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ALUMNI: PLAYING TO WIN Ambassador Robert "Woody" Johnson '65
Earlier this year, we had the opportunity to catch up with Woody Johnson, Class of 1965, in his Florida office. Energetic and passionate about sports and politics, Woody approaches both his business and his patriotism in the same manner: evolve or die.
The status quo is the kiss of death, and being a part of any winning team involves figuring out what needs to get done and then getting the right people to do it. He’s had his share of new ventures and has approached each with confidence and a plan: get to know the people you’re working with, ask the right questions, learn, and then dig in.
We talked about how he hopes to outperform past seasons and build a Super Bowlwinning New York Jets team and how representing the United States as the ambassador to the Court of St. James was the greatest honor of his life. He reminisced about Frank Trevor, “the Boss,” and the tow rope on Ski Hill, traveling and living across the pond (the Atlantic Ocean, not the zoo pond), and hosting a mélange of guests from Queen Elizabeth to London’s black cab drivers. He also shared the extreme highs and lows of that fateful day last September 11 four snaps into the season opener against the Bills at MetLife Stadium.
Keep reading to get a glimpse into the life of a seasoned businessman, an NFL team owner, a former ambassador, and one of Millbrook’s own.
The New York Jets
What is at the top of your list in terms of owning and running an NFL team?
The culture of the team, any team, is most important—putting people together on that team whose single focus is winning. You have to have a winning culture, and you have to have people who can persevere and do what it takes to win. When you hire players, you don’t really know them. You can try and get good intel, and we’ve got scouts to do that, but eventually you need to weed out the bad ones. You get rid of them. One bad apple can spoil the whole thing.
The key to football is your quarterback. If you have a good quarterback, everyone’s a genius. That’s the way it works, and it’s the hardest thing. Next to keeping them healthy.
What was it like in MetLife Stadium the day that Aaron Rodgers was injured?
It was the most elated feeling in the stadium. Everyone was on a such a high. Aaron came out holding the flag, and the team charged in. We had just held a Taylor Swift concert in the stadium a couple of weeks before. She had wristbands that were synced to everyone’s cell phones. When the lights changed in the stadium, so did the colors of the wristbands. We copied that idea. We had the stadium lit up in ways that we’d never done before. It was electric in there, and the change of emotion was so dramatic and so quick. We went from that to four plays later going as low as you can go. And that’s sports. We had to put in our backup—the show must go on as you hope for the best and start planning. We actually won that game.
We have Aaron Rodgers back this season. The Achilles rupture has become a more common injury in football; it used to be career ending. Now, with some new cool treatments, it’s a oneyear deal in recovery. He’ll be back for preseason training. He is a Hall-of-Fame quarterback. He does everything you want a quarterback to do. He processes information extremely quickly. His leadership is second to none. They respected him in the locker room [this season] more than anyone, and he didn’t even play. All receivers have to do is turn around, and the ball will be right in their hands. He can put a ball in a bucket at 50 yards. He’s the right guy, even at 40 years old.
Why the interest in owning a National Football League team?
I had a cable TV company right out of college. It was my brother’s company, and when he passed away, I inherited it. I loved it. It was entertainment—not making it, but transporting it, connecting homes in the early days of cable when a guy would put video tapes into a machine and play them. When HBO and Ted Turner came in, it all changed. So, I liked entertainment, and I liked sports. I considered buying various teams, including the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the New York Knicks, and the New York Rangers. I love those teams, but when the former owner of the Jets, Mr. Leon Hess, died I thought, I didn’t know if this was going to happen, but I got ready. I put a team together to analyze what we were buying—there’s a lot there. And then it happened.
We were running a team for the first time—it’s like riding a bike. You get on, and you start pedaling. That’s the way you do it. I’d run a lot of different enterprises at that point, so that experience came into play. You have to know the people and how things run. The Jets is a big organization.
What does your day to day with the team look like now?
I am up in New York usually a day or two a week. Then we’re on the phone all day otherwise. We’re doing a zero-based budgeting analysis, looking at form and function and what helps us win and what does not—analytics, allocation of jobs, job descriptions, everything—to isolate what will help us win and discard the things that won’t. Data is key. We have a young investment team of six young individuals focused on the operating and football sides of the business. When you get people to look at something from the outside, the information is pure. They have no axe to grind, no allegiances.
The Ambassadorship
What is it like, what’s involved in being the ambassador to Great Britain?
It was a big job and an honor, being nominated by the president and confirmed by the senate for one of the most important diplomatic posts at the Court of St. James, and I was ready to learn on the job. To avoid any conflict of interest, I was not allowed to do any trading, and no football. I had to leave everything behind, and I was totally dedicated to working for the American people from day one.
My perspective as a businessman is different than a career diplomat. I wanted to ask the right questions—why are we doing this? I know how to get from A to point B and problem solve along the way. From the start, we had to get to know everyone in the embassy and build trust and then visit other U.S. personnel in Great Britain, paying respect, especially, to the 10,000 men and women in the military stationed there. We calmed the waters in policy discussions. At that time, China was trying to get in on 5G service with the five major telecommunications companies in Great Britain, and we opposed this. We set up a China working group, the first of any embassy, to talk about the South China Sea, trade, and intellectual property theft. It opened everyone’s eyes.
But coming home, I wanted to win a Super Bowl. There are two things in life: sports and politics. In each, you’re in the danger zone, and that’s where you learn and you find success.
So now, it’s working on getting there. Winning seven games is not acceptable. This data dive is the best thing I’ve ever done—ripping the hell out of the Jets organization. Status quo is death; it will kill you. You have to change, so you have to have an organization that embraces change. Otherwise, it’s impossible to win.
Millbrook
What are some of your best memories of your time as a student at Millbrook?
My father attended Millbrook with Jim Buckley, and he loved Ed Pulling, finding him scary but cool. There was definitely a fear factor when you were in his presence. He was tall and had that English headmaster demeanor. You hoped you were going to survive it. My father respected what he was trying to accomplish at Millbrook.
My father had Frank Trevor for biology, and I did too along with zoo squad. I still recall his grading reference—A, B, C, D, and then Z. Seventeen steps below that is Z-17. The 17 represented effort—way less than nothing. I use that to this day, and I think of Frank a lot. He was probably the best teacher I ever had,
having us go into the streams around Millbrook with our nets and coming up with these weird-looking things. I also remember English with Mr. Grove. I was writing something about Abe Lincoln, and he quickly corrected me when I referred to him as Abe rather than Mr. President.
I ran track, skied, and played football. I wasn’t the greatest football player, but I really enjoyed it. I had [Peter] Holbrook throw me passes, which were always 10 yards above my reach. In the winter on Ski Hill, we had the tow rope and a bunch of turkeys who would get halfway up and then fall. We were all sitting there on the rope, stuck. Track was probably my favorite; I ran the 400 and the 200.
As a prep school kid, I was trying to make it through day to day. We were there all the time. [On the few weekends we could leave] my mother used to drive up the Taconic in that big old car swinging around the curves. And she’d pull up in front of South Dorm and stop the car. I wouldn’t even let her get out and stop in the bathroom. I couldn’t wait to leave – “Mom, we gotta go – I only have a limited number of hours!”
At schools, it needs to be all about the students. As long as your focus is the students—that’s the answer. There might be bumps in the road, but if you support students and what they need to accomplish, you’re going to be okay. The most important thing is educating the kids. If you’re creating future leaders at a school, parents and alums will be supportive.
Special thanks to Ambassador Johnson and Katie Kane, special assistant to Chief Executive Officer Johnson and his senior advisor in London, for meeting with us.
