Topic: Phil Knight

Innovation: Phil Knight's "Not Exactly Textbook" Moves

How Laika Entertainment came to be is an intensely personal story. I was fascinated by how Nike founder Phil Knight and his son Travis, who didn't share his father's passion for sports growing up, wound up working together - in ...READ»

Profiles of the Baby Pixars

Four new contenders for Pixar's throne.READ»

Who's SuperFast!

A Spy in the House of WorkREAD»

Change Agent - Issue 41

"Why are we willing to tolerate bullies?"READ»

The Knights' Tale

Living a quiet life as an animator, Travis Knight never dreamed he'd work for his father. Then the Nike founder gave him an offer he couldn't refuse.READ»

Building a Customer-Centric Brand

Jones Soda founder and CEO Peter van Stolk never made it to business school. But shepherding one of today's hottest beverage brands has been an excellent marketing education. Here's what he has learned.READ»

The Nike Story? Just Tell It!

The best way for a company to create a prosperous future is to make sure all of its employees understand the company's past. That's why many veteran execs at Nike spend time telling corporate campfire stories.READ»

A Fast Company Exclusive: Phil Knight Goes Hollywood

Nike's founder hoped his sons would come work for the multi-billion-dollar empire that he started in the 1960s by selling sneakers out of the trunk of his car. Maybe they’d even run the company one day. But that was not to be. ...READ»

Contributors

Russ Quackenbush Award-winning photographer Russ Quackenbush regards his portraits as documents of his subjects' life experiences revealed in their faces and their body language. He brought that sensibility to photographs of Nike ...READ»

Updates

Off the Runway There's no shortage of drama at Liz Claiborne ("Project Rehab," April 2008). On election night, Michelle Obama wore a black-and-red dress by Narciso Rodriguez. Unfortunately for Liz CEO William McComb, he had just ended ...READ»

Exclusive: Behind-the-Scenes of Coraline, Phil and Travis Knight’s Daring Film Debut

Fathers and sons. Legacy and tragedy. Grand ambition and a multimillion-dollar gamble. The story of how Laika Entertainment came to make Coraline, the first 3-D stop-motion animation film, is as engrossing as anything on the big screen.READ»

• The Making of Coraline [pics]
• The Knights' Tale

Sneaking Up

I read a stat recently that three out of four Americans own at least one pair of sneakers. But could Nike’s current difficulties be an indication that Americans don’t love their sneakers enough? As recently as the mid-90s, US ...READ»

Protect This House

Kevin Plank's improbable hit -- a sweat-wicking undershirt -- kicked off the fastest-growing category of sportswear. Now Nike and other megabrands are in hot pursuit of Under Armour. Welcome to the disrupter's dilemma.READ»

Attack of the Baby Pixars

Digital animation isn't the cozy little world it used to be. Now lots of people are trying it--and trying to shoot the big studios' lights out.READ»

Creative Space

Wieden+Kennedy's new headquarters has one design goal: to help its people live creative lives. It also has a secret weapon: The Portland Institute for Contemporary Art is a tenant.READ»

Brand Naming

A great name is like extra octane in a brand. A bad, boring, or sound-alike name won't necessarily kill a brands chances for success. In most cases however, it dramatically dilutes the brand equity and potency. Do you have a name ...READ»

Reggie Who?

Unless you're an avid gamer, you've probably never heard of Reggie Fils-Aime. But if you are a member of the brand cult otherwise known as Nintendo, Reggie is nothing less than a demigod. Actually, his title is "chief marketing ...READ»

Ad Legend Dan Weiden on Authentic Branding

My reporting for the article Who Do You Love? led me to Dan Weiden, co-founder of Weiden + Kennedy, one of the world's largest independently owned ad agencies. From its base in Portland, Oregon's Pearl District, W+K has launched ...READ»

Masters of Design: A Jury of Their Peers

Introducing 11 jurors -- top leaders from universities, cultural institutions, and business -- who helped us select our 20 Masters of Design.READ»

Boing!

After 16 years of research-and-development effort, Nike has finally figured out how to put a little spring not in your step but in your shoes. Innovation, it turns out, is a marathon, not a sprint.READ»

What Great Brands Do

Scott Bedbury knows brands. The man who gave the world 'Just Do It' and Frappuccino shares his eight-point program to turn anything -- from sneakers to coffee to You -- into a great brand.READ»

The Mintz Dynasty

Dan Mintz landed in Beijing without a college degree, a job, or a word of Mandarin. Now he heads up the hottest advertising shop in the country. How one man cracked the Chinese market (by really, really trying).READ»

The Most Creative Man in Silicon Valley

Stanford Graduate School of Business Professor Michael Ray has taught some of the best-known innovators in Silicon Valley how to be more creative. It's no wonder that both students and executives are clamoring for his lessons.READ»

Nike's Women's Movement

Can a famously high-testosterone company, built on brash ads and male athletic fantasies, finally click with female customers? That's the challenge behind Nike Goddess, whose goal is a once-and-for-all shift in how the company sells to, designs for, and communicates with women.READ»

iMac, uMac, Can We All Mac?

Sure, it's a PC world -- but that doesn't make Mac lovers outcasts. Meet three hard-core Mac addicts who can teach you the shortcuts and tools that you need to make your Mac "pc."READ»