Thread regarding Nike Inc. layoffs

These people are corrupt.
PHK GAVE $250k to Mariotta for the rest of his life to stay at UO another year so that Phil could win a national championship.
Dooshhhhhhh.

Interested to see how Nike navigates this sh-t storm when his book hits on 1/18.

Nothing like multiple waves of bad press and a rehash of Nike’s worst scandals during ongoing layoffs, vaccine mandate, global supply chain bottle neck and shortly before quarterly earnings.

Clearly a well thought out priority

With a huge PR machine and flash bang ways, the biggest, baddest Nike can sweep most things under the rug. Just how LM will walk around the big flashy campus without feeling the stares remains to be seen. Even more interesting is how this squares with doing the right thing at goddess wings of victory….

Generous he’s offering up some of MJ’s $100m (instead of his own) to make amends and support Social Justice.

The list of what Nike accepts and enables (until they get caught) is long. Its well-documented and as old as the swoosh itself. Mu---r, embezzlement, se-ual harassment of employees, abuse of sponsored athletes, doping, child labor. And that’s just what’s public. Losing its status as an investment vs a liability is only a matter of time.

Maintaining its status as an investment vs a liability is and not a liability

He is MJ’s guy. Simple as that. If MJ wants him running the Jordan Brand, then that is what will happen.

JD doesn’t have sh*t on MJ...

What ga-------r gets drunk on WINE to ki-l someone? Yeah, right.

You know what’s shocking about this thing? A 16 year old shoots a 18 year old in cold blood. Chalk it to drink, g-n and gang violence, he claims. What’s even more shocking is how less of a mention there is of the family that was brutally robbed of their young son. So NIKE, we are still trying to find the redemption part of LM’s story. It is not water under the bridge when others get the axe for lesser things……

If you’re looking for ethical and moral consistency at Nike, you’re going to be disappointed. Over the years Nike has parted ways with many people for far lesser transgressions. Just recently in fact a senior executive was allowed to “resign” when it became public that her son was violating 20 different Nike policies…that we know of. (Don’t think for even a second that NO ONE in senior leadership knew that was going on.)

In a just world Nike would say “It’s brave of you to finally come forward, and we are happy this creates some freedom in your spirit. We also hope you can channel some good from this in the future. But all that said, you can’t work here any longer. Because believe it or not senselessly taking another person’s life - even if it happened a long time ago - is against our values.”

This won’t happen because LM is part of “The Club”. (Reference George Carlin’s famous comment.) The Club follows a different set of standards and rules. Peons like you and me don’t enjoy the “forgiveness” extended by Club members to other Club members. If this has been you or me we’d have been shown the door yesterday.

Just reason #92 as to why I’m outta here very soon. I used to like working at Nike but these days not so much.

It is fine and good for him that he turned his life around. However, he did mu---r someone and that is never fine. No excuses. LM, you are a mu-----r.

Let me get this straight

• mu---rs someone 50 yrs ago
• hides it so he can benefit
• breaks silence only when he’s ready to sell a book about it that no ones going to read because who tf is LM
• only now considers reaching out to victim’s family and youth

calling this inspirational is nothing but company-approved gaslighting by out of touch corporate execs

This is more of a NIKE issue more than LM - story time….LM has got to look himself in the mirror everyday, may be…….

Once upon a time there was a famous cyclist who won many tour de France races. After many denials and defenses, he was dropped and scraped off an equally famous gym building.

Then a famous running coach who used un conventional training methods. After much PR and cover ups, he too was shown the exit. His building renamed.

There was a famous runner, M-rion Jo-nes, best denier on TV. Performance enhancers or something to that effect. Eventually dumped after seasons of defending her.

See a pattern here? The list goes on

But LM? No, he’s an inspiring redemption story? Don’t think so, but some how he gets more chances than the me too offenders, most older employees and those who do not FIT in the club.

Your position in the great PYRAMID matters….

If you think this is Nike’s only ugly little secret, well, you'd be wrong. Journalists are currently digging deep and seeking sources at the company. Truth comes out even faster these days, and no one is buying the inevitable PR masquerade we specialize in. Stay tuned and spoiler alert - We haven't always “do the right thing.”

“I hope his experience can create a healthy discourse around criminal justice reform, by helping remove the stigma that holds people and communities back.”

What a bunch of BS. JD is a mo--n.

this article raises a lot of questions

says he spent most of the time between 13-30 in juvi or incarcerated for multiple offenses. what Nike background check did he f’ing pass?!?!

who thought mu---r was a good topic for larry to be interviewed about for an hour and a half? throw in a supportive Donahoe for good measure?!

heads should roll

Part 3

Hiding the past came with another cost: robbing Miller of the chance to share his most valuable life experiences with at-risk youth. Over the years, he’s worked with groups like the Urban League, Junior Achievement and the Portland-based Self-Enhancement, Inc., often giving speeches about his life and career—but without the most important context.

“I always felt like I was telling half the story,” he says. “And I always felt like I was cheating those people who were listening, because they weren’t getting the full benefit of what this story could be. But I couldn’t tell it.”

He even shielded his three children and his stepson from the full story. But Lacy, his oldest, had lived through much of it. She recalls visiting her father in prison during her childhood, though she didn’t know all the details. Miller told his two younger children when they were in college, around 2003.

About 13 years ago, Lacy started pushing her father for more details and to consider a full public disclosure, in the form of an autobiography. They began working on it in earnest about six years ago.

“He's always been an inspiration to me and to all of us in our family,” she says. “So I just kind of felt it was our duty to share it, to share that inspiration, to share the possibilities with other people.”

At times, the process got so intense that one or both of them would have to step away. “Sometimes it even would make me question, Is this really something that we need to do?” Lacy says. “Because that the last thing I would want to do is to see him in pain, reliving these horrible stories. But I felt like there was a greater need.”

Discussing it proved therapeutic; the nightmares and migraines started to fade, and then ceased altogether, as the writing process unfolded. He says he is planning to reach out to White’s family, as well.

With the secret out, Miller says he hopes to increase his work with incarcerated people and underserved youth. He also wants to help reinstate some of the educational release programs that allowed him to get his degree while in prison. To that end, Shauncey Mashia—Jordan Brand’s global senior manager for Black community commitment—sat in on the interview, taking notes for how to invest some of the $100 million that Jordan pledged last year to promote social justice. Some part of that fund will be used to help Miller spread what he says is his most vital message: that everyone deserves a second chance.

“It’s not about me,” he says. “Some of the most creative, intelligent, smart people I know are people I’ve met in jail, because there’s all this talent and all this ability that I think is being wasted inside the jails.”

As Miller tells his story, it’s hard to square the two Larry Millers: the self-described “ga-------r” who didn’t value his own life vs. the one sitting here today in this executive office, in wire-rimmed glasses and a dark blazer, a pair of ultra-rare Air Jordan 1s on his feet and images of Jordan decking all four walls—including a striking floor-to-ceiling mural of Jordan soaring to the rim during the 1988 slam-dunk contest.

Over the couch is the Jordan “Wings” poster. And inscribed on the back wall—over the signed boxing gloves of Ali and Roy Jones Jr. and an autographed photo of Tommie Smith and John Carlos, and below a green Do the Right Thing street sign (a gift from Spike Lee)—is one of Jordan’s most famous quotes: “I’ve failed over and over again in my life—and that is why I succeed.”

Is Miller nervous about this story, this book? Yes, he says. But for the first time in his life, he is ready to present both versions of himself to friends and peers and the public at large, with the hope that others can follow his path.

“It’s freed me,” he says. “I feel the freedom now to be me.”

https://www.si.com/nba/2021/10/13/jordan-brand-chairman-larry-miller-shares-secret-daily-cover

Sports Illustrated interview (Part 2)

Miller says he never lied on an application or in an interview. He simply chose to keep the past in the past. When he was hired at Campbell’s, the application asked only whether he had been arrested or convicted of a crime “in the last five years”—a technicality that let him breathe a sigh of relief.

But it haunted him, anyway. In 1997, he went to work as vice president of Nike Basketball, and two years later he became president of the newly launched Jordan Brand. In 2006, he left to become president of the Trail Blazers. He was constantly in the spotlight—standing alongside Jordan, sitting courtside with Blazers owner Paul Allen, attending All-Star Games and NBA galas—and living in constant fear that someone would uncover his past.

“That somebody would tap me on the shoulder and say, ‘Hey, aren’t you ...?’ Or, ‘Didn’t you...?’ And then everything would just kind of come crashing down,” Miller says.

The constant anxiety manifested in nightmares of being arrested or locked in a prison cell—“just that pressure that was building up from keeping this inside and being afraid that it would come out and ruin everything.”

When an invitation arrived to attend a dinner with the Clintons, during Bill Clinton’s presidency, Miller initially hedged, fearing the background check. “I was scared to death,” he says. He eventually relented, sending in his Social Security number and birthdate and throwing his fate to the winds. When the approval came back, he simply sighed in relief.

“I was taking all these high-profile jobs,” Miller says. “I’m like, ‘What is wrong with me? Why am I putting myself out there like that?’ ”

On another occasion, Miller learned that an old neighborhood friend—a reformed gang member who had since gone into law enforcement—had been bragging to a mutual acquaintance at Nike about Miller’s incredible rise from the streets. It was meant as a compliment, but Miller was shaken. “I called [him] the next day and said, ‘Hey, I know what your intention is, but you need to chill,’ ” Miller recalls.

It helped that there’s very little in the public record revealing Miller’s past. Simple Google searches provide no clue about his criminal record or jail time. A deeper search by SI discovered a single newspaper clip, from the Philadelphia Daily News and dated Oct. 2, 1965, headlined, “Youth, 16, Admits Slaying of Rival Gang Member.” The second paragraph refers to the suspect as “Larry Miller, of Catharine st. near 57th, a member of the 56th st. and Cedar ave gang.” It identifies the victim as White, who was “found lying on the street at 53d and Locust sts,” and was pronounced dead on arrival at a local hospital. It said he had never had any run-ins with police.

The memory is never far from Miller’s consciousness. It hit him again just recently after seeing a commercial that included the line, “Every person is irreplaceable.” “I think understanding that just makes you value life,” he says. “And that was one of the differences for me in the street, and I think for a lot of folks in the street: There’s not a value placed on other lives and your own life. We were on a mission to ki-l ourselves, and it’s just fortunate we didn’t. It just more and more makes me feel sorry about what I did.”

Revealing his past to longtime friends, and particularly Jordan, generated its own sort of anxiety. “I was definitely nervous about sharing with him,” Miller says, “just because I have so much respect and love for MJ.” But the supportive responses from Jordan and Knight gave Miller confidence he could tell other longtime friends, such as Silver.

In a statement to SI, Silver said he was initially “stunned” at the disclosure, having never heard even a “rumor or whisper” of any criminal past. “I then went from stunned to amazed that Larry had managed his long and very successful professional career, operating at the highest levels in our industry, with this secret firmly intact, and was ultimately left with a feeling of sadness that Larry had carried this burden all these years without the support of his many friends and colleagues,” he said.

Silver added that he believes Miller’s experience has given him “a broader perspective from which to judge his life and work…. I think it also made him an especially supportive and understanding friend when it came to dealing with others’ foibles and mistakes.”

Since Miller returned to Jordan Brand in 2012, the company has expanded its roster of female athletes, launched the Jordan women’s line and increased its presence in college and sports outside basketball. He also has overseen the development of the Jordan Brand’s social-impact platform, known as Wings.

“Larry Miller has played an influential role in Nike history and is a beloved member of the Nike family,” Nike CEO John Donohoe said in a statement to SI. “His story is an example of the resilience, perseverance and strength of the human spirit. I hope his experience can create a healthy discourse around criminal justice reform, by helping remove the stigma that holds people and communities back.”

Miller says that Jordan’s supportive reaction gave him confidence that he could share his story more widely.

Sports Illustrated interview (part 1)

He Rose to the Highest Levels of Business and Basketball—but With a Secret
As a teen, Jordan Brand chairman Larry Miller shot and ki---d a man. He's kept that truth buried, until now.

The mementos lining Larry Miller’s office suggest a life of comfort and privilege, of celebrated achievements and celebrity friendships. The autographed red boxing gloves from Muhammad Ali. The commemorative basketball from President Obama. The signed notes from Michael Jordan.

This plush suite, tucked into a quiet corner of the Sebastian Coe building, on Nike’s sprawling campus in Beaverton, Ore., is the primary sanctuary for the man who has piloted the Jordan Brand since 2012, who counts MJ as a close friend and David Stern as a mentor and who has nearly every major figure in basketball (along with Kanye West) on speed dial.

You could spend hours admiring it all, without a single hint of the dark chapter that preceded the journey. Of the years Miller spent in prison, or the horrifying act that put him there. Of a September evening in 1965, when Miller, just 16 years old, stood at the corner of 53rd and Locust streets in West Philadelphia, and fired a .38-caliber g-n into the chest of another teenager, ki----g him on the spot.

It’s a secret that Miller, 72, has guarded for more than 50 years. Even as he ran an NBA franchise and then oversaw the transformation of the Jordan Brand, nearly doubling its revenue during his tenure, he kept it from Jordan, Nike founder Phil Knight and NBA executives. He had already, for decades, been holding the truth from his friends and even his own children, for fear its exposure might destroy him. But it is a story Miller now feels must be told, and will be detailed in full in a forthcoming book, Jump: My Secret Journey From the Streets to the Boardroom, cowritten with his oldest daughter, Laila Lacy, set for release by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins, in early 2022.

In a 90-minute interview with Sports Illustrated, Miller described being haunted by the ki----g, which he described as utterly senseless. He did not know the victim, identified in the news then as 18-year-old Edward White.

“That’s what makes it even more difficult for me, because it was for no reason at all,” Miller says. “I mean, there was no valid reason for this to happen. And that’s the thing that I really struggle with and that’s—you know, it’s the thing that I think about every day. It’s like, I did this, and to someone who—it was no reason to do it. And that’s the part that really bothers me.”

Revealing his past now, Miller says, will free him to discuss his experiences with at-risk youth and people in prison, and perhaps help steer others away from violence and toward a productive life.

Miller says he wanted the facts to become public on his terms and his timeline, by disclosing it exclusively to SI now, before any details could leak in advance of the book’s publication.

“This was a really difficult decision for me,” says Miller, reclining in a dark-brown leather chair, across from Lacy, sitting on a matching leather couch, “because for 40 years, I ran from this. I tried to hide this and hope that people didn’t find out about it.”

Preserving the secret allowed Miller to build a successful career with companies like Campbell Soup, Kraft Foods and the Trail Blazers, where he served as team president from 2007 to ’12, between stints with Nike and Jordan Brand, where he now holds the role of chairman. But it came at a cost to his psyche: recurring nightmares and migraines severe enough to send him to the emergency room.

“It was eating me up inside,” he says.

For the last several months, Miller has been gradually informing people in his inner circle—including Jordan, Knight, NBA commissioner Adam Silver and several Nike executives, including Hall of Fame coach George Raveling, another close mentor—to ensure they would hear it from him first.

“I've been blown away by how positive the response has been,” Miller says, calling the process “a real freeing exercise.”

His hope is that his story will provide inspiration for anyone who has been in prison and a lesson for how society views them. “It’s really about making sure that people understand that formerly incarcerated people can make a contribution. And that a person’s mistake, or the worst mistake that they made in their life, shouldn’t control what happens with the rest of your life.”

For Miller, the troubles began at age 13, when he joined the Cedar Avenue gang, in the Cobb’s Creek section of West Philly. It had nothing to do with money or dr-gs or any issues at home, Miller says; his father worked as a supervisor for a drywall company, while his mom took care of the eight Miller children (“We had plenty of food,” Miller says). None of the others got in trouble with the law. The third-oldest, Miller says he had been a model child up to that point—“straight-A student, teacher’s pet … the smartest kid in the class”—but none of it gave him the sense of respect and belonging he desired.

“I started being more interested in impressing people in the street than I did my teachers and parents,” he says. “By the time I was 16, I was just a straight-up ga-------r, thug. I was drinking every day.”

Miller was arrested multiple times, for a variety of offenses, and spent most of his years from ages 13 to 30 in juvenile detention or prison. In the interview, he demurred on discussing his experiences being incarcerated or much of what came after, saying he addresses that in his book. He focused, instead, on the night of Sept. 30, 1965. As Miller describes it, his decision to pull the trigger was an act of retribution. Earlier that month, a younger friend—someone he considered “an innocent”—had been stabbed and ki---d during a fight with the 53rd and Pine gang.

G-ns were rare back then, but Miller had previously acquired a .38 from his girlfriend. So he grabbed the g-n, downed a bottle of wine with three friends and went searching for anyone affiliated with the rival gang. He shot the first person they encountered.

“We were all drunk,” Miller says softly. “I was in a haze. Once it kind of set in, I was like, ‘Oh, sh-t, what have I done?’ It took years for me to understand the real impact of what I had done.”

The newspaper reported that police arrested him soon after the shooting, near where it occurred; Miller tossed his .38 when he saw them coming, but they quickly recovered it. Miller did not know the victim, or whether he had anything to do with the stabbing of his friend, or even whether he had any connection to the 53rd and Pine gang.

“If I could go back and undo it, I would absolutely do that,” Miller says. “I can’t. So all I can do is try to do what I can to help other people and try to maybe prevent this from happening to someone else.”

Just as critically, Miller hopes his evolution can provide hope to others whose lives have taken a dark turn. While in prison, Miller resumed his education. He earned an accounting degree from Temple University at age 30, around the same time he regained his freedom. That is also when his secret was born.

Miller was on the verge of landing a job with Arthur Andersen, the prestigious accounting firm. During his final interview, with the firm’s hiring partner, Miller says he found himself mulling over whether to disclose everything about his past. Soon, he was describing it all—and watching the partner’s demeanor abruptly change. The man reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope.

“I had an offer here all ready to give to you,” the partner said, according to Miller. “But I can’t give it to you now. I can’t take the chance that somehow this blows back.”

As his dream opportunity evaporated, Miller made a decision: “I'm never sharing this again.”

When I worked in Jordan during the 2017/2018 layoffs I heard from someone close to him that he had a decision to either take a pay cut the next year and save some ppl’s jobs...or cut some ppl loose. He chose his pay. Whether it’s true or not I don’t think he’s a hero. Should retire and quit draining the org.

The double standards and hypocrisy of Nike standing by L-rry is astounding. There’s a family that suffered serious loss of an innocent child. While L-rry may be really sorry and possibly contrite for his actions at 16, Nike has cut him some slack that many others would not be afforded. Spent a little time at the juvy and that takes care of that? A multi millionaire is now selling books while regular worker bee employees wonder if they will last through the next lay off. Always doing the right things, especially at the Berm.

Question: what would happen if any of us, Nike employees (especially those of us in SebCoe), were to tell our manager/hr that we feel uncomfortable around him? Do you really think any “grace” would be extended?

Lol - dude mu---red somebody and @3uzq is talkin about “unkind” comments.

He hid this because it’s obviously reprehensible and that he’d never get a job in corporate America if people knew. Now Nike, comically, has to pretend they’d have planned it this way and that working for/alongside a mu-----r is a somehow a teaching moment.

He took the life of another child. Another family, mother, father, friend, sibling, grandparent lost their loved one and suffered deeply over this. Why do we not talk about the life that was lost or taken? We do not live in fiction world. People do hurt and suffer deeply over loss. We can forgive people, but we cannot praise or pedestal horrible acts of harm.

Substitute ra-e for mu---r and I wonder if people would still be willing to say how nice, quiet, and smart he is. Probably not.

All of these unkind, ignorant, shallow comments reinforce what a shithole Nike has become. Clearly no one reads beyond the headlines and Nike’s marketing doesn’t match up with the culture. What a bunch of MO-O’s.

Many of us know the Jordan boss personally and have interacted with him one time or another. Quiet, amicable, obviously smart type of guy. It is mind blowing that he claims to have gone and did what he did due to a drunken stupor. Well, the gang lifestyle had a lot to do with it. Now the question it begs is how Nike has kept him on, after firing many for a lesser “crime” so to speak. If Nike is so forgiving why only to some? Would a woman have found such grace? Granted that he was a juvenile and yes, statute of limitations applies. Now off to the next board meeting with Mr L-rry. It’s true, some are more equal than others…….

Can’t imagine sitting in-person on a meeting with him and feeling at all comfortable. Nike is not critical of him - but can you expect them to be? They’re so concerned with offending the very loud poc voices (some of who seem to have one full-time job and that is to remind everyone they are poc) inside the berm and on social media - leaders and comms execs are scared s-less.

It’s a redemption story. Time served and people change. I admit I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Let me ask you, would you elect a leader (city, state, country) with that background? Would you knowingly keep them if they kept it a secret? Would it matter if they were politically aligned with you?

no acknowledgement or remorse for the victim…he’s just pre-empting the news cycle ahead of time because he’s got a book to sell and the company is “proud” of his story.

Did he lie to his employer? I think we got people reacting to the headline rather than reading the article.

So we’re going to stop doing criminal background checks for applicants, right?

It’s completely hypocritical that we as a company f-ing celebrate this guy, but if an applicant got in a fight where nobody was seriously hurt, but they had a record, Nike wouldn’t hire them to be a seasonal cashier.

It’s disgusting that once again there are rules for those at the top and a different set of rules for those at the bottom.

Everyone in retail is still waiting for our extra week off that HQ people got and we didn’t.

Yes, he did his time. But tell me this: if you hid a dark secret from your employer while interviewing, do you think they'd have your back?

God my forgive him for what he did, but corporate America shouldn't be handing out million+ dollar jobs to convicted mu---rers.

He did his time and is telling his story. I think he is incredible for overcoming all that he has to succeed. I know Larry and he has my respect. ✊

@1qmz+ you should watch that flick Double Jeopardy with ash*** J*dd. You know it's a classic because she says the title in the movie.

If he mu---red someone, and just admitted it, clearly remorseful, why is he not under arrest. There is no time limit to a mu---r charge. Is this more of the New Portland Laws from the Sheriff and DA, if it was in another city, are they bound by the New Portland view of the law.

Makes Oregon a difficult place to live.

Thank god it wasn’t an offensive tweet!

When they said he had a ki---r resume they weren't joking.

“We are so proud to have unknowingly employed a mu-----r for many many years ... and now cannot do a thing about it.” -woke Nike PR

“We are proud of Larry Miller and the hope and inspiration his story can offer,” the company said

Says it all