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November 2021

CEOletter_November2021_v1-opt1 

It is an honor to be writing my first CEO letter as I step into my new role and Andy becomes Executive Chairman. I am grateful for the very warm welcome that our network of customers, partners and Rocketeers has given me over these past weeks as I officially begin this journey to lead Rocket into its next era with the support of our incredible community.

The first few weeks in a new role are always busy—it feels like there’s always new information to take in and more to learn. Good leaders are good listeners, and I’ve certainly been leveraging my listening skills in conversations with each facet of our organization internally, our customers, and our partners to understand everyone’s needs.

It’s important to me that I hear everyone’s points of view and appreciate their perspectives as we move forward into a new phase as a company. Everything we do at Rocket is driven by better serving our customers and helping them succeed. If we all take the time to listen to each other – really listen with the intent to understand rather than just to respond—we can work towards solutions that exceed our customers’ goals and expectations.

So, What am I hearing?

Businesses need a vendor that can facilitate the pace of their modernization journey and actually deliver on the modernization promise. This is why the products and values we have at Rocket set us apart. As our customers are looking to future-proof their business, our scale and breadth of expertise and capabilities—bolstered by our acquisition of ASG Technologies—has uniquely positioned us to support those goals and accelerate customers’ modernization stories.

Our customers believe in and advocate for us because we can map a path through every step of the modernization journey with our extensive portfolio. They trust Rocket to deliver this because trust is built into our core values – we work hard to earn it and to continually prove we deserve it.

But the discourse around modernization has become overcomplicated. We understand that making things simple is hard work, but it’s what our customers need in today’s environment of constant disruption and change. They are looking for straightforward, direct solutions and answers to their problems, which is why we are investing in simplification, not overcomplication.

Listening to our customers' needs with our core values of humanity, empathy, trust and love leading the way is how we deliver the best possible customer experience. As I begin my tenure as CEO, know that my leadership will continue to be built on listening and learning from you all.

Starting new traditions

As I said, it is a privilege to be writing my first CEO letter and lead Rocket into this new era. Andy shared songs at the end of every letter, mapping to his love of music. For me, a true personal passion has always been chess.;

I’ve been playing chess since I was a child, and even wanted to be a chess grandmaster! Now, I still play in my free time, and I find ways to use the analytical and strategic rules of chess at my job every day. Making bold moves is required to be great at chess, and Rocketeers are constantly making bold moves that improve the whole company.

In that spirit, I would like to start a new tradition of sharing a bold move (or two!) each month to highlight the innovation and exciting work of our Rocket community

November’s Bold Move: The hard work and creativity that made Rocket.Build such a success this year, congratulations to the winners!

We celebrated our seventh annual Rocket.Build innovation event where employees find creative ways to improve the Rocket community with projects that they see through from ideation to application. Teams work around the clock for a week to bring their idea to life and present it successfully to a panel of judges. More than simply a competitive exercise, Rocket.Build projects often get implemented into product roadmaps and internal initiatives that are available to Rocket customers and team members. This bold move is one more way Rocketeers deliver more value while having fun.

Congratulations to all the bold movers who participated and the winners!