After 34 years with S.C. Johnson — eight of which he served as CEO and President, Bill Perez takes a few minutes to talk about his first six months as Nike’s new CEO, where he’s leading the company and how he plans to get us there.
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST REACTION TO THE IDEA OF BEING NIKE’S CEO? DAY ONE, THE PHONE CALL COMES...
(BP) I had mixed emotions. If you love sports, you couldn’t help but be excited about being able to work with the greatest sports brand in the world. But leaving a company after thirty-four-and-a-half years is not easy, and leaving the people was difficult. Still, Nike was my brand. I had been running in Nike shoes for many, many years and I was going from a company I loved to a brand I loved.
SO WHEN YOU ARRIVED, HOW DID NIKE SURPRISE YOU?
I was surprised by the energy, enthusiasm, passion and excitement of the people here, and the sense that we can do anything. Everybody competes, not against each other, but against everyone in the marketplace. We have to be as hungry tomorrow as we were yesterday—as hungry as Phil Knight was when he was selling shoes out of his car. My sense is that the people here are very hungry to achieve new success. I know I am.
HOW DO YOU FEEL THAT YOU HAVE SURPRISED NIKE?
I think I was culturally aligned with Nike more than anybody expected other than Phil Knight. I think people probably expected me to take a longer time to get indoctrinated into the Nike culture, but I have felt at home here.
HOW DID YOU APPROACH ENTERING A $14 BILLION COMPANY?
I tried to learn as much as I could. This is not a turnaround situation, so I’ve been able to focus my efforts on learning as fast as I can. And I’ve had the opportunity to meet and understand the culture and the people.
WHAT ADVICE HAS PHIL KNIGHT GIVEN YOU?
Phil and the Board gave me advice in terms of understanding what should never change at Nike and what we want to perpetuate. At the same time, this helped give me an idea of the types of things that might be appropriate to change if sensible.
SO WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE BIGGEST MISPERCEPTION ABOUT NIKE?
That Nike is simply an opportunity for people who want to invest in the sports business. We are a high growth consumer business investment and we’ve been generating high returns for the last several years. I’m not sure that is always recognized. In addition, we have Converse and Cole Haan; the fast-growing Starter brand; Bauer, one of the leading hockey brands in the world; and Hurley, an up-and-coming surf-culture lifestyle brand.
WHERE WILL NIKE’S NEXT BIG GROWTH OPPORTUNITY COME FROM?
From developing markets—India, Thailand, Indonesia, Brasil, China, Russia—and the development of Converse, Starter and our other subsidiaries. We’ve just scratched the surface in women’s fitness. In soccer, we have become one of the world’s leading on-field performance brands. And we’ve been able to leverage that on-field success by creating an entirely new category of soccer-inspired street footwear. And we see opportunities like this throughout the portfolio.
HOW WILL YOU KNOW YOU ARE SUCCEEDING IN THIS JOB?
If we can sustain the growth, which obviously gets more challenging as the company gets larger. If we can keep the Nike brand healthy, and if we can establish Starter and Converse as major players in the market—that will look like success to me.
WHAT IS A GREAT MISTAKE YOU THINK BIG COMPANIES MAKE?
Complacency. If we start reading our own press, we have big problems. We have to be as hungry tomorrow as we were yesterday—as hungry as Phil Knight was back when he was selling shoes out of his car. My sense is that the people here are very hungry to achieve new success. I know I am.
HOW DO YOU ACCOMPLISH THAT WHEN YOU ARE ALREADY NUMBER ONE?
You redefine the market in bigger chunks so that you can aspire to double your business. A lot of companies make the mistake of narrowly defining the business segments in which they are working so they can talk to themselves about being market leaders. I worry about complacency, but then again, this company has proven time and time again that it can continue to grow.