Ben Gilbert: evaluation

Transcript context

…It's so good. That last one is so spot-on for any business through to this day. It's so easy to get wrapped up on all the other crap. You do the right things, you make product that customers love, you market it right, you build a brand, you will make money damn near automatic. I read these differently than I used to read them. When I didn't know Nikes journey, I would just read them and be like, yeah, that's awesome, or wow, that's so pithy. I can't believe their official corporate values are in such a pithy way. No, this is the stream of consciousness all from Rob Strasser, all into the typewriter. Some of them are things that Nike would never say today because it shows the trade-offs inherent in their business. Live off the land, it's cringe-worthy. It's almost like, you guys have this huge labor issue, it's not good. You see where some of the stuff comes from. Break the rules, fight the law. I think there's also something very clear: dangers, bureaucracy, personal ambition. This is a foreshadow of Rob Strasser hating the bureaucracy at Nike after its IPO that we'll talk about in a second, clashing with Phil Knight. Developing his own personal ambition.…

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