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6. 1966
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Shoe Dog, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Entrepreneurship, Experience, and Perseverance
Leadership
Global Economies
Balancing Family and Work
Summary
Analysis
Knight contacts John Bork, a friend and track coach in Los Angeles, to take over for Johnson. However, before Knight gets the chance to tell Johnson what he wants him to do, Bork shows up at Johnson's store and tells him he is going to live on the East Coast. Understandably, Johnson is furious, so Knight has to travel to LA for damage control quickly. Knight apologizes to Johnson for the way he learned about the plan and tells him that he needs him on the East Coast.
This moment is an obvious failure—of either communication, leadership, or both—from Knight, which leads to understandable anger from Johnson. Johnson already feels like Knight neglects him and treats him unfairly. Now, it feels to him like Knight is sending him to the opposite coast without even consulting him about it.
Themes
At first, Johnson is hesitant. He still is not making much money from Blue Ribbon and is not eager to uproot his life because Knight lied to some Japanese businessmen. However, he is passionate about Blue Ribbon and knows someone will have to go to the East Coast for the business to survive. Ultimately, he agrees to go with Knight's plan.
Despite Knight’s failures, he reads Johnson correctly and ultimately gets him to do what he wants. However, whether this says more about Knight’s character or Johnson’s is debatable. Certainly, it is the case that Johnsons’ drive is exactly what Knight needs to keep his end of the deal with Onitsuka.
Themes
Shortly after Johnson agrees to go east, he sends Knight a letter demanding a raise and a stake in the company. Knight is shocked and wonders where Johnson’s sudden change in attitude is coming from. Knight travels to Palo Alto where Johnson is spending some time with his parents. Quickly, Knight realizes that Johnson’s father is responsible for Johnson’s sudden change in attitude. Johnson’s father insists that Johnson deserves more than he is currently getting. The entire time Johnson's father speaks to Knight, Johnson sits uncomfortably to the side. Knight acknowledges that Johnson is an important part of Blue Ribbon but refuses to make him a partner. Instead, he offers Johnson a $50 raise. Johnson takes the deal.
Johnson’s body language during the meeting with Knight and his father suggests he never wanted to write the letter to Knight in the first place. However, his father must do it for him because Johnson will not advocate for himself. Fifty dollars is roughly $450 today, so the raise is quite substantial, even if Johnson does not get any stake in the company. For Knight, giving Johnson a stake in the company is off the table because he would lose majority control, as his percentage would drop below 51%.
Themes
After he meets with Johnson, Knight hires two other salesmen for Blue Ribbon: Geoff Hollister and Bob Woodell. Both are former track stars in need of work, and Knight thinks they will be perfect for the company. Knight gets in touch with Woodell through Bowerman. Woodell is paralyzed from an accident and therefore uses a wheelchair. As such, he has difficulty finding work. However, Knight has the perfect job for him: he wants Woodell to open Blue Ribbon’s second store. Woodell takes the job and opens a store in Eugene, Oregon.
Knight always tries to hire people from within the running community because he thinks they will be the best ambassadors for his brand. Additionally, the community is niche enough that fellow runners will likely recognize people like Hollister and Woodell, which Knight hopes will translate into more business. As with Johnson, Knight places his trust in his new employees immediately and gives them significant responsibilities.
Themes
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Meanwhile, Onitsuka develops a new shoe based on Bowerman’s designs. Because the 1968 Olympics will take place in Mexico City, Bowerman calls the shoe the Cortez to compete with Adidas’s latest release: the Aztec. Bowerman's design proves to be a big hit and drives Blue Ribbon to $84,000 in sales by the end of the year.
Bowerman names the show the “Cortez” because Cortez is the Spanish conquistador responsible for conquering the Aztec Empire. In other words, the name of the shoe is a not-so-subtle dig at Adidas. It is a smart marketing move, and the sales speak for themselves.
Themes
At this point, the business has outgrown Knight’s apartment. He decides to rent a cheap office in town to use as office space and storage. In the meantime, Johnson gets Blue Ribbon up and running on the East Coast. He opens an office just outside Boston and begins contacting his East Coast customers to let them know Blue Ribbon has come to their area.
Blue Ribbon continues to expand into the type of business Knight pretended it already was while he was in Japan. While there are certain issues that Knight still needs to resolve—especially along financial lines—Blue Ribbon is in a good place at the end of 1967.
Themes
