Friend of Simplicity - Roger (Rocky) Noe

Recently I was lucky enough to hear my hero 83 year old former Labour MP, Tony Benn speak. Tony said something that has stuck with me.

‘‘If you are looking for a leader don’t look up to a platform – look next door’

This definition fits perfectly today’s Friend of Simplicity Roger (Rocky) Noe who lives in Mt. Washington, Kentucky, US.

I’ve been a friend of Rocky since we first hooked up on Brian Ward’s discussion board (a pre curser to Blogging) some 7 years ago. Rocky is one of the most genuine, humble and down to earth people I have met through the internet. He is also one of the best role models for leadership.

You can catch up with more Rocky wisdom at this link http://hillbillyphd.blogspot.com/


TREVOR: Hi Rocky – Why Rocky?

ROCKY: I am not sure how the moniker “Rocky” came about. I have answered to that name for as long as I can remember. I have always been known as Rocky until recently in my professional career. Most of my friends do not even know me as Roger. In fact, when I was in my senior year in high school a girl I had been in school with for several asked me if I was any relation to Rocky when the teacher called roll and I answered to Roger.

TREVOR: I know you’ve spent a large part of your career working with young people who are troubled – tell us a bit about that Rocky

ROCKY: Working with at risk youth has been my passion. I really like having the opportunity to give back in that way. Young people are at risk for so many reasons. The drug culture is racing out of control and so many fall victim to being second and third generation victims of drugs, violence, and gang affiliation. Taking these kids and helping them to become “generation breakers” is the ultimate satisfaction. When you have the opportunity to change one person you are affecting whole generations. I have been in the business long enough to see many of the young people I worked with years ago grow up and start their own families. I love it when I meet their children and they are honour students and participating in meaningful social activities. There is no payday like it. There is nothing like having to be a part of positive change.

TREVOR: With such challenging situations how do you make sure you don’t take the stresses home with you?

ROCKY: It is a very challenging job. There are so many hidden stressors. Not only do I have the pressure of working with young people who often don’t want my help, they usually don’t think they need it. That is a huge burden in itself. Young people heading for disaster and not only thinking they do not have any problems, they often think that I am their problem. Trying to stay focused can sometimes be difficult. More than that, I have the added burden of the youth’s family members that will sometimes work against the system. I also have the staff and their problems along with outside forces such as attorneys and various outside workers. The major problem is that I am never right. As the lead administrator in my program I often walk in the door and I have over 100 hundred people that are not very happy with me and that is just in my building alone. That is not including the outside personnel. The biggest problem is that everyone wants to tell me how to do my job and how they would do it differently.

I have learned to deal with that. I do this by relying on my wonderful family and constantly revisiting the thought of what my passion is. I recently had a discussion with a colleague about the importance of passion and its role in staying focused. My colleague asked "what happens if you begin to lose your sense of passion?" She stated that she often feels overwhelmed and thinks that maybe she has lost her passion. Then she took it a step further and asked that if you lose your passion could it really have been a passion all along?

My take on it is that maybe how she is carrying out her passion is not the right avenue. More importantly, I asked her to really think about what she is passionate about. What led her to be in the business that she is in? Is it for the passion or did she settle into a business while trying to meet other needs? What is the end result she is looking for, Is it for riches or for something else? I think the true test of a passion is that it has a relentless drive to it. It is not tied to any business or bank. It is attached to your heart and will drive you regardless of the circumstances. Your passion does not get overwhelmed. Your passion tends to be overwhelming. The avenues by which you pursue your passions may get worn and become overwhelmed, but the passion tends to keep burning. Your passion may lead you to different avenues to pursue it, but it tends to keep burning.

My passion is to help others and it continues to burn. I have changed the avenue of how I pursue my passion from time to time, but my passion remains the same- helping others to grow and overcome their life obstacles.

TREVOR: You award Hillbilly PhD’s – can you explain what the Hillbilly PhD is all about?

ROCKY: The Hillbilly PhD is about not letting the circumstances of life dictate the outcome. Many of the most successful people I know do not have high academic qualifications. What they do have is a relentless drive to overcome their circumstances. We have often talked about Sir Richard Branson and how he achieved a great deal in life although he struggled with academics. He is a perfect example. He is far from a Hillbilly in the traditional sense. He is wealthy and lives very well. (He owns his own island) So I think it is important that I define what I mean by the term Hillbilly. The Hillbilly part comes from the idea of living by good solid values and character traits and not letting things or circumstances rule your life. The PhD stands for putting in a hard days work. I believe that those are the main ingredients to be successful. It is by no means a knock or put down of education, but a statement that everyone can be successful regardless of their circumstances

TREVOR: I love your TERRIFIC leadership model – can you tell us more about that too.

ROCKY: The TERRIFIC model is actually the values and character traits I think that are important to be successful. It stands for Trustworthiness, Effort, Respect, Responsibility, Integrity, Forgiveness, Initiative, and Caring. Those are by no means exhaustive to success principles, but I believe that if you can live a life governed by them you will have a good start on success.

TREVOR: We co-authored ‘Three Amigos with one Message.’ Do you have plans to write more books?

ROCKY: I would really like to write a book based on ‘Not letting circumstances dictate your Destiny’ I think there are 5 steps to overcoming life’s circumstances

a. Defining your life passion or purpose
b. Being persistent in the pursuit of that purpose
c. Taking an honest inventory of your talent and weaknesses. Capitalizing on your talents and leveraging the talents of others. (I think it is important to note that I think that your talents must be used to help others and to give back)
d. Being resilient and continuing to focus on your life purpose during failures and set backs
e. Finally, exercising the golden rule of all successful people- Taking action in line with your life’s purpose.

TREVOR: I know you and both your sons support Manchester United - and as far as I am concerned that just proves how well you guys have been brought up. Soccer as you call it in the States is becoming much more popular over there – do you plan to come over here to watch Manchester United one day?

ROCKY: That would be an absolute dream. Both my sons are doing well in soccer and we are huge Man U. fans. We don’t get to see a lot of live game broadcast, but we do watch a lot of the replays. Seeing a live performance would be surreal.

Make Us Citizens and Watch Us Grow

One of the most joyful periods of my career in healthcare management was when I was working alongside adults with a learning disability and their families. This period from about 1979 to 1988 was the most satisfying time of my entire career.

People with a learning disability are often misunderstood by society and at that time, I and two other colleagues formed a team that was charged with the responsibility to close a large hospital that housed 140 patients and re-housing those people into smaller homes in the local community.

I've lost count of the number of public meetings I had to attend as fears in the local neighbourhood resulted in negative publicity about these people. Many local people believed the 'patients’ were dangerous. The most oft voiced opinion was something on the lines – ‘I agree with the principle of these people leaving hospital but I think they would be better situated somewhere else in the town rather than in our locality.’

I am delighted to know things have changed somewhat in the last 20 years because of the battles fought by many parents who refused to accept that their child should be locked away in some isolated asylum away from society.

I remember reading a report many years ago about the fight for people with a learning disability to have the right to vote. The title of that report was ‘Make us Citizens and Watch us Grow’ – I love that title and unfortunately I have never been able to find the report anywhere despite numerous Google searches!

Some of the nicest people I ever met in my life had a label placed on them by society that read ‘learning disability.’

That period of my life was without doubt the most influential in forming my views about disability and stereotyping. I like to think I keep an open mind about these things.

The best advice I had on the subject was from a wonderful Doctor I had the pleasure of working with for 4 years. He said to me the first time I met him;

‘Just spend time with the patients and their families and keep an open mind – that is all I ask of you as a manager.’

What brilliant advice.

Where are our world Icons?

I‘ve been thinking about the great world icons of the last 100 years who are best remembered for their integrity, their caring, their humility, their compassion, their selflessness and their desire to improve the lives of millions through peace.

Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu are the five that spring to my mind immediately. These people have an aura and an authenticity that makes them outstanding leaders.

I look around and wonder where our icons of today are?

One place I will certainly not look to is politics. With the notable exception of my hero Tony Benn I see politicians who are opportunists, blatant self-promoters, all looking and sounding the same and they show no evidence whatsoever of selflessness, compassion or humility.

Maybe I look in the wrong places (I don’t think so).

Can you identify anyone on the world stage in 2008 that will be remembered with the same affection and respect of a Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther-King?

I can’t.

Friend of Simplicity - Tom Asacker

It is my great pleasure to introduce another 'Friend of Simplicity' - Tom Asacker who lives in Exeter, New Hampshire in the US.

Tom and I first came across each other ‘virtually’ about 6 years ago when Tom kindly sent me copies of his first two books ‘Sandbox Wisdom’ and ‘The Four sides of Sandbox Wisdom.’ Tom subsequently published the equally successful book ‘A Clear Eye for Branding.’

We have kept in touch ever since those early days of virtual communication and Tom is one of my first 'virtual' friends. Tom has often provided me with the wisdom of his advice.

In his ground breaking book 'Re-Imagine!' Tom Peters described Tom Asacker as a ‘Marketing Guru.’ You can see more about Tom here


TREVOR: Tom, I really appreciate you taking time out of your very busy schedule Tom to pass on the benefit of your wisdom to me and the readers of my Simplicity Blog. Tell us a bit about your career to date.

TOM: Thanks for inviting me Trevor. So, how much time do you have? It’s been quite a twisted and bumpy road. :) Upon graduating with a degree in Economics, I began my career with Burger King Corporation in their children’s marketing division. After a few years of clowning around, I left to join a high tech division of General Electric. I spent ten years there, during which time Jack Welch became CEO. He began to rapidly discard businesses that weren’t going to be number 1 or 2 in their industries which was our business unit so I participated in a management buyout of that company from G.E.

I eventually left that business to join a start-up medical device company as President and Director of Marketing. While there, I received a few patents and awards for innovation and design. The business was also eventually recognized by Inc. Magazine, MIT and YEO as a fast growth, innovative company. Any way, I ultimately had a vision collision with my non-operating partners, and so, I left. Are you beginning to see a pattern emerge? :)

I then started a strategic brand consultancy; wrote and published a book; wrote and published three more books; was increasingly asked to speak to organizations about my concepts; and . . . here we are today. I guess I followed the advice of the great 20th century philosopher, Yogi Berra: “If you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

TREVOR: Many people in the UK work as single handers and struggle with how to effectively ‘market’ their work. Can you provide a couple of pieces of golden nugget advice on self marketing?

TOM: There’s really no difference between successful product and service marketing and self marketing. The key is to be other-focused and provide compelling value to ones audience. It requires a shift in mindset away from worrying what people think about you and your business, to being obsessed with how you make others feel about themselves and their decisions in your presence.

I don't know why so many people and organizations get this wrong, but I have a guess. I think it's because being genuinely interested in others, and working to understand their feelings and motivations, is tough: it's imprecise, messy, and time consuming. It's much easier and faster to talk about something that we know a lot about . . . us and our stuff.

It's also easier to simply bury our heads and focus on getting things done, isn't it? "Five sales calls to make . . . better get hustling!" "Two ads to create, as well as a capability brochure and a direct mail piece. No time to think." But guess what? That's great news for single handers who get it! Because by being other-focused and truly interested in their audience, they’ll stand out. Simply because no one else is doing it.

TREVOR: What companies do you rate highly as role models in effective marketing and why?

TOM: There are a handful doing it right, but none as effectively as Apple. Their products, retail outlets and marketing communication are all culturally relevant, aesthetically appealing and entertaining, and they do a great job of focusing on the customer’s identity and experience and bringing it to life instead of focusing on their products.

TREVOR: You are also an internationally renowned business speaker Tom – what makes an effective speaker?

TOM: An “effective” speaker in what way? In ones ability to make a lot of money as a speaker? That’s simple: become a celebrity. :) On the other hand, if you’re asking me how to effectively convey ones ideas to an audience through the spoken word, it’s pretty much the same as it has always been: ethos, pathos and logos. Establish your moral character and credibility, appeal to people’s emotions by connecting to their beliefs and values, and back up your appeal with facts and data. The main difference today is that you have to be much more entertaining and engaging to hold an audience’s attention.

TREVOR: You have received great recognition for your entrepreneurial and innovator skills. What advice do you have for those who feel there is an entrepreneur inside them ready to change the world?

TOM: They don’t need my advice, because if they truly have a passion for improving people’s lives, nothing can stop them. Passion sells! It’s not what you know or who you know that determines breakthrough success. It’s how much you care about others, how much you believe in your idea, and how stubborn you are. As Goethe wrote, “In the realm of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm . . . in the real world all rests on perseverance.”

TREVOR: What do you see as the main challenges for leaders and managers in large organisations in the next few years?

TOM: The main challenge is the mental shift that’s required when thinking about the marketplace for products, services, causes, ideas, etc. The fundamental notion that customers are rational actors, who are simply trying to optimize their individual marketplace choices, is defunct. Value can no longer be reduced to a simple relationship between benefits and price.

Today’s modern marketplace is about subjective well-being, as opposed to material gain. People are not only trading their time and money for products and services, they are also expecting happiness as an integral part of their experiences. As such, customers are constantly on the lookout for better “value.” They not only want the brands they choose to be reliable and fair, they also want them to look good, be good, and do good. Yes, they want to save time and money, but they also want to be uniquely acknowledged, involved and engaged.

So to stay relevant, organizations must evolve with customers’ evolving concept of value. They must frequently reinvent themselves to stay fresh and uniquely add value to the brand experience. It requires vision, belief in collaborative innovation, empathy for the customer, and a passion for experimentation.

TREVOR: Finally Tom do you have any plans to come to England so that I can buy you that pint of real English beer I owe you?

TOM: I don’t have any near term plans to visit, so why don’t you come over to my side of the pond. I’ll buy you a pint of real New England maple syrup. :)

TREVOR: It's a deal my friend! - Thanks again for your time.