Pacific Index

The Chief Operating Officer at Nike comes to speak at Pacific

   Most recently serving as the Chief Operating Officer at Nike, Eric Sprunk has cruised in high attitude positions throughout sport and recreation companies—and the Future Sport Professionals Club is pleased to present him as their final speaker of the academic year. It is a remarkable opportunity to learn about how some of the region’s largest sports-related companies operate, and to hear about building a high-impact career. Eric will speak Tuesday, April 21 at noon – 1 pm in AuCoin 217.

What was a key moment in your career that shaped you as a leader?  

Eric Sprunk: Two big ones, but there have been several. The first was leaving my home town and moving to Portland. I was married, had a two-week old daughter and two great job offers to stay in my home town of Missoula (where I also went to University). But I took the job in Portland with Price Waterhouse and it changed the arc of my career. The second – and if I had to pick one, this would be it – was when I said yes to moving to Amsterdam for Nike. I then had three young kids (the youngest was one month old) and could have easily said no but found a way to say yes. I don’t think my career at Nike would have been the same without this decision.

What is something about your work culture or success that most people don’t see from the outside? 

ES: I’ll answer this with a quote: “I am a big believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more luck I have.” I like it because the one thing you can control throughout your career is your work ethic. Most other things rely on other people and other circumstances. I am also really purposeful about the decision I make and the way I treat others. Following the Golden Rule in corporate America is rare, I make a point of actively doing it. 

What skills or habits should students start developing now if they want to succeed in this business?  

ES: Be a great active listener; most young people are not. Be authentically curious; it is the best way to learn what you don’t know. 

How do you define success at this stage of your career?  

ES: I have been retired for 5 plus years now. I define success as doing the things I love with the people I love in the places I love. This is the reason I retired so I hold myself accountable.  I feel very retired relative to running Nike; but I am busy relative to being retired.  

What’s one piece of advice you would give students looking to work for a big company?  

ES: Keep your aperture of opportunity as wide open as you can. Big companies have so many jobs you have never heard of.  Don’t be looking for a specific job right out of school.  Be thinking about what size company, public or private, location, the people you know who work there and who you may be networking with or interviewing with. Big companies offer you multiple careers within their companies; the first job is the hardest to get and you never know where it may leave.