at the root of superior performance. Lance Armstrong knows it. Two weeks after brain surgery, when mere mortals would just be waking up, he was in his back yard, spinning furiously in preparation for his return to the road. NIKE knows it, too. We’re a big company, incredibly complex yet able to deliver at a level and pace that others won’t even attempt. None of it is easy. It requires constant vigilance and refinement of the machine. Without it, nothing else matters.
Maxim 10 — We Are On The Offense. Always
Our playing field is changing. Business is racing into a new era of lifestyle information and shared services. Sports is becoming more integrated into people’s lives while it is becoming less organized. Consumers are smarter than ever. This is all great for NIKE. Now is the time to be aggressive. Seek out smart partners. Pick your spots to invest resources where they make the most difference. Focus more on results and less on appearances. Challenge and correct misconceptions about our company. (There are many.) Conceive big ideas and create partnerships that allow them to grow. Act like you are a part of a smart, strong, courageous and innovative company, because you are.
Maxim 11 — Remember The Man
His name is Bowerman. It’s German for “builder man.” He did more to shape athletics and NIKE around the world than any three people combined. Strategically eccentric. A natural motivator. Complete in his understanding of sports and the athlete. Tireless in his pursuit of innovation. There is no book that can give justice to his contribution, no movie that can express his spirit. Study him.
