When news broke of Elliott Hill’s triumphant return to Nike as its new CEO, I immediately thought of Shoe Dog, the memoir by its founder Phil Knight. During my days as a talent management director at the company, the book was handed out to all employees.
In it, Phil explained what drove him to create one of the world’s most successful brands. Sure, as a young man he had goals of building a family and making money, he wrote. “But deep down I was searching for something else, something more. I had an aching sense that our time is short, shorter than we ever know, short as a morning run, and I wanted mine to be meaningful. And purposeful. And creative.” Then, suddenly, “I saw it all before me, exactly what I wanted my life to be. Play. Yes, I thought, that’s it. That’s the word. The secret of happiness.”
