CHAPTER 8

THE ROOKIE ORGANIZATION

                  Stay Hungry; Stay Foolish.

—STEVE JOBS

In the 1940s, Converse produced the most popular basketball sneaker in the nation, the Chuck Taylor, and they also made the most sneakers for every sport. By the 1960s, 90 percent of college basketball players wore Converse and the brand had cornered 80 percent of the overall consumer market for sneakers.1 Not wanting to mess with success, Converse continued doing what had made it so successful in the past. By the 1980s, however, Converse began to lose considerable market share as a slew of hotshot new companies introduced higher-quality athletic shoes to the market. Still Converse remained mired in the past: As Magic Johnson observed ...

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