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3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 Interesting Corporate Anthropology Jul 05, 2001
By Z. Blume
Just Do It, does a wonderful job of describing and promoting the corporate culture at Nike--in fact it did such a good job I can think of nowhere I would rather work. That aspect of the book bothers me though, because it sometimes becomes such a glowing portrait of the company that the story can not be taken at face value... That being said, I think Katz's unprecedented access to Phil Knight and many of Nike's other top executives and athletes allows him to tell the story of Nike's growth and continuous battle for market share from a unique perspective. I have also read Swoosh, cowritten by the wife of a former Nike executive, and it tells a similar tale, but is so biased against Nike that it's analysis is even less believable then Katz'z. I think this is an interesting portrait of a great American company and has an insider perpective you will not find else where, but I only give it three stars because it is a bit of a PR job and is surely not as even handed as I would like.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 The Mystique Behind the Nike Culture Mar 20, 2000
By Jonathan T. Sabo
Just Do It digs under the skin of the Nike corporation and gives a behind-the-scenes look at the company that has grown to be the number one shoe marketer in the U.S. The author details every aspect from Nike's involvement in the Dream Team awards ceremony fiasco in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona to the sweat shops of Asia where the shoes are actually produced. The author taps into the psyche behind what Nike is about and what makes a typical Nike employee: love of sports combined with a rebellious, headstrong nature to think outside the box. For example, one prospective employee with a PhD and a law degree was dismissed by the selection committee for not knowing who Deion Sanders was. The book opens with the 1993 retirement of Michael Jordan and ends with some "small" layoffs by Nike in September of the same year and the effects that the layoffs have on chairman, Phil Knight. The prose is well-chosen and the reader is shown the business side of superstars such as Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan that you won't find in Sports Illustrated. There are two minor weaknesses to Just Do It. There is definitely an inevitable pro-Phil Knight slant to everthing written. Also, an extraordinary amount of pages are devoted strictly to the quagmire that is the Asian economy. The author may find this topic interesting, but the average reader won't and it strayed from the central theme of Nike's corporate culture.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Just Do It....This book really didnt do it Dec 18, 2001
By ramez
Just Do It by Donald Katz wasnt the one of the best books I have read, it didnt even make my top ten list. This book is full of uninteresting, and tedious specifics which did not make me want to read the book any more than I had to. On the back of the book U.S News & World Report says "Engrossing....a corporation fueled by the MTV corporation. Engrossing?..it really wasnt. It was grossingly boring by the time i started read the 30th page. The back of the book also says it was a riveting biography. The things are said by popular sources like People Magazine. This book was so boring to the point where I am starting to beleive that the author payed these people to say the things that they said. : "never judge a book by its cover",I learned my lesson. This book cover looked so nice, attractive, it made me want to pick it up right away. Id have to say the best part of the book was the cover. The frist few pages were okay only because it talked about Michael Jordan, then the book just hit rock bottom. I was reading the book with the same emotion when i have to choke down bitter medicine. If u have insomnia, read this book. I promise it will be ur cure.
4 of 5 found the following review helpful:
 Best 'inside business' book I have ever read Jan 11, 1999
By Andy Orrock
Read this book! Unfortunately named 'Just do It' (and sounding like a company shill piece in the process), this is actually a fascinating look at Nike and its founder, Phil Knight. Whenever the subject is Knight, you cannot put the book down. He is a truly remarkable individual.Katz covers all dimensions of the Nike juggernaut: the Knight engima; Nike's rebirth after the rise of the inferior (in Knight's estimation) Reebok aerobic sneaker in the mid-eighties; its association with Michael Jordan; the jocky world of the Ekins; the designs of Tinker Hatfield and other shoe creators; its relationships with Weiden Kennedy (developers of its ad campaigns); and its offshore manufacturing difficulties. To me, the visits into Knight's inner sanctums are worth the price of the book, and make it a truly fascinating read. You get to see the man behind the wrap-around shades, and he turns out to be a fascinating, complex character.. you come away from the book with an understanding of Knight's athletic background, his hatred of Olympic-style 'officialdom,' and his will to win. As much as Bill Gates defines Microsoft's corporate character, Knight does for Nike.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Just Do It: A Little One-Sided Jan 14, 2002
By Alexandra Cox
While I found Just Do It an interesting, well-written book, the book was obviously partial to Nike and Phil Knight. After reading this book, I was unsure if I could take the Nike Company at face value. Katz glosses over the issue of Nike's sweatshops, a topic which I was very interested in, and hoped to learn more about through this book. Nike is known for its powerful advertising, and Just Do It gave me many insights to the great extent that Nike goes to in making the perfect commercial.
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