Becoming Something with Jonathan Pokluda

Episode 382: Nike, Kobe & Pointing Your Life Toward What Matters | feat. John Olinger

July 27, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

John Olinger was the global brand director for Kobe Bryant at Nike when Kobe died in January 2020. Later that year, as Nike reorganized, five of his previous six bosses were fired. His job was on the line. His wife asked if they should move closer to her family in Florida. Olinger said he wasn't afraid of leaving Nike—he was afraid of leaving his dad, who lived 45 minutes away and was the only parent he had left. They decided to pray for 40 days about what to do. Five days in, his father slipped on ice in a Walmart parking lot, hit his head, and ended up in the ICU with a traumatic brain injury. On day 40, Nike offered Olinger a job—global brand marketing for men's running, a prestigious role. But it wasn't the job he wanted. He wanted to spend more time investing directly in people, not leading huge projects. He accepted it anyway, because he had three boys under five and a father in the hospital. Twenty days later, his dad died. A month after that, Olinger told his wife they needed to move to Florida. He worked remotely for Nike for another year and a half, then left. The whole experience crystallized a question he had been circling for years: What does it actually mean to win?

The wrong scoreboard

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What you'll learn

1 (00:47) **Introducing John Olinger: Nike, Kobe, and a Life-Changing Decision** - Former Nike global brand director for Kobe Bryant joins the podcast to discuss his new book *Worthy Wins* and the personal story that led him to re-evaluate what truly matters.
2 (03:11) **The Wake-Up Call: Unexpected Loss and a 40-Day Prayer** - John describes the sudden death of his father and how it, combined with his earlier loss of his mother, forced him to confront the brevity of life.
3 (12:07) **The Principle of Saying No to What Others Want** - JP highlights the counter-cultural decision-making of a Christ-follower, who must be willing to turn down opportunities that the world prizes.
4 (15:17) **The Choice: Trusting God with the Decision** - After his father’s passing, John and his wife felt God gave them the freedom to choose, leading them to move their family to Florida.
5 (19:29) **The Core Thesis: The Worthy Win** - John defines the central idea of his book: the danger of winning at the wrong game and the necessity of combining meaningful accomplishments with significant relationships.
6 (22:31) **How to Define Winning for Yourself** - The first step to avoiding the wrong scoreboard is to get extremely clear on what winning actually means for you, as it is a subjective, not objective, definition.
7 (25:31) **From Nike to a Faith-Based Footwear Brand** - John shares how his secular career at Nike perfectly prepared him to lead UNITUS, a faith-based shoe company founded by NBA player Jonathan Isaac.

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Show Notes

This week we sit down with John Olinger — former global brand director for Kobe Bryant at Nike and author of Worthy Wins — to talk about what it looks like to point your life toward what actually matters most. John opens up about losing both parents, a season of unexpected career upheaval, and how God used every chapter of his story to prepare him for something he never saw coming. If you've ever wondered whether your past experiences are being wasted, this episode is for you!