Nike’s CEO John Donahoe on wartime leadership (Rapid Response)
Masters of Scale
WaitWhat
4.6 • 4.4K Ratings
🗓️ 25 February 2021
⏱️ 37 minutes
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Summary
When he became CEO on the eve of the pandemic, Nike's John Donahoe starting game plan revolved around listening and being out in the marketplace. But when lockdowns began rolling through, he quickly adjusted, assuming what he calls a "wartime" approach to leadership. Donahoe's view is that top-down stewardship matters now more than ever. To not only survive the pandemic but come out in a stronger position, he is leaning into the brand’s legacy, his team’s strengths, and booming direct-to-consumer digital engagement. He's also tapped an innovation pipeline that's helped Nike release a new product every two weeks. The world needs sport to bring people together, Donahoe says, and Nike is at the center of that. Doubling down on that mission, he says, drives passion from both consumers and employees, pushing forward a message of hope and unity.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey listeners, it's Katie Clark Gray, one of the senior writers on Masters of Scale. |
| 0:04.6 | One of my favorite parts of working on this show is discovering unconventional theories |
| 0:10.3 | of what it takes to scale. |
| 0:12.3 | And as we've seen in your reviews, this element of surprise is one of your favorite aspects |
| 0:16.7 | of the show, too. |
| 0:18.3 | So with that in mind, I want to recommend a new podcast that I think you'll love. |
| 0:22.9 | It's called Rethinking and is hosted by our friend, Adam Grant. |
| 0:27.3 | You might know Adam from his work in organizational psychology, or you might recognize his name |
| 0:32.0 | as a previous Masters of Scale guest. |
| 0:34.6 | He has an incredible mind. |
| 0:36.6 | And in his new podcast, Rethinking, he interviews some of his favorite thinkers in the world, |
| 0:41.6 | like Mark Cuban, Celeste Eng, Reese Witherspoon, and Alex Arnold, about the assumptions that |
| 0:46.7 | they're challenging and the mindsets that have made them successful. |
| 0:49.9 | It's worth checking out. |
| 0:52.0 | So search for rethinking in your podcast player and give it a listen. |
| 0:56.0 | Now, onto the show. |
| 0:59.6 | We want to emerge stronger through this period of diversity than even going into it. |
| 1:05.1 | We have a responsibility to innovate and serve our consumers and keep that strong connection |
| 1:11.8 | with them. |
| 1:13.5 | Head and heart. |
| 1:15.8 | We feel a responsibility to be very engaged in the issues around racial and social justice. |
| 1:20.8 | So we've committed $140 million to promoting racial and social justice all across the world. |
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