‘We’re Gonna Win’: Elliott Hill’s Plan for the Future of Nike
It’s no secret that appointment as new president and CEO was well received by staff, shareholders and consumers alike, with the veteran’s 30 years at the Swoosh working to his advantage. Hill actually came out of retirement to take up the mantle, and after his first week back at the company, he says ‘it’s good to be home’. We’ve already unpacked his , starting at the company as an intern in 1988 and working his way up, but now it’s time to delve further into Hill’s background, his connection to sport and the brand, and most importantly, what he sees for the future of the world’s largest sportswear company.
Sport Is at the Heart of it All
One of the common threads between most of Nike's successful leaders, , , , , etc., is their passion and involvement in sports on every level. Hill shares this trait and has played, watched and read about them his entire life – in fact, he has every issue of Sports Illustrated from 1973 onwards and used to have ‘an unbelievable baseball card collection’. , he recalls the heartbreaking moment he sold his card collection to go to a Winter formal in college that he was invited to by a young woman: ‘I needed some cash, so I sold my card collection. That still pains me to this day.’
This immersion in sport will serve Hill well in his role, especially as one of the key points he reiterates throughout his interview is that he is focused on the athlete*. ‘I want us to put the athlete at the center of everything we do, and show them that magic you can only get from Nike.’ This harks back to Nike’s core years of product development, where they were solely focused on solving problems for athletes rather than placating the culture vultures. It’s not even debatable that the most iconic models of today were performance models in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s. Think the line, , , , , the list goes on. However, the Nike most of us know in the 2020s doesn’t have this sport-focused, innovative spirit and instead floods the market with hype releases they know will be easy sellouts. Hill wants to return the Swoosh back to their original mission, which is ‘To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world’, and he makes a pertinent point about the use of the word athlete. ‘Finally, I really love the word “athlete*” with an asterisk. There's a statement behind that asterisk. “If you have a body, you are an athlete.” It came from our co-founder, Bill Bowerman. It challenges us to serve every human being. All 8 billion people are athletes.’
Therefore, Nike are still selling to the masses, but it’s the version of those masses that matters. It’s not the side of the world that buys every iteration of because of the clout (although, we’re sure they’ll probably keep rolling those out anyway), but it’s the masses that join run club, play basketball at the community centre, have a hit on the tennis court, and hike the trails. By returning Nike to the best version of themselves, Hill might just help them get their spirit back.
The Challenge of Writing the Next Chapter of Nike
Elliott Hill is uniquely positioned to help write Nike’s future, as he has witnessed the best of the company and potentially the worst throughout his years. For him, the standard of what Nike meant as a brand was set all the way in 1990, just two years into his work with the Swoosh. ‘[It] was the first time I flew out to Portland, Oregon, in 1990, for a sales meeting downtown on the waterfront. We go outside for the opening and there’s a brand heat video on that was blowing people’s minds. The folks around me were going nuts. The video kept building, and I realize we're seeing the “Just Do It” ad campaign being screened for the first time, right in front of us. I thought, “I am in the middle of something I never imagined I was going to be a part of.” The love and the energy and the feeling that everybody had together at that meeting was incredible. I'll never forget it.’
On top of that, Hill saw Michael Johnson winning gold in Nike spikes in Atlanta, Cathy Freeman make history at the Sydney Olympics in a Nike Speed Suit, and Mo Farah win gold wearing the Nike Volt Green in London. All of these moments capture what Nike represents, and Hill’s challenge will be to help bring back their momentum in the future by using the passion and emotion of sport to create innovative, coveted and beautiful product. As for what those future sports moments look like, Hill says they’re already here: ‘I think it’s always a good time to be a women’s basketball fan, but what a time like now. I’m also looking to next spring, when we’ll relaunch our Nike Women’s Race Series, worldwide. I loved that series when it first took off in the mid-aughts and I think runners will love how we've evolved it.’
Outside of the iconic sports inspiration, Hill also worked for incredible leaders at Nike and he aspires to take the best qualities from each of them in his leadership: ‘I want to be inspiring. I want to be authentic and true to who I am. I want to be consistent, and I want to be approachable.’ He says Nike made him a better person, and now is the time for him to give back to a company that has given him so much. ‘I thrive in challenging times. That's part of why I love sports and business, and why I think the combination of the two is so powerful, because you don't always win. And when we're not winning, it’s how we react that truly defines us. Yes, we’re in a tough moment right now. And I can tell you that we will do what we’ve done before to win: Get back to a sharp focus on the consumer. Understand the areas where we need to improve, put leaders and teams in place against those opportunities, and hold each other accountable for delivering. When we do those things, that's when we ultimately get back to winning.’
And in case you were wondering which quote one of the most powerful CEOs on the planet is going to be putting on his desk, it is of course one from Steve Prefontaine: ‘To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.’