Nike employee goes from intern to CEO in 30 years
He's like if "Just Do It" was a person.

Elliott Hill doesn't fit the usual mold of CEO of a multi-billion dollar global corporation.
He wasn't brought in from some fancy consultancy to cut the bottom line and boost profits. On the contrary. He worked his way up from the very bottom.
In this day and age, that's a pretty remarkable feat.
After being announced as the next leader of the storied company, a screenshot of Hill's LinkedIn profile went mega viral.
Why?
Well, just take a look.
Hill has only worked one place — Nike — where he started as a simple intern over 30 years ago. Now he's the CEO.
LinkedIn
Obviously, it was a long journey.
Hill spent two years as an intern, then worked his way up through Sales before becoming a VP. That alone took 10 years of hard work.
A few years later he was a President-level executive, and he continued to work on many different teams and divisions for the global brand, gaining valuable knowledge and experience with many different facets of the company
Hill briefly retired from Nike in 2020 before being recruited to come back this year.
Bringing Hill back on board comes on the heels of the previous President & CEO stepping down from the role.
John Donahoe was a former management consultant and previously served as the CEO of eBay and of a cloud computing company before joining Nike.
He was big on tech, big on cost-cutting, and big on layoffs. But he didn't know much about sneakers, or the Nike brand. The results were disastrous for what as once the biggest sneaker brand on the planet.
So Nike looked at its own homegrown talent to find a replacement, seeking someone who not only got the brand and business, but respected and understood its core customers.
Based on tenure and experience, there weren't many better candidates than Hill!
No one would ever accuse Nike of always doing the right thing over the years. But this is one good example that other companies should follow: promoting from within.
It's not a great look to bring in an outsider, hired-gun CEO to the tune of a nearly $30 million pay package, only for that person to ruthlessly slash jobs.
But it seems to be a popular choice for big companies these days: Tap a leader who will blindly optimize for profit and shareholder value and/or strip the company for parts. Capitalism, baby!
Nike the corporation will probably be more-or-less fine either way. It's the passionate sneakerheads and the dedicated employees who get hurt — the people who make the brand what it is.
Sean Lemson, a leadership development coach and author, wrote on LinkedIn:
"It was very hard for me to watch (and be swept up in) the way John and other leaders from Silicon Valley just completely devalued the nike-blooded employees who were let go over the years."
Heather Smit, a marketing and creative operations professional at Nike, was extremely candid in her own post:
"Though I survived and even thrived amidst the 2 massive reorganizations John led, they have left us with bumps, bruises, and even scars. We lost a lot. We’ve been through hell and back in the last 5 years under John’s leadership. We’re still here because we LOVE this company and we know we deserve better. The consumer deserves better. Elliott doesn’t have an easy job ahead of him, but he’s got about 80,000 hopeful and energized employees behind him, ready to go."
It's not often you find yourself rooting for a millionaire CEO, but Elliott Hill's story is just so dang inspiring we might not have a choice.
There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."
This article originally appeared in May.