Someone has made a really good observation – sometimes it is surprising how this company succeeds. I often think that the success of this company in some ways is a real little miracle, considering the way it is managed. Very often very irrational and illogical moves are made, which would lead most companies to collapse.
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Nike is a strong brand and that’s all that keeps it running. Executive team is highly incompetent
I wonder if it’s another Enron and nobody has tugged on the right thread yet. You have HS, the Luca Brazsi of employees who keeps it all quiet behind the scenes.
Too many employees who do nothing but spend money.
I was inside and never could figure it out.
It doesn’t surprise me at all because I have known for 10+ years that the power of the Nike brand is able to cover up an awful lot of things that, as you rightly said OP, would sink other companies.
This is not a new phenomenon however. If you read Shoe Dog you’ll understand that in Nike’s history there have been at least a dozen situations that could have easily destroyed the company if not for either sheer luck or the power of the brand.
This is actually one of the good things about working at a company that’s #1 in its industry. Nike has poor & haphazard technology solutions across the company (sorry for the slight Nike Tech, but it’s true), we have a significant number of managers who couldn’t manage their way out of a paper bag, it seems like there’s a new scandal every week, month and year, and the company is so complex that it sometimes takes me two days to figure out who I need to speak with for 5 minutes.
And yet we succeed. Never underestimate the power of the brand.
BTW I disagree with the casino analogy below. Going to a casino implies there’s risk involved in maybe making a lot of money. Nike executives make obscene amounts of money with no “maybe” attached and no risk. Even if the stock price tanked they’d still make more money in one year than you’ll make in 20 years. There’s a reason that when Nike talks about “equality” no one in leadership ever utters the phrase that’s actually one of the biggest equality problems in modern America: “income inequality”. Nike leadership won’t ever touch that subject with a 10-foot pole because, well...I think we all know why.
Just like you should never underestimate the power of the Nike brand you should also never underestimate the ubiquitousness of rank hypocrisy and greed.
Read Shoe Dog, or wait for the movie.
GRATS are great.
Just look at the stock price. All that matters is that the right people are making a financial ki----g. Do they care where Nike will be in five years? Probably not, because they're at the casino right frigging now.