Ron Rogers isn’t just a second-generation PR mogul, he’s a cowboy, too. He owns both a local public relations firm and a working cattle ranch in Colorado. Rogers entered the PR business thanks to his father, Henry, who co-founded the L.A. agency Rogers & Cowan in 1950. Ron Rogers started his own company, originally called Rogers & Associates, in 1978. He changed the name to Rogers Group in 2006. The firm’s clients include Dole, Raytheon, Whole Foods and many government programs, such as First Five Los Angeles. Rogers is married to Lisa Specht, a prominent lawyer at Manatt Phelps & Phillips. Rogers sits on the boards of the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and the Rape Treatment Center at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center. He is a founding board member of the Los Angeles Police Foundation and Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation. Rogers met with the Business Journal at his Century City office, which is decorated with cowboy pictures and Western paraphernalia, and discussed his learning disability, his dislike for show biz PR and how he learned that you can’t bid too high on a horse for your wife.
Question: Was school easy or hard for you?
Answer: I had what today they would call a learning disability, a type of dyslexia. So I left school in the 11th grade. Later I took a few college classes, never graduated.
Besides school, how did the dyslexia affect you as a child?
I always knew I was different, I just never knew why. I was never interested in sports, but one day my parents took me to a stable near where we lived in Brentwood. From that moment, I just loved horses.
So what did you do about it?
I started cleaning stalls at age 13 in exchange for free riding time. By 15, I was teaching riding, and at 17 I was buying and selling horses.
What was your next job?
At 19, I started a parking business. We would park the cars at events. We handled parking for the opening of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. I had that business for years.
How did you switch from pleasure riding to rodeos?
I started hitchhiking from Brentwood to work at a ranch in Newhall at the ripe age of 14. The guy who lived next to the ranch raised stock for rodeos in California. He would teach kids to ride for rodeo. He would put a kid on a calf and when they got bucked off, he’d move up to a pony, then a horse and a bronco. I learned all that stuff and rode in a few rodeos.
When did you start working at your father’s company?
At age 19, I worked briefly in the mailroom – and hated it. I hated being the boss’s son. And I didn’t like some of the show biz personalities I had to work with.
So what did you do after that?
I worked in advertising and went for ABC to the Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France, in 1968. When I got home, I was hired by Alfred Bloomingdale – the heir apparent of the department store fortune, the guy who started Diners Club. I call him my business degree.
What was the job?
He was smart and very entrepreneurial. He would buy a business and tell me, “This company isn’t working. Figure it out and fix it. And if you can’t figure out what isn’t working, don’t come back.”
Can you give an example?
He bought Dock Masters, a company that built docks in Huntington Beach and all along the California coast. The company owed a lot of money to the unions, and without union labor we couldn’t build any more docks. He sent me down to negotiate with these tough guys.
What happened?
We sold the huge machines used to build the docks, then used that money to pay the unions and leased back the equipment.
Why did you return to Rogers & Cowan to work for your father?
They brought me in to get corporate accounts. The problem was the company’s culture and clients were in show biz. They handled “The Andy Griffith Show” and “Gunsmoke.”
Why was that a problem?
It was a constant struggle of priorities: Who was more important, Paul Newman or Suzuki? The answer was always Paul Newman, even if Suzuki brought in more money.
How was the conflict settled?
I left to start my own agency.
Did you take any clients with you?
At the time, we only had three corporate clients. We wrote a letter to them, explaining the situation and asking which agency they wanted. Of the three, Redken Labs went with me. They were my founding client. Later, Suzuki came over.
Did you ever work for your father again?
Yes, at one point years later his agency ran into trouble. An attorney convinced them to buy my company and bring me back as CEO to run the whole show. My father would run the New York office and be out of the picture in Los Angeles. We negotiated for more than six months, me saying yes, no, yes, no. Finally I decided to do it.
How did it turn out?
Within a month, I was miserable.
Why?
Constant fighting. It got so bad I went on an Outward Bound experience to Oregon. We floated down this river and saw these beautiful ranches. I guess it came to me while I was hanging off a cliff. I decided two things: First, I would quit and start my own company again from scratch; and second, I would become a cowboy.
What did your wife say?
She supported me starting the company, but when I told her about buying a ranch she said, “You’re on your own.”
Did she soften eventually?
Now she goes up there and rides beside me; a great companion.
How did you meet her?
Blind date.
Do you think of yourselves as a power couple?
No. She has her career, I have mine. We share some interests about civic organizations, but when we’re together we rarely talk about work. It’s always been that way. So there aren’t many conflicts of interest.
How does a typical day start?
I get up, work out between 6 and 6:30. I’m in the office by 8:30.
How do you spend your workday?
About 10 percent on the computer, maybe 25 percent on the phone, and the rest in meetings with employees or clients.
How does your dyslexia affect your work? Can you read and write on a computer?
I can write, but I’m better at editing other people’s work. If the writing gets too long, I get lost, but I have this ability to cut through the fluff and get to the core of the matter. In that sense, my disability has become an advantage.
How else have you adapted?
My inability to spell is legendary. I even took a class at UCLA on spelling. Even after using the spell-check on the computer, I have someone else proofread my work.
What do you do after work?
I leave the office about 6:30. My wife and I go out to civic or political events about three to four times a week, depending on the season. Political events cluster around the election cycle.
How often do you go the ranch?
Once a month. Might be a long weekend or a full week.
How do you manage the agency from Colorado?
My clients know my situation and have my phone number at the ranch. Up there a typical day might be getting up at dawn, doing some chores, then coming in about 10 o’clock, eating. Then I’ll check my e-mails and make phone calls. Then work until late in the afternoon and the same – check the computer.
Do you have a good horse story?
When we first bought the ranch, we fixed all the fences in preparation of buying horses. We went to the auction and my wife saw this exquisite palomino. I started bidding, but the price kept going up and up. I finally gave up. My neighbor poked me in the ribs and says, “If you want to keep your little gal happy, you’d better buy that horse.” So I kept bidding and won the horse.
Does your L.A. life ever mix with your Colorado life?
Yes, sometimes we invite friends from here up to the ranch. It’s very educational. You see we are the only part-time ranchers up there. The neighbors are all conservative Republicans, trying to eke out a living. We have a dinner with them and our L.A. friends, the discussions get pretty interesting.
You and your wife are Democrats?
Yes, but I’m more conservative than she is.
What was the best decision of your career?
Hiring Lynne Doll, my partner. We are just as opposite as can be. Everything I don’t do well, she does.
What was the turning point of your career?
A friend of mine named Bruce Silverman asked me to work on a California state antismoking campaign. He would do the advertising, and asked my firm to handle community outreach and PR. I said yes and loved it, after saying for years that I would never work for the government.
Why not?
Too bureaucratic, too complicated. I just didn’t want to mess with it.
Why did you love it?
Working on social issues for the government is similar to my non-profit work. You get the thrill of changing people’s behavior, you help the community and you get paid for it.
How did that change your career?
Today, about half the business at my firm is with the government on social issues like antitobacco and First Five Los Angeles, the program to help children during their early years.
How did you get involved with the USC Annenberg School of Journalism?
Geoff Cowan, who at the time was chairman of the school, said to me, “You know, you can get a degree in PR. What you do think about that?” I responded, “I would never hire one of the graduates.” He said, “Great, you’re on the board – fix it.”
Where did your agency’s motto, “The Wisdom of Clarity,” come from?
Bruce Silverman thought it up. I think it gets back to the way my mind works. I can see the issues and cut through all the garbage to figure out the answer. To me, it’s instinctual. I can see things other people can’t.
Are you happy?
Look, every kid grows up wanting to be a cowboy, a cop or a fireman. I’m a reserve officer, I work with firemen at the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation and I’m a cowboy. What else do I need? I’m very fortunate and I thank my lucky stars every day.
RON ROGERS
TITLE: Chief Executive
COMPANY: Rogers Group
BORN: Los Angeles; 1943
EDUCATION: Dropped out of high school, some college.
CAREER TURNING POINT: Worked on a California state antitobacco campaign despite having vowed never to do business with the government.
MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE: Alfred Bloomingdale, early boss and mentor; Lynne Doll, partner in the Rogers Group.
PERSONAL: Married to Lisa Specht, an attorney at Manatt Phelps and Phillips; no children.
ACTIVITIES: Owns ranch with 400 head of cattle in Colorado; also skis and volunteers as LAPD reserve officer.
