Did Aaron Rodgers read 'Trillion Dollar Coach'?

He's either talking about Silicon Valley or Cryptocurrency with 'People' speech

It should be clear as day now that Aaron Rodgers wants out of Green Bay. After weeks of rumors and silence, Rodgers didn’t say much in his interview with former ESPN host Kenny Mayne on Tuesday, and that included sidestepping any denial when asked if he’s seeking a trade.

When I heard him instead talk about how its “people that make an organization,” I immediately assumed that he was talking about decentralization and cryptocurrency. In fact, I was sure of it, and this was before Mayne ended the interview by mentioning that Rodgers had told him to “go heavy into crypto.’

Here’s what Rodgers had to say and keep in mind that he never once mentions football:

“I think sometimes people forget what really makes an organization, and history is important. Legacy of so many people who’ve come before you. But the people. That’s the most important thing. People make an organization. People make a business. And sometimes that gets forgotten. You know, culture is built brick by brick, the foundation of it, by the people. Not by the organization, not by the corporation, it’s built by the people.”

Rodgers repeats six more times that “it’s about the people.”

But Rodgers may be talking about another sector of the modern tech space too: Silicon Valley.

It just so happens that today I was listening to a book called ‘Trillion Dollar Coach,’ which is a memoir of the life of elite business coach Bill Campbell.

Campbell started out as an actual football coach at Columbia, the same school where he earned a spot on the team because of his heart and his work ethic and in spite of his size. He was inspirational as a player, maybe three times so as a coach, but the team was awful year after year. Campbell moved on from football and moved into business, which is where he mentored the likes of Steve Jobs and the founders of Google, among many others.

Campbell was a permission-based manager, meaning that his job was not to make himself better, but others better. This is the job of every coach and every quarterback.

“People are the foundation of any company’s success. The primary job of each manager is to help people be more effective in their job and to grow and develop. We have great people who want to do well, are capable of doing great things, and come to work fired up to do them. Great people flourish in an environment that liberates and amplifies that energy. Managers create this environment through support, respect, and trust.

“Support means giving people the tools, information, training, and coaching they need to succeed. It means continuous effort to develop people’s skills. Great managers help people excel and grow.

“Respect means understanding people’s unique career goals and being sensitive to their life choices. It means helping people achieve these career goals in a way that’s consistent with the needs of the company.

“Trust means freeing people to do their jobs and to make decisions. It means knowing that people want to do well and believing that they will.”

Former 49ers great Ronnie Lott, another mentee of Campbell, had this to say about the job of a coach:

“Great coaches lie awake at night thinking about how to make you better… Most people don’t spend a lot of time thinking about how they are going to make someone else better. But that’s what coaches do.”

It’s clear that Aaron Rodgers doesn’t feel that Green Bay management is trusting “their people” to know what’s best for the organization. But Rodgers believes that he and the other players are the organization. Without the players, even if they rotate every year, there is no football. Agree or disagree, Rodgers is a permission-based manager.

And arguably the greatest quarterback in the history of the game. If a coach’s job is to make those around him better, what better coach is there than Aaron Rodgers? Looks at the list of his former teammates — before and after they played with Rodgers. He makes everyone better.

Or he’s talking about communist anarchism, because I also found this quote by Alexander Breckman: "The revolution abolishes private ownership of the means of production and distribution, and with it goes capitalistic business. Personal possession remains only in the things you use. Thus, your watch is your own, but the watch factory belongs to the people."

So which is it Rodgers? Cryptocurrency, Bill Campbell, or communist anarchism? Oh, you just want a better contract? Well, then, carry on.