I want to share something with you, Nike’s guiding principles:

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. Our business is change.
                                                   2. We’re on offense.  All the time.
                                                   3. Perfect results count—not a perfect process.  Break the rules: fight the law.
                                                   4. This is as much about battle as about business.
                                                   5. Assume nothing.  Make sure people keep their promises.  Push yourselves push others.  Stretch the possible.
                                                   6. Live off the land.
                                                   7. Your job isn’t done until the job is done.
                                                   8. Dangers:
                                                      1. 1. Bureaucracy
                                                         2. Personal ambition
                                                         3. Energy takers vs. energy givers
                                                         4. Knowing your weaknesses
                                                         5. Don’t get too many things on the platter
                                                   9. It won’t be pretty.
                                                   10. If we do the right things, we’ll make money damn near automatic.

These have been Nike’s guiding principles since the beginning, created and envisioned when a specialist track shoe out of Oregon started its journey to take over the world in 1971.

Back then, Knight was a track coach at the University of Oregon. He and co-founder/track coach Bill Bowerman were called Blue Ribbon Sports from 1964-1971, distributing a brand of running shoes from Japan.

But at night, they experimented with creating better rubberized sneaker soles on Bowerman’s wife’s waffle iron (no kidding!). Soon, a better track shoe was born, and in 1971, Nike, named after the Greek goddess of victory, went public.

This list of principles is what Phil Knight envisioned when he started the company. These are the exact words he put on paper (yes, people still used pen and paper back when Nike was born) and showed the bankers when he took the company public, what he referenced when the board had doubts.

And Nike’s Guiding Principles haven’t changed to this day.

Just do it?  Nah.

Just do it right and do you no matter what.

Take a look at the above.  Maybe not all of these fit you.  But pick one and hold on to it.

And all of us should pay attention to number eight.

Ironically, that’s never been truer than today, and these principles are timeless.  More of us – and more of our companies – would be far better today if they read this daily.

They’re still how to differentiate, how to disrupt, and how to build in our modern world.

I know reading this list makes a big impact on me, and I look forward to recommitting to the principles that define greatness!

-J.D.