1. IncubatorU-Case Study to Solve a Durability Problem in Tennis
1/1/15
The Chinese word for crisis is represented by the two characters: Danger and Opportunity.
Many people view a crisis as a negative experience, but throughout my life I have viewed a crisis
as an opportunity to look at something in a new way to see if another approach works to solve the
problem. Throughout my career at Nike I loved learning about new things, whether it was a
manufacturing process, chemistry formula, product pattern or sport-specific performance solution.
I am fascinated by the differences between the performance requirements of a sprinter compared
to a middle distance runner, or a basketball athlete compared to a tennis player. Each of these
athletes have unique and special requirements to perform at their best.
During my career at Nike I wore many hats, but I had a particularly interesting role in Tennis. I
arrived in Tennis as a footwear expert assigned to identify areas of opportunity essential to the
Nike Tennis Brand. However, it until after I got there that I understood
I arrived in Tennis at a time when there was quite a bit of change. Nike had just signed Serena
Williams to an endorsement contract, Rafael Nadal was an up and coming young player and
Roger Federer was rolling along consistently becoming one of the best players of all time. Andre
Agassi was finishing up an amazing career but was on his way out with Nike.
Within the first six weeks, it was clear my time in Tennis was not going to be an easy match. We
had just launched a lightweight performance product that had a special shiny upper material and
a lightweight sole that we pushed to deliver to the Australian Open in addition to our Japanese
market.
As a brand intending to lead the way in sustainability we were transitioning to water based
cementing systems and as a result, the first shoes off the production line that headed to our
athletes and to our retailers had outsoles (the bottom of the shoe) separating from upper. This
occurred as the professional players took their shoes for the tournament out of the boxes. The
drive to be more sustainable to implement a water based cementing system before the process
had been perfected caused the cement to dry and not adhere between the upper and bottom of
the shoes. Opportunity that presented itself to all of us working on the product.
This was the beginning of a journey that improved quality, durability, delivery and confidence in
the product that was on some of the top athletes in the world.
This case study will demonstrate the steps, connections, intersections and resource mapping to
exceed the expectations of the top athletes in the world and deliver the highest quality
performance product in the industry.
ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS-UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM AND CREATING A
VISION AND MISSION:
Our goal was to consistently deliver Performance Product for the Players. When this mission is
accomplished
The first thing that we did was to identify the experts in the field that have an understanding of the
sport, the players and what challenges we faced in delivering
I grew up as a competitive runner and watched Tennis from afar, however I did know some
fundamental things that occurred in this sport. The Grand Slams each year are the runways of the
sport with the most visible athletes promoting the latest product and designs on the world stage
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2. and Nike most often had the best in the sport. Nike Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal,
Andre Agassi, Lindsey Davenport, Maria Sharapova and a newly signed Serena Williams.
I stepped back and asked the Sports Marketing Team that worked with our athletes what the
annual schedule was for our product needs?
Common sense and the student in me wondered Is this the 100th year for the Australian
Open and isn't the French Open usually played on Clay and Wimbledon on Grass? Why haven't
we planned to create shoes in advance of those events that have special performance and
surface requirements There was a simple solution. Create a calendar to insure that we had the
chance to create, test and build shoes to deliver to our top athletes, enabling them to play their
best. This allowed us to deliver products to the players that matched their apparel in a timely and
quality manner.
Now that I understood when these Grand Slams took place and what the recurring problems were
at each of the tournaments, I started thinking about how we could regain the confidence of our
players with the best performance product for them.
Often, asking the simplest question uncovers the solution. I asked our Sports Marketing team,
Do we ever ask the players for their shoes back after they are done playing in them? "
Surprisingly, the answer was no .
It is difficult to solve a problem without having access or understanding and seeing it first hand.
Our sports marketing team attended every Grand Slam and had great relationships with people at
each tournament and as a service we took all the discarded shoes from the locker room attendant
and asked for them to be shipped back to our home office. Little did they know that this was our
version of Nike Tennis "Footwear CSI."
This simple request to analyze shoes that had been played in by the most elite players in the
world, in the most extreme conditions of heat and on various surfaces provided us with a starting
point for a new design, an opportunity for new chemistry and the ability to create better
performance requirements. Our new goal was to create a product to withstand the harshest
conditions and the most wear and tear. We knew if we accomplished this goal we would have the
best tennis product in the industry.
FOOTWEAR INVESTIGATION-Providing context to those in your resource network to build
a story that delivers on the Mission and Vision for the team.
Now that we had access to hundreds of pairs of shoes from all brands it was time to get to work.
What did we discover? It was clear that our shoes looked great, but they did not last very long nor
perform on par with Nike
After digging into the details, we realized our successful product leaders in Basketball that
influenced the Tennis product did not fully understand that a Basketball movement was not the
same as a Tennis player screaming across a tennis court.
We had applied basketball technology to tennis shoes thinking that we would have similar
success. Clearly there are significant differences between the sports. First of which is the surface
the sports are played on. A tennis court is like sand paper on fire. An outdoor hard court is
abrasive, hot and very different from a polished, wood basketball court. We needed different
outsole and tread patterns for these shoes for clay court and grass court play. Creating multiple
molds for a single model in various sizes was very expensive. Clearly, because we used the
wrong technology our shoes did not meet the performance or durability requirements of tennis
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3. Once we had determined the root of the problem, we were able to start solving it. How do we
make tennis shoes lighter? How do we make tennis shoes strong but flexible? How do we make
them last? How do we make them look great? How do we create outsoles for hardcourt, clay and
grass?
How do we leverage our technologies and make it relevant for tennis players of today?
Become a student of the sport - How do you apply critical thinking to any problem .look
at it from diverse perspectives
I began to watch the movements of our players on the court and was terrified that players like
Gael Monfils and Rafael Nadal would blow out of the shoes they were wearing. The modified
mesh uppers and features from our basketball shoes were clearly not holding up. These guys are
amazing athletes. They grew up playing on clay where you slide across the court into the shot.
When they transitioned to hard court surfaces they did not change their style of play. They were
sliding across a hot, sticky and abrasive hard-court, burning rubber off the bottom of their shoes
and ripping apart the upper.
Gael Monfils and Rafael Nadal used their feet as rudders and brakes to change direction and
sprint to that next shot.
I spent hours watching their feet, taking photos of there movements and recognizing the fact that
we needed to protect their feet, provide durability and support but also continue to make
beautifully designed product.
I envisioned Human Formula 1 Race Cars and that the requirements of their shoes had to be the
same as those tires going around the track at 200 mph.
The questions that I asked were:
What is the formula used on Formula1 Race Car Tires?
How are those tires so durable?
Is it the design, thickness, tread pattern?
What are they made out of?
What is the difference between a race car tire rubber and athletic footwear rubber?
What can we do to protect the upper part of their foot as it drags across the court?
Pivot on the Past and Move forward .avoid the Blame Game
One of the most difficult things for a leader is to get people to admit that there is a problem that
each of them had a part in ignoring.
I had 6-7 individual meetings trying to discover how we got into this position in the first place and
knowing that it needed to change. Finally was able to get each of those individuals together to
share the vision and propose multiple solution paths.
I decided it was time to call in the experts. We worked with a lab to test the rubber in the tennis
footwear and the F1 race tires, and started to compare. More questions followed.
Why is there so much of this compound in our footwear rubber vs. very little in the tires?
What is that compound for?
We determined a stabilizer compound was added to the footwear rubber to ensure that the color
fade and it looked better on the shelf for extended periods of time. While the shoes looked
great, the stabilizer made the rubber significantly softer and less durable on the court. We also
found out that the durability from race car tires comes from a higher quality polymer that could be
added to the footwear rubber, but would also make it more expensive.
The extra cost inhibit our progress though. I suggested adding in the polymer and adjusting
the formula and to start doing some wear testing. We knew the requirements for the shoes. The
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4. new rubber would still have to grip the court, it could not mark up a court, it would need to
withstand extreme heat and it has to be in certain dark colors to make it last.
Throughout our testing it was clear that by adding this new polymer it was the solution to our
problems.
The outsoles to our shoes were significantly more durable, held dark colors well and were just
slightly more expensive.
!
At that point we went forward with 3-4 variations of a compound and ended up testing along with
some better design perimeters to the footwear to eventually create the most durable rubber
compound in tennis.
Nike went from shoes that did not last a match to having a compound and product that was
viewed as one of the best in the industry, and it was a result of embracing a crisis to create an
opportunity.
THE METHODOLOGY
How did the IncubatorU approach that embraces a team that consists of: Critical Thinkers,
Doers, Communicators and Visionaries make it happen?
Create a Vision of what you see as the Solution to a Problem or Crisis. Make it
simple and understandable. My mission is to create performance product for the
players.
Look around your personal resource map to see where the experts exist.
Communicate in and out of the circle of experts to provide context to the group
and deliver a solution.
There are 4 parts of a IncubatorU team: Visionary, Critical Thinker, Doer/Builder
and Communicator.
Identify what part of that circle your team is missing and seek out someone that
can fill that spot.
Know that each role has opportunities to meet in the intersection and connect the
dots between the roles
Moving forward-Each time you step forward you learn. 1. Figure out the problem, 2.
Communicate in and out of the circle, 3. Make it happen. Do not be afraid to move
forward, accept success and failures adjust and continue to move toward the
mission.
FIGURE
IT OUT
COMMUNICATE
IN AND OUT
MAKE IT
HAPPEN
CRITICAL
THINKERS
BUILDERS +
DOERS
VISIONARIES COMMUNICATORS
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5. incubatorU
Created a Resource Map to identify connecting points that lead to a solution to create
The center of the resource map needs to have someone or a group that can work together
on a vision, communicate in and out of the circle, critically think for solutions and either
do the work or find those that understand the problem to do the work.
Sports
Marketing
Athletes
Trainers
Locker
Room
Attendants
Wear Test
Analysts
Stories,
Historical
Knowledge
Critical Thinker
Visionary
Communicator
Builders
Engineers
Chemical
Mechanical
Designers,
Marketing
Leadership
Costing