Some insights on Phil Knight that didn't make it into the episode. He was initially against all of his most famous decisions. But he did hire talented people and let them win the argument. He didn't want to sign Jordan "All I did was have faith in [Jordan] when no one else did." — Sonny Vaccaro Knight's instinct was to spread the $250,000 basketball budget across multiple players. But Vaccaro argued for concentration: bet everything on one unproven rookie. Knight was eventually persuaded but remained skeptical. He originally rejected "Just Do It" Knight's reaction to Dan Wieden's the pitch: "We don't need that shit!" Wieden's response: "Just trust me on this one." The slogan itself was inspired by murderer Gary Gilmore's last words before execution — "Let's do it." Wieden never told Phil the origin. If he had, they likely would have killed it. He nearly lost Jordan in 1987 After Rob Strasser and Peter Moore left Nike, Jordan was ready to leave too. Strasser proposed spinning off Air Jordan as an independent company. ...