Thread regarding Nike Inc. layoffs

EH doesn’t have the guts

Unpopular opinion: EH doesn’t have the guts to make the bold moves necessary for Nikes rebound. Yes, our issues are deep rooted and recovery will take time, but it starts with the personnel on his leadership team. Knowing EH, I don’t think he has the resolve to cut the mediocre talent clogging his team.

He’s not the second coming of Christ. A decade ago, when the right people were leading the right teams in the old company formation, he would have made a great CEO. But today, I don’t think he has the guts to make the personnel changes needed at the top. His usual strengths of empathy and kindness are liabilities in this moment.

Before you attack me, I’ll say I write this hoping EH proves me wrong. I want to believe as much as you. But if we don’t see drastic changes to his surrounding cast, Nike will continue to drift in mediocrity.

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| 3822 views | | 26 replies (last February 18, 2025) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+1jkmgjp8r

26 replies (most recent on top)

Maybe this company needs to hire DOGE

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Post ID: @1mh+1jkmgjp8r

The leaders assume asking too many unnecessary questions is critical thinking.
They can ask questions due to their position and no one will standup to them, but build white papers to educate them and they will take the IP to their next job. "sigh"

if we start listing all the VP's we think need to go along with MD, I doubt anyone will be left in GT. That may actually not be such a bad thing. Flatten the org. Fire the VP's reporting to VP's and SD reporting to SD.

I recently came across a Job posting for another company, director expected to manage an org of 500, got me thinking if my VP has 500.
Nike's org are over inflated with too many so called "leaders".

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Post ID: @1jy+1jkmgjp8r

@17j+1jkmgjp8r agree that insisting on MD is a mistake.

We insisted on RL, unnecessarily.

95% of GT leadership can go and things will actually get better. It is that bad.

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Post ID: @17y+1jkmgjp8r

I'm hoping that EH is looking for replacements and is taking the time to make sure they're ACTUALLY a good fit before kicking the current "leaders" to the curb. (Which, given the state of things, is likely really difficult to do -- we can all see what a sh-t show this place is right now. Big mess to clean up here!) The last thing Nike needs is another knee-je-k reaction that lowers Wall Street's confidence even more instead of a well thought out plan.

That said, MD can get cut loose right now and there would be nothing but positive impact. Save money from not paying her salary and T&E and stop the bleeding from the damage she's causing. What kind of company has a CTO (with no tech knowledge) AND a CIO?

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Post ID: @17j+1jkmgjp8r

MD the CTO needs to go, another terrible hire in technology destroying things.

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Post ID: @146+1jkmgjp8r

I've been very down about this company since JD took the helm, but I am incredibly, incredibly bullish on the Swoosh going forward. EH is grinding and is brilliantly maintaining team structure while we get our heads above water. I expect we'll change course at some point, but hopefully that will be toward a category offense - a way to effectively performance manage the business (see current struggles with black hole consumer structure). Hate on me for drinking the Kool-Aid of the MP era, but this man embodies the golden age of Nike and that is the North Star. I completely agree with everything he's been outlining, trust his intuition, and applaud his focus on marketing, innovation, sport. Lifestyle will come as a derivative of the wins we get on the court.

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Post ID: @139+1jkmgjp8r

JD is to blame, he hired RL and MD and both were extremely bad hires. I've worked closely with both and they are grade A narcissist and self-serving crooks.

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Post ID: @tj+1jkmgjp8r

And who are you?

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Post ID: @h9+1jkmgjp8r

Day 2. Nailed it. In case you don’t know..

When Amazon talks about “Day 2,” they are referring to stagnation, decline, and irrelevance. The term comes from Jeff Bezos’ philosophy of “Day 1,” which represents a mindset of innovation, agility, and customer obsession. Bezos has repeatedly emphasized that Amazon must always operate with a “Day 1” mentality to avoid becoming complacent.

In his 2016 shareholder letter, Bezos described Day 2 as:

Day 2 is stasis. Followed by irrelevance. Followed by excruciating, painful decline. Followed by death. And that is why it is always Day 1.

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Post ID: @ec+1jkmgjp8r

It’s so weird to me that when people blame JD, they stop at blaming him only. He and his new strategy were board decisions yall. The current board is still running the company. Until there’s a shakeup there, I’m doubtful Nike will turn itself around

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Post ID: @eb+1jkmgjp8r

@e3+1jkmgjp8r

Indeed. That commercial doesn't resonate to me either, why can't we just emphasize the spirit of Just Do it? Nothing more powerful than that.

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Post ID: @e9+1jkmgjp8r

The Super Bowl commercials just showed that the company hasn’t a clue and can no longer read the room. As a marketing company that ain’t good!

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Post ID: @e3+1jkmgjp8r

He needs to have the guts to let HON go. She is toxic and the worst of the worst at Nike. Stop protecting her.

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Post ID: @dy+1jkmgjp8r

This company hasn’t been good since 2015 and the big gaffs with the Roshie 2’s. We should’ve just gotten bought by Amazon.

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Post ID: @dt+1jkmgjp8r

Called this when he was first hired, the company chose to look backwards at a time when it could have made good use of a crisis to make a giant leap forward.

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Post ID: @dr+1jkmgjp8r

exactly! we hire so many consultants, yet seem to keep having a vp reporting to a vp! why is't this redundancy removed altogether?
GT needs a reset, again!

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Post ID: @dj+1jkmgjp8r

@d6+1jkmgjp8r

Can’t hire external consultants from outside of our industry as CEOs. Johnson and Johnson and tech (EBay) are not transferable to sports brands.

Who was the last product or design VP hired from the outside?……

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Post ID: @dd+1jkmgjp8r

It’s Day 2 at Nike. IYKYK.

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Post ID: @d9+1jkmgjp8r

DEI and ‘wokeness’ are the main causes of the culture problem. Every other company has already realized this.

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Post ID: @d7+1jkmgjp8r

Like John Donahoe? He was external and when he took the reins every decision he made was a disaster because he didn’t truly understand what was important to the brand and consumer. Every external CEO has been a disaster for Nike.

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Post ID: @d6+1jkmgjp8r

@ah+1jkmgjp8r Let alone the external talent are told, point blank, that experiences outside of Nike don’t count. Even when external make it to internal they are sidelined , squeezed out, shut down, and passed by for opportunities. This is the crux of the culture problem, IMO.

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Post ID: @d5+1jkmgjp8r

@ah+1jkmgjp8r
There is external talent, but the internal politics are so toxic that they are never able to succeed or push. The external ideas are always dismissed in favor of the copy/paste of the past driven by people that have only been at Nike and that’s all they know

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Post ID: @cb+1jkmgjp8r

@aa+1jkmgjp8r Nike is a big company. There should be people capable of the challenge. Then there is always external talent. Identifying the right talent and building the right team is the challenge. Something Nike has failed to do over the last decade.

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Post ID: @ah+1jkmgjp8r

Nike went woke. The rest is history.

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Post ID: @af+1jkmgjp8r

Unpopular opinion: no one has the guts. This entire company has been playing it safe, too focused on comping core business and cutting the tails of everything until we are at a race to the bottom Walmart brand.

We make nothing of aspiration and desire anymore. Our style sense is mid American basic B. There is no edge, no hart, no experimentation, no aspiration.

Everyone hires and promotes who they know best, who they can trust, and are terrified to take a risk, do anything new or rub anyone the wrong way.

Thus, the brand has lost its edge and I’m not sure it’ll return.

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Post ID: @aa+1jkmgjp8r

Agreed. EH was a master managing the marketplace. He never led the brand or product creation functions. Even if he fixes the sales function and retailer relationships, the brand no longer inspires and leads like it did. No one is scared of us, if anything they are empowered to take more share.

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Post ID: @a2+1jkmgjp8r

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