Just do it: At UND, Nike executive Sam McCracken talks entrepreneurship, N7s

‘Take a chance on yourself,’ says former forklift driver, now director and founder of Nike’s N7 program

Last week, Sam McCracken, founder and general manager of Nike’s N7 program, visited the Nistler College of Business & Public Administration for a fireside chat with students and faculty.

A member of the Sioux and Assiniboine Tribes of the Ft. Peck Indian Reservation in northeast Montana, McCracken appeared onstage opposite Laine Lyons, director of development at the College of Arts & Sciences for the UND Alumni Association & Foundation.

With her questions, Lyons – herself a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians – helped chronicle McCracken’s journey from rural Montana to heading a division at one of the world’s largest manufacturers of athletic apparel.

After high school, McCracken moved to the San Francisco Bay Area with his mother and began coaching youth basketball, an activity that instilled in him a lifelong passion for the sport. Off the court, he ran a forklift at a local warehouse during an especially challenging shift: 5 a.m. to 1 p.m.

McCracken continued coaching in the Bay Area — rising through the ranks to the high school level — until 1997, when he was hired as a forklift operator at Nike’s West Coast distribution center in Wilsonville, Ore.

“When I got the opportunity I said, ‘Well, I get the best of both worlds,’ he said. “I could use my certification and be around sports.”

Shortly after his hiring, Nike’s U.S. director of human resources reached out to McCracken. The director wanted to revitalize Nike’s Native American employee network, and offered McCracken the chairmanship of the group. The catch? The role was unpaid and in addition to — not in replacement of — McCracken’s full-time job.

“There was an article in my hometown paper that said, ‘Tribal member becomes chairman of Nike’s Native American network,’ ” he said with a laugh. “No mention of my 50-hour-per-week job; they thought I was just chairman!”

Despite his being a volunteer, the position paved the way for McCracken’s future business ventures – including his patented N7 brand, he said. In 2000, McCracken proposed his business plan to Nike executives. It worked: As Nike’s website attests, the N7 Collection today supports the N7 Fund to provide sport and physical activity programming to kids in Native American and Aboriginal communities..

“At Nike, we’re naturally storytellers, and that’s what allowed me to be successful,” he said. “I wasn’t afraid to tell stories.”

According to Nike’s website, the N7 Fund has provided $12.1 million to more than 300 organizations since 2009.

N7, McCracken said, represents the Native American concept of the wisdom of seven generations — that is, drawing from the experience of preceding generations, and weighing the impact one’s decision will have on progeny.

In recognition of his success, McCracken was named Nike’s Employee of the Year in 2004. In 2010, he was appointed by President Barack Obama to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Advisory Council on Indian Education.

Despite these accolades, McCracken stays grounded, saying he no longer works for himself, the company or his family, but for “my community of 4.3 million people.”

“If I were to fail in my job, I’d be failing them, not me,” he said. “The kids in our community are the driving factor behind me showing up for work every day. I have a special place in my heart for our youth. When I left Ft. Peck in 1979, my grandfather sat me down and reminded me, ‘You’re leaving this rural reservation, but never forget where you come from. Always remember who you are and what you represent.’”

McCracken, who has announced plans to retire from Nike later this year after 28 years of service, has already named his successor – a person whom he came to mentor via a chance meeting.

Following a speech he gave at a university, a student approached McCracken and told him, “I’m going to work for you someday.” McCracken cited this anecdote as an example of the importance of dreaming big, and “taking a chance on yourself.”

“She emailed me later and said, ‘I want to job shadow you,’” he said. “That was back in 2007, and now she’s taking over N7 for me in four months. It can happen to any of you.”

McCracken, who has met and worked with many luminaries throughout his career – including company founder Phil Knight and elite athletes – concluded his visit by encouraging students to embrace their authentic selves.

“I’m the forklift driver from Ft. Peck, and people at Nike know that,” he said. “No matter if I’m talking to our current CEO Elliot Hill, or the guy who brings my mail to my desk. It doesn’t matter who you are if you are always yourself.”