How Nike’s new CEO is helping employees make better decisions

When Nike recently asked Elliott Hill to come out of retirement to be its new CEO, Hill vowed to refocus the company on its core – athletes.

Hill, a 32-year company veteran who started as an intern fresh out of college in 1988, retired in 2020 after he was passed over for CEO. At the time, Nike chose an industry outsider and former technology executive for the position.

Throughout the course of his career at Nike, Hill held senior leadership positions across Europe and North America and was responsible for helping grow the business to more than $39 billion. Before retiring in 2020, he was President - Consumer and Marketplace leading all commercial and marketing operations for Nike and Jordan Brand, including the P&L across the company’s four geographies, according to a company news release announcing Hill's new role.

In one of his first official statements as CEO, Hill set the tone for his administration: “When we put athletes at the center, we create the right discussions, debate, dialogue, and ultimately arrive at the best decisions — for consumers and our company.”

Hill packed a lot of wisdom about decision-making at Nike into that statement, so let’s unpack it.

The 1st thing Hill did was identify the frame that would be applied to every decision to be made at Nike. (We call this “framing the decision” in Decision Mojo – a learning laboratory for improving decision-making.)

A frame is the lens through which decisions are made.  If you or your team are struggling with a decision, try widening the aperture by asking, “What is this decision really about?”   “What is the longer-term strategy or vision this decision relates to?”  These are two powerful questions that help you to see the decision in a larger context and think longer-term.  What Hill is saying is that for Nike, decisions, at their core, should be made with respect to what is best for the athlete.

Having a clear and consistent decision frame is one of the most effective ways executives can help everyone make decisions at all levels of the organization. A compelling mission statement, when done right, provides a true north reference point that orients and guides all decisions at all levels within the organization.

The 2nd thing Hill did, through his initial statement, was describe how decisions should be made at Nike moving forward.  Employees will arrive at the best decisions if “we create the right discussion, debate and dialogue,” he says.

One of the skills we teach leaders in Decision Mojo is how to create the environment where people can (and want to) openly share their opinions and perspectives.

The best decisions emerge from a process, often guided by an effective decision leader, that encourages everyone on the team to bring their best thinking and intelligence to the decision at hand.  This requires honesty, transparency, curiosity, and humility, especially on the part of the leader, as it takes courage to admit, as a leader, that they may not know everything, or have all the answers.

By effectively engaging the team in this way, a leader will generate  more creative options, better expose potential risks, and uncover information and ideas that will help drive better decisions.  Also, by getting your team involved and encouraging lively dialogue and debate, you’ll gain higher levels of buy-in for the execution of the decision. (Decision execution is another area where “decision processes” often come up short.)

What Hill is attempting to do in his early days as Nike CEO is proactively influence the decision-making culture.  As the CEO, he understands that only a few big decisions should arrive on his “desk.” He understands that the success of Nike will ultimately be determined by the thousands of big and small decisions that are made every day throughout the organization, many of which he will never see.

His role is to set the frame and create a culture that facilitates great decisions that drive the organization in a particular direction. And because it isn’t just the next level that needs to make the decisions, his role is also to encourage leaders throughout the organization to do the same for their teams.  Done well, this will make the organization stronger with each and every decision.

But his job is not done.  The hard skills of decision-making don’t just magically occur. Hill must now create tangible examples of what “putting the athlete at the center” looks like in practice at Nike.

What decisions are examples of this?  Even more critically, what decisions are not examples of this?  What does good dialogue and debate look like?  How do leaders below him create the safe environment where people are willing to challenge the status quo or even challenge the thinking of their immediate leader?  And assuming there is good debate, how do they still arrive at a high-quality decision in an efficient manner that everyone can get behind as the decision is executed?

We look forward to following future decision-making stories at Nike.

About NIKE, Inc.

NIKE, Inc., headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, is the world's leading designer, marketer and distributor of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and fitness activities. Converse, a wholly-owned NIKE, Inc. subsidiary brand, designs, markets and distributes athletic lifestyle footwear, apparel and accessories. For more information, NIKE, Inc.’s earnings releases and other financial information are available on the Internet at https://investors.nike.com/. Individuals can also visit https://about.nike.com/and follow NIKE on LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.

Decision-making resources:

• Framing a decision: 6 ways to help you you get it right
• 6 common decision-making traps and how to avoid them
• Decision Diagnostic Tool: evaluate a pending decision
• Is your subconscious derailing your decision-making and your culture?
• SHIFT happens: A primer for making decisions in difficult times