1962年，商學(xué)院畢業(yè)后，背上行囊周游世界；

向父親借了50美金，創(chuàng)立公司，把日本當(dāng)時(shí)高質(zhì)量的跑鞋進(jìn)口到美國；

沒有店鋪，沒有員工，后備廂里放滿了跑鞋，開始銷售；

第一年毛利潤達(dá)到8000美元，此后每年的利潤成兩倍以上增長；

2017財(cái)年的營業(yè)收入達(dá)到344億美元，

創(chuàng)造這一切的人名叫Phil Knight，

他創(chuàng)立的品牌Nike早已家喻戶曉。

但在閱讀這位商業(yè)巨子Phil Knight的傳記Shoe Dog的過程中，我絲毫感受不到他的“輝煌”和“驕傲”。當(dāng)然，從他列出的數(shù)字中可以看到Nike驚人的增長速度，也可以從他的講述中體會(huì)到一個(gè)創(chuàng)業(yè)者從白手起家到聲名遠(yuǎn)揚(yáng)的喜悅。但字里行間，我讀到更多的是他一路走來的艱辛和不易。

全書幾乎每一章都在敘述Phil Knight和他的團(tuán)隊(duì)遇到的各種各樣的問題。這些問題真是接踵而來，往往是在他們成功解決一個(gè)問題之后，另一個(gè)新的問題又會(huì)冒出來，令人應(yīng)接不暇。開始是代理日本Tiger跑鞋過程中的問題。文化不同、溝通不暢，終于簽下了代理協(xié)議，又出來一個(gè)比自己更有優(yōu)勢的競爭對手。等到代理權(quán)的問題解決了，又要面對對方發(fā)貨不準(zhǔn)時(shí)，數(shù)量常常搞錯(cuò)的問題。還要在銀行不但不批更多貸款支持公司發(fā)展，反而要以停止放貸、限制發(fā)展的情況下，解決銷售量不斷增長和現(xiàn)金流極度短缺的矛盾。好不容易一切走上正軌，又迎來了日本公司的一紙?jiān)V狀，要求終止合同，并索要大筆賠償。熬過了官司，被迫創(chuàng)立自己的品牌，要面對的問題就更多了。找工廠、倉庫、門店，設(shè)計(jì)質(zhì)量更高、款式更新的運(yùn)動(dòng)鞋。找了有望奧運(yùn)會(huì)拿獎(jiǎng)牌的運(yùn)動(dòng)員代言，卻發(fā)現(xiàn)最后一分鐘該運(yùn)動(dòng)員換上了其他品牌的跑鞋跑完全程，而最支持自己的天才運(yùn)動(dòng)員又在一場車禍中喪生。悲傷情緒還未平復(fù)，美國政府要求支付25000000美元關(guān)稅的通知又來了。由于對手的惡意競爭，不得不絞盡腦汁跟強(qiáng)大的政府斗智斗勇......

我一邊讀Phil Knight這些一個(gè)又一個(gè)的問題，一邊在想，創(chuàng)業(yè)的過程其實(shí)就是不斷面對問題，再不斷解決問題的過程。脫離了穩(wěn)定的就業(yè)環(huán)境，承擔(dān)幾乎所有的責(zé)任，冒著一個(gè)決策失誤就可能全軍覆沒的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，這比夾縫求生更嚴(yán)酷。因?yàn)閵A縫求生至少還有夾縫，創(chuàng)業(yè)有時(shí)真的是要在連縫都沒有的情況下，鑿出一條縫來。期間的痛苦和艱辛自然不是非創(chuàng)業(yè)者能夠體會(huì)的。而能持續(xù)支撐創(chuàng)業(yè)者不斷前行、不放棄的也絕不是物質(zhì)的刺激，而一定是對所做之事的熱愛。Phil Knight是運(yùn)動(dòng)愛好者，中學(xué)、大學(xué)都參加田徑隊(duì)，畢業(yè)后也一直保持跑步的習(xí)慣。他在以跑者的心態(tài)來做商業(yè)。他寫道：When you run around an oval track, or down an empty road， you have no real destination. At least, none that can fully justify the effort. The act itself becomes the destination. It's not just that there's no finish line; it's that you define the finish line. Whatever pleasures or gains you derive from the act of running, you must find them within, It's all in how you frame it, how you sell it to yourself. Every runner knows this. You run and run, mile after mile, and you never quite know why. You tell yourself that you are running toward some goal, chashing some rush, but really you run because the alternative, stopping scares you to death.（在繞著橢圓形跑道或道路跑步時(shí)，根本不存在真正的目的地，至少?zèng)]有任何東西可以完全證明個(gè)人努力的合理性。跑步這個(gè)動(dòng)作本身就是目的地，不僅是因?yàn)闆]有終點(diǎn)線，也是因?yàn)槟憧梢宰约憾x終點(diǎn)。不論你從跑步中獲得何種愉悅或收獲，你都必須將它們發(fā)掘出來。這完全取決于你如何設(shè)計(jì)它，如何接納它。 每個(gè)跑者都清楚這一點(diǎn)。你不停地跑步，一段接著一段，卻不太清楚為什么而跑。你告訴自己跑步是為了某個(gè)目標(biāo)，追求某種刺激，但你跑步的真正原因卻是停下來會(huì)讓你感覺到死亡的恐懼。）就是這種一直向前的跑者心態(tài)讓Phil Knight可以沖破一切阻礙，執(zhí)著于堅(jiān)持。

在讀Shoe Dog的過程中，我發(fā)了一條朋友圈：“做事情還是要有情懷的（英文說belief更合適），否則真的持久不了，還很容易陷入到煩躁的情緒中去。”如果對要做的事情沒有足夠的熱愛，如果沒有高于利益的東西作支撐，創(chuàng)業(yè)一定是充滿痛苦和挫敗的。沒有人能夠在長期的高壓之下堅(jiān)持很久。正如作者寫道：Each new day brought fifty new problems, fifty tough decision that needed to be made, right now, and we were always acurately aware that one rash move, one wrong decision could be the end......Foe some, I realize, business is the all-out pursuit of profits, period, full stop, but for us business was no more about making money than being human is about making blood. Yes, the human body needs blood. It needs manufacture red and white cells and platelets and redistribute them evenly, smoothly, to all the right places, on time, or else. But that day-to-day business of the human body isn't our mission as human beings. It's a basic process that enables our higher aims, and life always strives to transcend the basic processes of living - and at some point in the late 1970s, I did, too. I redefined winning, expanded it beyond my original defination of not losing, of merely staying alive. That was no longer enough to sustain me, or my company. We wanted, as all great businesses do, to create, to contribute, and we dared to say so aloud. When you make something, when you improve something, when you deliver something, when you add some new thing or service to the lives of strangers, making them happier, or healthier, or safer, or better, and when you do it all crisply and efficiently, smartly, the way everything should be done but so seldom is—you’re participating more fully in the whole grand human drama. More than simply alive, you’re helping other to live more fully, and if that’s business, all right, call me a businessman.( 每當(dāng)新一天到來時(shí)，都會(huì)有50跟新問題出現(xiàn)在我們面前，50個(gè)艱難的決定需要我們立即做出。我們都十分清楚，一次輕率的舉動(dòng)、一個(gè)錯(cuò)誤的決定都會(huì)讓我們走到盡頭。容許犯錯(cuò)誤的余地從來都是越來越小，但利益卻從來都是在慢慢增加。我們都堅(jiān)信這里的“利益”不僅僅是“金錢”。從某種角度上看，我覺得生意就是最大程度地追求收益、周期和結(jié)果；而對我們來說，生意就像人類制造血液。沒錯(cuò)，人類的身體需要血液，需要生產(chǎn)紅細(xì)胞、白細(xì)胞和血小板，并流暢地及時(shí)平均分配到合適的地方。但是人類身體的日常工作并不是人類的使命，它只是一個(gè)生存的基本過程，而人總是努力超越這個(gè)基本過程而實(shí)現(xiàn)更高的目標(biāo)。20世紀(jì)70年代的某一時(shí)刻，我也是這樣做的。我重新定義了勝利，對我原來認(rèn)為“獲勝就是不輸，就是活著”的看法進(jìn)行了擴(kuò)展。原來的看法已經(jīng)不足以支撐我或我的公司。我們想和所有大企業(yè)一樣，想要?jiǎng)?chuàng)造，想要奉獻(xiàn)，我們敢于把這些大聲說出來。當(dāng)你創(chuàng)造了某項(xiàng)事物；當(dāng)你改進(jìn)了某樣?xùn)|西；當(dāng)你傳遞了某種思想；當(dāng)你為陌生人的生活增添了一些新事物或服務(wù)，讓他們更開心、健康、安全和滿意；但你干凈利落地按照理所應(yīng)當(dāng)?shù)姆绞浇鉀Q上述問題，而其他人做不到，你就會(huì)更多地參與到宏偉的人類大舞臺上。只是活著還不夠，你還要幫助其他人活得更加充實(shí)，如果這算生意的話，那么，請叫我生意人。)

雖然一直在面對問題、解決問題中前行，但Phil Knight無疑也是幸運(yùn)的。他的團(tuán)隊(duì)成員，雖然不全都像他一樣是運(yùn)動(dòng)愛好者，但每個(gè)人在工作中都有支撐自己的熱情所在。核心團(tuán)隊(duì)中沒有一個(gè)人是單純?yōu)榱私疱X在工作。他們雖性格迥異，但都有一顆不服輸?shù)男摹＜词箍此埔褵o任何出路，也不放棄，拼命要走出一條路來。這個(gè)核心團(tuán)隊(duì)把自己稱為Buttface，離了誰，nike都不會(huì)走到今天。Phil Knight在書中是這樣說的：Hayes couldn’t become a partner because he was too fat. Johnson couldn’t cope in the so-called normal world of nine-to-five. Strasser was an insurance lawyer who hated insurance—and lawyers. Woodell lost all his youthful dreams in one fluke accident. I got cut from the baseball team. And I got my heart broken.I identified with the born loser in each Buttface, and vice versa, and I knew that together we could become winners.每個(gè)人都曾是失敗者，但因?yàn)楦偧妓计鸬臒崆樽咴谝黄穑湍艹蔀橼A家。在Buttface的成員中，我格外喜歡nike的第一位全職員工Jeff Johnson。在Phil委派對管理工廠毫無經(jīng)驗(yàn)的Johnson去管理他們在Exeter的工廠時(shí)，他寫道：He（Jeff）didn't know anything about running a factory, but he was willing to try. To learn.愿意去嘗試，去學(xué)習(xí)，無論什么時(shí)候，都是一個(gè)人重要的特質(zhì)。即使在最低的起點(diǎn)，也能讓一個(gè)人迅速崛起。

這本書的名字叫Shoe Dog,作者是這樣解釋這個(gè)詞的：Shoe dogs were people who devoted themselves wholly to the making, selling, buying, or designing of shoes. Lifers used the phrase cheerfully to describe other lifers, men and women who had toiled so long and hard in the shoe trade, they thought and talked about nothing else.

用一生的時(shí)間做好一條鞋狗，人生值得了。