A biography for Mark Parkerhasn’t been written yet.
“I was a pretty independent kid. I thought maybe I'd be a veterinarian or an environmental lawyer.”
“Our brands - Nike, Converse, Jordan Brand and Hurley - are loved by customers all over the world. But we never take that for granted; we know that every day we have to earn their trust - by serving them completely and adding real value to their lives through products and experiences.”
“The psychology of performance in athletic footwear and apparel is very real. Most athletes do not say, 'Just give me what works the best - I don't care what it looks like.' They're very concerned with what it looks like and how it makes them feel.”
“Eventually, I developed compartment syndrome in my calf and had to get surgery. I run three to five days a week now, mixed in with walking and other things. I want to run just because I enjoy it.”
“It's impossible to leave our emotions and experiences outside the work place - they inform us and make us who we are.”
“I don't like when I say 'honestly' - not to imply that I'm otherwise not honest.”
“I'm inspired by visual stimulation.”
“One of my biggest sources of angst is having people so comfortable with a formula that works that they are not challenging themselves or their ideas.”
“One of the challenges of innovation is challenging a set model. A traditional way to manufacture footwear existed for hundreds of years. Now we have a whole new way.”
“Let's start with the athlete, Nike's original and most important collaborator. To us, everything starts with the insight. That's why we work with the deepest roster of athletes, to gain the most profound understanding of what's needed to perform.”
“I think overdesigning comes from a lack of editing. The strongest, most compelling, and most useful things in life are irreducible - love, truth, faith, honor.”
“As a company, I'm proud that Nike takes a stand on issues that impact all of us, our athletes, and society as a whole. And I am proud that Nike stands against discrimination in any form. We stand against bigotry. We stand for racial justice. We firmly believe the world can improve.”
“The biggest sources of opportunity are collaboration and partnership. And today, with digital communication, there is more of that everywhere. We need to expose ourselves to that as a matter of doing business.”
“I've gotten lots of great advice from lots of people that I admire, but the person who influenced me more than anyone in my life was my grandmother.”
“At Penn State, I ran distance and cross country as a walk-on. I wound up running a lot of marathons, 30-plus. I was okay. I won one in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. I think it was around 2:30. I could crank those out all day.”
“I tend to gravitate toward people who are a bit more eccentric and creative and artistic in some ways. And I like bringing disparate kinds of creative people together to create some great work, even to share points of view on a new direction.”
“I love working with athletes. They're all very demanding.”
“You don't always have to start over to create an emotional reaction to your product. It's always powerful to deliver a breakthrough, but there's also a true art to making something great even better.”
“There is always an underlying spirit of invention at Nike - we love to create something that has never before existed. And not just new for the sake of new - it has to be better.”
“I always carry a sketchbook around with me, and I sketch whenever I can... I might be in a financial review and be sketching because I find that I actually listen better when I sketch. Truth be told, there are probably more sketches in my books than there are written notes.”