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We are our ISMs.

The culture found at Rocket Companies® is based on 20 philosophies we call ISMs. Pronounced iz-emz, these 20 sayings are the core principles that drive all our decision-making and unite us around a culture of excellence.

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What are the ISMs?

The philosophies we live by that drive our decision making at Rocket Companies®. Fintech, mortgages, entertainment, real estate… these are a few examples of "what we do", the ISMs are about WHO WE ARE.

As renowned baseball player Yogi Berra once said, “You can see a lot just by looking.” Keep your head up. Look. Be curious. Notice what is actually happening around you. Really notice. Listen. Listen to your clients. In fact, listen to everyone. Everything starts with awareness. Being alert. Being awake. Tuning into the frequency. It is a perpetual choice to both stay aware and raise your level of awareness. Success starts with the thousands of eyeballs of our team members. That’s you.

Our never-ending mission is to find a better way for everything we do. If it’s “meh,” let’s make it great. If it’s good, let’s make it better. Even if it’s great, let’s take it up a notch. Don’t settle for less. In fact, don’t settle at all. Finding a better way is not something we do on the side or when we get the time. Rather, it’s a key priority for every one of our team members. It’s our passion ... our way of living ... our obsession. We don’t just work IN our business – we work ON our business.

It’s necessary that we live in a culture that is eager to understand ideas, not diminish them. This does not mean that every single idea, question, suggestion, or recommendation will ultimately be met with a big thumbs-up. It means that we start with a mindset of curiosity and possibility.

Our bias is to the YES side of life. This is different than the all-too-common experience of an automatic NO to new thoughts or ideas. Saying YES or NO without KNOWING is the easy way out. Instead, we live in the land of growth, possibilities, ideas, innovation, positive impact, and results. The only path to that place is through openness to the unknown.

Nothing significant in this world has ever happened without someone believing in it first. It’s only the passive observers of life who say “I’ll believe it when I see it.” We take the opposite approach, and lead with our hearts and minds. We know the truth: If we truly believe in something, we can – and will – affect the outcome. If we believe in ourselves first, we dramatically increase our odds of success. If we believe it can happen, then it will.

If a company does one big thing better than their competition, it becomes fairly easy for their competition to level the playing field: they can just imitate that one thing. If a company does thousands of little things better than anyone else, they become nearly impossible to imitate. We call those thousands of little things “inches.” We’d never be able to foresee all the things that should be noticed or improved. Instead, we drive a culture that motivates our team members to find the inches we need all around us. We are all empowered to find the opportunities to make an impact everywhere; one inch at a time. These inches all add up to greatness.

A wise woman once said, “Taking longer to make a decision doesn’t increase your chances of making a better one.” Perfectionism will destroy innovation. Over-analyzing can kill an idea and make you miss an opportunity. In our world, we don’t fear failure.

The leadership within the Rock Family of Companies trusts you. We trust you to make decisions. If you make an honest mistake, it’s OK! We trust you will learn from your mistakes. Unfortunately, it is a foreign concept to most organizations, but for us, it’s crystal clear.

We know that the path to game-changing discovery requires the ability to try, test, and fail.

Make decisions. Learn from the results. Move forward. Don’t overcook that roast; pull it out of the oven!

We’ve found it’s not always skill and effort that lead to greatness. It’s also the ability to ignore the noise. Noise could be from naysayers, something going wrong, sun in your eyes, ball took a bad bounce, dog ate your homework, someone cut you off on the way to work, etc. A lot of things that seem serious at first glance turn out to be just noise. Will you allow it to keep you from winning?

The noise will fluctuate in volume, but your determination to press on in spite of it (ignore it!) will make all the difference to you and the Rock Family of Companies. This isn’t an excuse to ignore constructive criticism, it’s about ignoring needless negativity. There’s not a human on the planet who does not experience noise. The winners have developed an ability to ignore it and press on.

People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care. Could it be any clearer? A great company is built one relationship at a time. AMAZE every client every chance you get. We are on a relentless pursuit to create experiences that WOW. Love your team members. Love your clients. No exceptions. No excuses!

Urgency is your inner compulsion and drive to get things done in a timely, yet thoughtful, manner. Without this inner drive, it’s impossible to keep up with the speed of the game – and if you can’t keep up with the speed of the game then you can’t play (sports, business, life, everything)!

We respond with a sense of urgency by anticipating and meeting needs ASAP. We reply to all forms of communication – whether the news is good, bad, or TBD, to clients, partners, or each other - within 24 hours or faster. We create experiences to meet clients where they are, helping them achieve their goals. We respond swiftly to the world around us, knowing that unless we’re proactive and operate with urgency, we’ll be left in the dust. There’s no other way, and no other option!

There is no place at our company for typical corporate arrogance. WHO is right (or WHO is wrong) is irrelevant and inconsequential to WHAT is the right decision or best outcome for the issue at hand. All decisions should be made with a single motivation: the right or best decision for our clients, team members, and mission. Think about how much a company compromises itself by basing decisions on WHO is in favor or against something instead of WHAT is the best and right decision. The WHAT trumps the WHO in our shop.

There is no “they.” We are the “they.” United. All in the mission together. No corporate barriers. No boundaries. Just open doors, open minds, and an open culture rooted in trust. We embrace the unique and amazing parts of our culture that come from encouraging each team member to be the best version of themselves in the Rock Family of Companies. We know that diverse ideas come from diverse voices.

Using the word “they” simply leads to a lack of empathy and blame-shifting. WE are all empowered to fix things, to be proactive, to find a solution. The most important thing is to remember we are all ONE TEAM, in this together.

We don’t need to have all the answers before we take on a project or launch a new and innovative idea. We have faith that when it comes to some of the details, we’ll figure it out along the way.

Building something new or creating something special is always messy, and greatness doesn’t always come in nice, tidy packages. This is an advantage, not a hindrance.

We know that when it comes to tackling anything, we will band together with confidence and take on all necessary challenges. All our team members working together creates a team far greater than the sum of its parts. We know that in the end, as a team, we’ll figure it out.

Ideas are fundamental to who we are. We encourage them. We love them. But ideas alone aren’t enough. It takes both ideas AND execution to make great things happen. It takes stamina and commitment to bring innovation to life.

Money and numbers should be neither the ends nor the means. Ironically, the vast majority of those who chase money will never end up with much of it. Don’t spend all your focus on accolades, titles, and salaries. Instead, chase the great ideas. Stay true to the mission. Focus on the design, engineering, and development of the vision. Invest in developing your skills, knowledge, and creativity. Approach the world, your career, and your life with a growth mindset. Pursue your vision with uncompromising passion and become the best. Numbers and money will follow.

Your uncle’s advice, “A penny saved is a penny earned,” is the worst financial advice in history. If you invest in chasing pennies, you will find pennies, but not much else. Not all value can be measured on a spreadsheet. Spend your energy on creating and growing your business, not squeezing every last cent. Sure, you might save a few pennies buying the cheapest coffee cups. But you’ll certainly ruin the experience if your clients and team members burn their hands! Chasing pennies suffocates your growth and vision, so stop limiting yourself with the silly pursuit of pennies. Prioritize creating value. The possibilities are limitless. The choice is yours.

You will always invest your time somewhere doing something. As long as you are alive, it’s not a choice whether you invest your time or not; the only choice is what you will do with it. Time, not money, is the most valuable commodity of all. Time can never be replaced. Never trade significant amounts of time for small sums of money. How will you invest the 31,536,000 seconds you are gifted each year? Choose wisely.

Simplifying things in this fast-moving, complicated world is true genius. Simple design. Simple process. Simple communication. When we communicate with others, we cannot assume they know exactly what we know. Because of this, we boil things down to what really matters. Simplicity doesn’t just clarify; it makes things better for everybody. It’s that simple.

Tying the threads and making connections within our Rock Family of Companies is what it’s all about – that’s what we mean when we say, “We eat our own dog food.” The basis of all real impact is found in the strength of relationships. Create them. Seek them out. Build upon them. Be loyal to them. Here, we go to our internal people and products first. If your level of awareness is high, you will find an endless amount of opportunity – “dog food” – to leverage the family around you to create something amazing.

This is definitely the information age. An unimaginable amount of information is moving at all times: One to one, many to many, and many to one. Before we can even get an audience in today’s world, we need to interest them enough to take the time and effort to open the packaging to see the full content we’re communicating.

Once you have successfully engaged your audience, the true message can be delivered. We don’t want our audiences just KNOWING something in their heads, we want them UNDERSTANDING something in their hearts. When we talk about packaging, a physical box is only one example. This ISM applies to everything from font size to the look and feel of a presentation. It even applies to thoughtfully creating the application and closing documents for our clients because we know that’s where they spend their valuable time! SENT does not always mean RECEIVED. Excellent packaging of the message makes all the difference.

The high road is not optional; for us, it’s the only choice. To our clients and team members, trust is the most valuable thing in the Rock Family of Companies. Cultivate that trust by always doing the right thing. Doing the wrong thing is never worth it. We stick to the highest standard of integrity, without compromise.

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Excellence Is Rewarded

For 20 years, Rocket Companies® has been included on Fortune Magazine’s list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For, ranking among the top-30 companies every year.

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Noticed For The Right Things

We're proud of the National and Regional recognition we receive year after year.
Our awards showcase our consistent demonstration of our excellence in innovation, solutioning and scaling, while maintaining an excellent experience for team members. Here are some of our latest workplace awards:

Military Spouse Friendly Employer – Top 10

Military Spouse Friendly Employer – Top 10

Military Friendly Employer – Gold Level

Military Friendly Employer – Gold Level

Forbes America’s Best Employers for Diversity

Forbes America’s Best Employers for Diversity

People 100 Companies That Care

People 100 Companies That Care

Fortune Best Companies to Work For

Fortune Best Companies to Work For