This Nike manifesto from the 1970s is absolutely wild

Is a modern office really an office without inspirational quotes scrawled on the walls, on the stairs and in the meeting rooms? Today such quotes are part of everyday office life, although it is difficult to say whether anyone has ever actually felt inspired by these maxims. We bet the ones in your office won’t be as memorable as the ones in an old Nike internal memo – or as memorable as the famous Nike logo.

Apparently circulated by Nike’s marketing director Rob Strasser in 1977, the memo includes “Living off the country,” “It’s not going to be pretty,” and “If we do the right things, we’ll make money almost automatically.” , which are variously odd . Let’s unpack them a little further. First of all, we don’t quite understand what “living off the land” means. Did Nike want its employees to search for food? Or is it a comment on using sustainable materials (we suspect not)?

“It won’t be pretty” makes us think that the workplace was more of a horror story than an office. And “If we do the right things, we make money almost automatically” is probably intended as a stirring conclusion to the manifesto. It’s a nice feeling that we assume is about putting results ahead of profits, but let’s face it, it doesn’t really apply to many situations. Doing the right thing and capitalism or mass production don’t always go together. If you’re planning on starting a business soon, we wouldn’t recommend putting this on your wall.

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Personally, I would like to know how the memo was received by the employees at the time. Did they feel really inspired by “push yourself, push others” and “your work is just done”. the Job is done,” or were you cynical about the whole thing?