Yes, Nike listens. And with listening comes learning: how to enhance performance, how to build a better business, how to respond to what the moment demands. With learning comes growth: improving not only products but also practices, supporting athletes as they take stands for social justice, centring the voices of women in sport and in business. With growth comes commitment, born of deep investment into the people and the principles that define the company. And with that commitment comes a familial bond between Nike and its athletes. Slusher often stresses himself out while watching major sporting events. Why? "If it's two Nike teams or Nike athletes on opposing sides", he says, "I practically have to look away. Nike in general and our teams—we love our athletes, we love our sports".
Over the years, Nike's athletes have reciprocated that commitment. After a birthday celebration that stretched well into the next morning, the New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter showed up for an event with key Nike retailers because he knew it mattered to the company. Then there was Kobe Bryant, whom Slusher recalls having attended 92 Nike events in a single calendar year when he was obligated to attend only eight. Perhaps this is what people have in mind when they talk about the Nike family. Perhaps it's why major sporting events often take on the spirit of a family reunion, with elders welcoming younger athletes into the fold. During a long weekend in February, for instance, some of Nike's American football legends took time to record welcome messages for the brand's newest endorsement partners, young athletes, some just out of university, for whom a personal message from American football legends Barry Sanders or Jerry Rice must seem like a dream. At Nike, such dreams are often the beginning of others.
"We view our athletes as part of the Nike family and we want to help them succeed", says Slusher. It's a common metaphor in business, often invoked but rarely achieved. Corporate cultures are quick to embrace the warm and fuzzy feelings of togetherness while skipping over the responsibilities that being in a family requires. But as Barry Sanders explains, "Nike has figured something out. They don't just support athletes in their respective sports, they support them whatever their interests are off the field. They have established great partnerships and relationships with athletes". Jerry Rice picks up the thread. Yes, Nike champions you as an athlete, he explains, but really, it's a matter of reciprocity: "When everything's working the way that it should and you know that they've got your back and you've got their back", says Rice, "it's just a perfect relationship".
Alex Morgan's own Nike journey exemplifies the spirit of family in Sanders' and Rice's words. When Morgan was 7 years old, she and two local friends founded their own Nike club. They met in the back garden of the Morgan family home in Diamond Bar, California, in a white shed adorned with Swooshes the girls had scrawled on the walls by hand. "We tried our best to draw the perfect Nike logo", Morgan recalls. "From then on, I was a huge fan of Nike". Following a standout university football career, Morgan turned pro and soon joined the Nike family. "It was a dream come true to sign my first endorsement deal with Nike", she says, which she did in 2011. "And we've been on this long, amazing journey since". That journey has taken Morgan to two world championship victories, an Olympic gold medal and a legendary club career.
But her fondest memory as a Nike athlete came off the pitch. In 2019, Morgan stepped away from competition while pregnant with her first child. In a fortuitous bit of timing, that same year Nike launched its maternity collection. "I got one of the very first prototypes", she says. Wearing her new Nike gear, she could stay active and comfortable in clothes that made her feel confident and strong. "Just to feel supported—not only on the pitch but as a mum-to-be—that felt really good", she recalls. Now, she and her toddler son sport matching Jordans. The Nike family grows.