Thread regarding Nike Inc. layoffs

@ugs+1tFj8luz I think that’s correct. Nike is currently like famous architect Mike Brady. Ever seen the Brady Bunch movie? A running joke in that movie is that Mike designed his family’s home, with every commercial design he did afterwards looking much like his house. He was a one-trick pony, unaware that while his original design was good the world has since moved on.

Nike needs to stop being like Mike Brady.

I’ve full confidence in greed and bushi* skills of Nike ELT. They won’t keep stock price this low for long. Their options can’t be worthless.

When stock rises, cash out and run as fast as you can

We laid off all the innovators and promoted/replaced them with storytelling yes-women and yes-men who hardly understand the company and prioritize their own career achievements over the brand

This reads like chatGPT

Digital cameras were just one example. To truly understand the broader picture, let's delve into various types of innovation beyond just the product itself.

Process Innovation: Take Amazon, for instance. Their logistics and supply chain innovations revolutionized e-commerce. From predictive stocking to same-day delivery, Amazon redefined customer expectations and operational efficiency.

Time-to-Market Innovation: Look at Tesla. They shattered the automotive mold with rapid iterations of their models. Instead of the traditional auto industry’s multi-year cycle, Tesla pushes software updates and new features at the speed of Silicon Valley.

Tools and Technology Innovation: Apple didn’t just innovate with the iPhone; they transformed the entire ecosystem. Their development of tools like the App Store created an entirely new market, allowing third-party developers to innovate and enhance the user experience continuously.

Speed of Decision-Making Innovation: Netflix’s pivot from DVDs to streaming is a classic example. Recognizing the digital shift, they swiftly moved resources and focus to streaming, outpacing competitors who were slow to adapt.

Organizational Velocity Innovation: Look at Spotify. Their "squads" model—small, cross-functional teams with the autonomy to make decisions—allowed them to innovate rapidly and stay ahead in the competitive music streaming market.

These examples show that innovation isn’t just about the product. It’s about rethinking processes, accelerating time to market, leveraging new tools, making faster decisions, and driving organizational agility. This holistic approach to innovation is what sets industry leaders apart.

@uts+1tFj8luz On's running shoe technology is amazing. The most comfortable running shoes I've ever worn and they literally help propel you forward.

Hoka isn't really a serious running shoe IMO but Gen Z loves the bulky style and they're also popular with nurses, servers and other people who are on their feet all day.

The main thing is that Nike/JD gave our competitors are huge advantage when they cancelled our DTC contracts. Serious runners don't go to Nike.com to buy shoes, they go to Foot Traffic and other local stores to try them out first. When they removed Nike from the options, our competitors were happy to step in.

What is the “digital camera” that is ki-ling Nike?
What is the innovation brought by On or Hoka that Nike lags with? What about tennis, soccer or basketball, who’s leaving Nike obsolete?

Not saying there are no problems, but it’s not a Kodak situation. Not even an IBM situation, although the barriers of competition that existed in the past are sooooo gone.

I lived in Rochester NY in 1980 and it was amazing how huge Kodak was and how many people it employed in that small city, something like 80,000. The world HQ on State Street, all the film, paper, camera, copier manufacturing at Kodak Park, Hawkeye and Elmgrove. Kodak paid a bonus every year and that was a huge event in the city, all the stores and car dealers had all these big bonus day sales etc. In 25 short years it all fell apart and is now gone and is all just a memory.

nice assessment and comparison

Well said and a good comparison.
As On introduces Light Spray technology to the masses ahead of the Olympics this week (actual innovation and gamechanging to how product can be made at scale in the industry), it is a reminder at how sluggish Nike has been moving innovation forward.
NXT/Innovation has literally been toying with spray-on outsoles and uppers for over 8 years and still, nothing to market (On started Light Spray in that window 5yrs ago). It's symbolic of how Nike has been operating in that time: big, slow, too many competing opinions from incompetent leaders with no aligned focus, and resting on historical ways of doing things to lead decision making. Scared to take risks, scared to disrupt, scattered in ideas without concentrated effort around a few breakthroughs.
Our innovation for this Olympics is the same story as 3-4yrs ago: AIR. Same ingredients, different recipe. Nothing game changing - basically glitter and sparkles on what consumers already know and experience. Even the Olympic Colorway is a reference to the past. It's embarrassing a company of this size feels like it's moving backwards time and time again. And while this downfall has been visible internally for 4+ years in the making due to faulty strategies (laugh DEI the #1 priority in Footwear Creation for years, not anything to do with product...), it finally is showing up externally in marketshare, earnings calls, and analysts targets. Hoping this is the valley, but I've now said that a half dozen times in the past few years and it just keeps getting worse. Going to take a Hail Mary to turn this Titanic around.