Thread regarding Nike Inc. layoffs

Sport used to be at the heart of Nike culture. As the company grew and the Nike facilities built out, more gyms and fields were built to help enable that culture. But participation started to fall, people were made to feel like they weren't pulling their weight if they spent time working out (at lunch, for example). So facilities started becoming less and less used. So top management made the facilities free for all full-time employees and usage spiked. But the culture was already k–led and the spike soon waned. Then came covid and employees now sit at home biding their time to get back to the free gyms... We will see how Nike culture redevelops post-covid and under this new IT-based leadership that prides butt-in-seat time over creative delivery.

These comments are so true of the culture now. Leaders who don’t wear Nike trainers, or who laugh at the idea of even exercising. Who has time to gym or run in the day? when you have so many HR baby showers based on a rotation of 99% female leadership. Diversity is so important as long as it’s based on ‘do what HR says not what HR does’.
Sport is amazing ‘in cafe meeting videos’ but gosh don’t dare make us do it.......constant nodding burns more calories.

I worked in global brand marketing and it definitely was noticed when someone dropped the bombshell that they didn't follow sports. I'm sure in other orgs, like tech, it's not that big of an issue.

I have a feeling that ever since BLM happened there's a lot of people who are uncomfortable talking about sports because now there's "so much politics" attached to it.

I work at Nike and I love sports, but don't think people can expect all employees to love sports. They're hiring people based on their skill set, not based on their personal interests. Certain areas of the business require athlete insight, such as product innovation, but other don't, such as Ops. Even if you enable/encourage a sport culture, you can't require employees to participate in it. I agree you'll probably find more athletes at Intel due to the fact that they have double the employees of Nike in Oregon.

Having a sports culture is fine until a company reaches a certain size and complexity. Then, you need business minds and analysts to move to the next level. Nike reached that stage about a decade ago.

I will also state that during my time at WHQ, many of the worst performing people (clueless, lacking business acumen, wasteful spenders, serial harassers) were the people hired simply because they played NCAA D1 sports. Many did not have a degree or barely earned their diplomas. They got hired because they played football at a PAC 12 school or ACC basketball and their jock pedigree / cool quotient was looked upon favorably. If you have worked at Nike you know who they are: 20 hours a week in the office doing half a**ed work, 12 hours at the gyms, 8 hours getting coffee/lunch/networking. Most galling was how some of them reached rather lofty positions despite their evident lack of merit.

Their days are numbered and these latest RIFs are purging the organization of their kind. PHK and MP protected too many for too long.

• and yet Nike is still miles ahead of the competition.

I certainly don’t believe the company needs to be made of people who are infatuated with a sport, or multiple sports. It also doesn’t need anymore sneakerheads. Yes, some roles benefit from people actually truly knowing the respective sport they are working on.. perhaps they played it themselves - great! But just because you played a sport well, or know the results from all of the games last night, doesn’t mean that you are going to be able to design the next great shoe. It doesn’t mean you are going to be able to strategically line plan a winning assortment. It doesn’t mean that you are going to have the vision to script the next global brand campaign.

I think we have a pretty decent mix. I have ‘experts’ I feel I can go to for insights, and I have incredible brains who never turn on ESPN. I appreciate them all.

All the best to you all - sounds like next week will be a big one.

So well put, it’s hard to add to this ... but of course I will :-)

After joining Nike I was amazed/shocked/dismayed by how little my colleagues played, knew or even followed sports. Even to the point of looking at me like I had three heads when I asked if they had seen “the game last night.”

But hey, they know SAP really well, so I guess they’re essential? Well, until they turn 40 anyway...

Compared to the rest of the sports industry, Nike hasn't had a "sports culture" in a very long time. My first year was a let down when I realized I'd be mostly working mostly with art students, clueless suburban parents and best case scenario a self proclaimed "sneakerhead" on some of the highest profile athletic footwear.
Accept the place for what it is.. a casual environment with good benefits and cool commercials on TV, but don't pretend like having keggers with free t-shirts makes a place have a sports culture.
You'll probably find more athletes at Intel these days.