36 years bagging groceries to CEO (true story)

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Ever feel like you're not "qualified" enough to start a business because you don't have the right degree?

Elliott Hill runs Nike. The company does $51 billion in annual revenue. He started as an intern in 1988, and in 2024, Nike brought him back as CEO after he'd retired. His background? No MBA. No business degree. He started at the bottom and learned by doing for 32 years before becoming an executive.

Here's what's interesting about his story and two others like it: the people running some of the biggest companies in the world never went to business school. They learned on the floor, in the stores, with the customers. And that hands-on experience seems to beat classroom theory when you're building real products for real people.

The intern who became Nike's CEO

Picture this: 1988, Portland, Oregon. Elliott Hill is a college student taking an internship at Nike. Not the executive training program. Just a regular intern position helping out wherever they need him.

He likes it. After graduating, he joins full-time in a sales rep position. He's not in the boardroom. He's visiting stores, talking to customers, learning what products work and what don't. He does this for years.

Hill keeps getting promoted, but slowly. He spends time in almost every department. Sales. Marketing. Product. Retail. He learns how shoes actually get made, shipped, sold. He works his way up for 32 years, eventually becoming President of Consumer and Marketplace.

In 2020, Hill retires. But Nike struggles after he leaves. In September 2024, they bring him back as CEO. Not because he had fancy credentials. Because he knew how Nike actually worked from the inside out, top to bottom.

Today, Hill runs a $51 billion company without ever getting an MBA. His competitive advantage? He spent 32 years learning by doing instead of 2 years learning theory in a classroom.

The grocery bagger who runs 1,300 stores

Todd Jones started working at Publix in 1980 when he was 16 years old. His first job? Bagging groceries at a store in New Smyrna Beach, Florida.

He didn't have big plans to run the company. He just needed a job. But he showed up, worked hard, and learned everything about how a grocery store actually operates. How to stock shelves efficiently. How to handle customer complaints. How to manage inventory so nothing spoils.

Jones kept working at Publix through college and after. He moved up slowly. Bagger to cashier. Cashier to assistant manager. Assistant manager to store manager. He ran individual stores before moving to district management. Then regional. Then corporate.

In 2016, after 36 years with the company, Jones became CEO of Publix. Today he runs a company with over 1,300 stores, 260,000 employees, and $59.7 billion in annual sales.

The interesting part? He knows exactly how every role in the company works because he's done most of them himself. When there's a problem in a store, he doesn't need consultants to explain it. He's been there.

The drive-thru worker who inherited a burger empire

Lynsi Snyder's story is a bit different, but teaches the same lesson.

She's the owner and president of In-N-Out Burger, the cult-favorite California burger chain worth over $3 billion. She inherited the company from her family. But here's what most people miss: she didn't just inherit it and hire MBAs to run things.

Snyder started working at In-N-Out when she was young. She worked the drive-thru window. She made burgers. She cleaned. She learned the business the same way every other employee does, from the ground up.

When she officially took control in her 30s, she knew the product inside and out. She'd made thousands of burgers herself. She understood why In-N-Out's simple menu worked. She knew why quality mattered more than expansion speed.

Today, In-N-Out has over 380 locations and generates over $1 billion annually. Snyder protects the company culture fiercely. She keeps the menu simple. She pays employees well. She expands slowly.

Why? Because she learned the business by doing it, not by reading case studies about it.

The pattern worth noticing

None of them started at the top. Hill was an intern. Jones bagged groceries. Snyder worked the drive-thru. They learned the actual work before leading the company.

They spent decades learning one business deeply. Hill spent 32 years at Nike. Jones spent 36 years at Publix. Snyder grew up around In-N-Out and worked there for years. They didn't job-hop every two years trying to climb faster.

They understand the product because they've touched it. These aren't financial executives who could run any company. They're product people who know their specific business deeply.

The principle: Learning by doing for decades beats learning theory in a classroom for two years.

Why hands-on experience works differently

You learn what actually matters

Business school teaches frameworks and models. Working in a business teaches you what customers actually want, what employees actually struggle with, and what actually makes money. Those lessons only come from doing.

When Elliott Hill sees sales data, he knows what's happening in stores because he's been in thousands of them. When Todd Jones sees inventory reports, he understands the reality behind the numbers. That context is impossible to learn in a classroom.

You build trust with employees

When your CEO bagged groceries for years, employees respect that. They know you're not looking down on their work because you've done it yourself. That trust creates better company culture.

Lynsi Snyder can talk to drive-thru workers about their challenges because she's been there. She's not guessing. She knows.

You understand the product deeply

MBA programs teach you how to analyze businesses. They don't teach you how to make great burgers, design shoes people want, or run grocery stores efficiently. That knowledge comes from years of hands-on work.

Consultants can tell you what the data says. Operators like these three can tell you why the data looks that way and how to fix it.

How to apply this (even if you're just starting)

Track what you learn from doing

Hill spent 32 years learning Nike. You might not have 32 years, but you can document what you learn each month. What worked? What flopped? What did customers say? This becomes your personal business school, except it's based on reality, not theory.

Keep a simple note on your phone. After each customer interaction, write down one thing you learned. After a year, you'll have 365 real lessons no classroom could teach you.

Stay with one business longer than feels comfortable

Jones spent 36 years at Publix. Snyder grew up around In-N-Out. The depth of knowledge they have is impossible to get by switching companies every two years.

If you start a business, resist the urge to jump to a new idea every few months. Go deep. Learn everything about your first customers. Understand every detail of your product. That depth creates advantages competitors can't copy.

Value product knowledge over credentials

These CEOs prove you don't need impressive degrees to run impressive companies. You need to understand your product and customers better than anyone else.

If you're choosing between spending $100,000 on business school or spending that on building and testing your business, the business will teach you more. The best education is getting real customers to pay you real money and learning from that process.

Here's what's interesting: Nike tried hiring executives with fancy credentials. It didn't work. They brought back the guy who started as an intern because he understood Nike from the inside out. That knowledge came from decades of doing, not years of studying.

For those of us without MBAs or fancy degrees, this is actually encouraging. That knowledge can be built through hands-on experience. Start small today. Learn from real customers. Stay with it longer than feels normal. That depth of understanding becomes a real competitive advantage.

What could you start doing today instead of just planning?

Until next time,
Emil - Founder of Income Ivy

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