“Speaking of Amway, what are YOUR thoughts on…?”

Over on our friend IBOFightBack’s site Amway Talk there was some discussion earlier today regarding Demo’s sharing of an announcement from Pete Strydom (Amway Europe) of the apparently unknown new Managing Director of Amway UK and ROI, Andy Smith. Blogger ‘cmfitzg’ went fishing on the ‘net and found an interesting interview with another(???) Andy Smith, a UK goal setting motivational speaker.

The interview is excellent and I have reproduced parts of it, edited down to fit this space. Most Amway IBOs — whether “System” subscribers or “independents” — who have carefully reflected on the Rich DeVos “Building the Business” clips (here and here), or listened to and absorbed the classic speeches by Jay Van Andel and Rich on the Quixtar/Amway site will find these points familiar, but I thought they were still worth a fresh read.

*****

I [interviewer Gavin Ingham] have interviewed my good friend Andy Smith of Coaching Leaders about the power of goals and goal setting across your whole life not just your sales and business goals.

Q How will people benefit when they set goals?

Andy Smith Going for goals has an effect on our happiness levels. We are biologically hard-wired to feel happier if we have some sense of control and choice over our lives, which is what setting goals and taking action gives us. We change from feeling like victims of life’s circumstances, or at best passive consumers, into someone who knows they can make a difference. We are also learning along the way - even the mistakes we make, though they aren’t enjoyable at the time, will bring us valuable wisdom if we choose to learn from them.

Q Why is it that most people don’t set goals?

Andy Smith It requires a conscious effort to step off the hamster wheel and take some time to think about what’s important to you and where you want to get to. The best advice I’ve ever been given was “plan the time to plan” - set aside some protected time so that you can think about the future. This is equally important whether you’re working for yourself or in employment.

Q Is the old story that written goals are better than non-written goals true?

Andy Smith There’s a famous story about the “Yale Study” in which researchers asked Yale’s graduating class of 1953 how many of them had specific goals for their future in writing. Twenty years later, the 3% who had written goals had more personal wealth than the other 97% combined!

It’s a compelling story, it’s quoted by Tony Robbins, Brian Tracy and Zig Ziglar, plus legions of other motivational speakers and it sounds as if it ought to be true - but, alas, it never happened. You’ll never see an academic reference for it, Yale have no record of it, and when ‘Fast Company’ magazine investigated the origin of the story, Robbins’ people directed them to Brian Tracy, Tracy said he heard it from Zig Ziglar, and Ziglar’s people suggested the source might be Robbins!

It’s still a good idea to write your goals down though - it’s the best way to get clear about them and keep them in the forefront of your attention.

Q What sorts of goals should people set?

Andy Smith I would urge people to think big and set long-term goals that excite them, without worrying at first about how they are going to get there. It really is a shame when people limit their lives by telling themselves that what they really want isn’t realistic. The only way to find out what’s realistic is to go for it.

You also need short-term goals to aim at, to give you something that’s achievable and to give your unconscious mind some behavioural reinforcement when you achieve them. Psychologists have found (Ken Sheldon and Tim Kasser if you want to look them up) that people are happier when they achieve “vertical coherence” in their goal-setting - that is, when your higher-level and short-term goals are aligned so that achieving the intermediate goal takes you closer to the big one.
 
Q How should people go about setting goals?

Andy Smith First, get yourself into a positive emotional state by reviewing what’s already working in your life, what you like doing, what you’ve achieved already and what you’re proud of. This will help you find your direction, get you thinking more strategically, and also help you to feel like you deserve success.

Then clarify your values - what’s important to you - in the area of your life in which you want to set goals.

Only then, when you’re feeling good and you know what’s important to you, should you start thinking about specific goals that will satisfy your values. Get clear about what you want, get a clear sensory image of what it will look, sound and feel like, and set a specific date for it in your future.

Q What are your top 3 tips for successful goal setting?

Andy Smith Okay, the first one would have to be focus on what you want, not what you want to get away from. If you don’t know what you want, how will you know if you’re on the right track, or recognise when you’ve got there? It may sound a bit “cosmic ordering” to say that your unconscious mind attracts what you focus on, but it’s only another expression of that principle widely recognised in business that you are going to move in the direction of whatever targets you set. “Towards” motivation gives you a direction, it gets even stronger when you get close to achieving your goal, and you feel good when you have it. “Away from” motivation, by contrast, is undirected, it runs out when you get far enough from the thing you want to avoid, and it’s stressful.

Next, form a sensory image of your goal - what will you see, hear and feel when you have it? This is vital for motivation. Most people are familiar with the idea that goals should be SMART - specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timed - but you’ll notice there’s nothing in there about whether you care if you achieve them or not. Using your senses gives you that missing piece by providing something to engage your emotions.

Finally - put a date on your goal! Until you have put a date on your goal, it will keep getting pushed to the back of your queue of priorities. Even if you say “in a year’s time”, the goal will always remain a year ahead unless you turn that into a proper date.

Why? Your unconscious mind acts like a good and faithful servant, and it will do its best to give you whatever you ask it for. But it will always take the line of least resistance. If you don’t put a date on your goal, there will always be something more urgent to deal with. This is why important but non-urgent tasks tend to be neglected,

Q What pitfalls do people new to goal setting have to be careful of?

Andy Smith Three that I can think of straight away: firstly, not taking into account potentially unwanted knock-on effects of achieving the goal. If you don’t consider all the consequences of your goal - on your health, your family, your friendships, and the wider community - you may end up with something you don’t want. The smarter way to set goals is to take the consequences into account, allowing you to make changes to your goal and/or your route to achieving it. That way you stand a chance of getting the benefits of your goal while avoiding unwanted side effects.

Second, taking too much on and getting discouraged. It can be very easy to set a big, compelling goal – and then feel overwhelmed by the effort you think it will take to get there. The goal is so big, and so different from how things are now, that getting there by the deadline you have set will surely demand too much of you. And the more you think about the legwork it will take, the more discouraged you feel. The remedy is to break it down into smaller steps that feel more achievable, and recognise each step as an achievement. The key really is to get started - not necessarily to “take massive action”, but to take some action to get you going.

Finally - and this is the biggest pitfall of all - not knowing what you want. In the absence of some powerful external motivation, like getting yourself out of debt or meeting a deadline set by someone else, how do people motivate themselves to even think about what they want - as opposed to what they want to get away from? I’ve certainly had large periods of my life when I was more or less drifting. The way out of it is to think about what’s going well, what you are good at and what’s important to you - then it becomes easy to build a picture of where you want to go.

Q Is there anything else you would recommend people to do?

Andy Smith It’s one thing to read about goal-setting methods, but you really have to experience them in practice to get the best from them.

There’s a lot of interesting research on goals and motivation coming out of the Positive Psychology movement at the moment - you can keep up with it on my ‘Practical EQ’ blog. Why not get together with some of your friends and form an Achieve Your Goals group so you can support each other as you work through the exercises? Social support is a key component of goal achievement that makes it much easier for most of us - you don’t have to do it all by yourself! [hmmm… sounds suspiciously like a ’system’ to me!!!]

*****

SPEAKING OF AMWAY, the most intriguing insight above comes from the NLP research showing that it’s more powerful and effective to be positively motivated TOWARD something than negatively motivated AWAY from something.

For example, are you motivated primarily by a lower order (in the sense of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs) ”negative” you want to escape or avoid, such as an unplanned for or underfinanced retirement? Or (in addition to prudently considering your future needs) are you more motivated by a higher order dream and desire to accomplish something majorly positive, such as being your own boss, running your own business, changing the way people view and take care of their health (Amway Wellness), or their looks, self-image and ultimately their self-worth (Amway Beauty)?

Your thoughts?

written by rdknyvr \\ tags: Amway Europe, Amway UK/ROI, AmwayBeauty, AmwayTalk, AmwayWellness, Andy Smith, Brian Tracy, Fast Company, goal setting, IBOFightback, Jay Van Andel, NLP, Pete Strydom, Positive Psychology, Rich DeVos, Tony Robbins, verrtical coherence, Yale Study, Zig Zilgar

Just in case there are any genuinely committed business builders reading this blog who are building an Amway Wellness (ie. Nutrilite, Gensona, etc.), or an Amway Beauty business (which could include relevant Gensona tests at some point) this brief post will draw your attention to an interesting blog on personal genomics — genomeboy — and an excellent new article in Wired magazine on Harvard University’s George Church and developments in genomics, sequencing and synthetic biology.

A number of personalized genomics companies are mentioned in the article — some of whom are potential competitors, but not in our direct sales channel (yet) and some who are strictly in the personalized medicine space, not the personalized health space where we (Alticor/Amway/Quixtar) are positioned. Some of these include: 23andme, funded in part by Google; Navigenics, funded in part by Kleiner Perkins; DNA Direct, Sciona, Knome, and a few others.

 By the way, in case the inclusion of references to personal genomics and synthetic biology seems far fetched, they will in short order have a major impact on our area of business interest — Personalized Health and Wellness.

Finally, if the links above to Amway Wellness and Amway Beauty seem broken, it’s because at the time of this writing AmwayWellness is registered to Weber Shandwick, a consultancy which I’m surmising has been contracted by Alticor. And the AmwayBeauty domain is registered to Alticor through MarkMonitor.

This post is an addendum to my posts on Personalized Health on this site from June 23 and July 22, and Chuck Lia’s excellent posts from March 24 and May 1, this year.

Speaking of Chuck, he has just gotten back home to Atlanta from a few days in Southern California with his family.  Watch for a thought-provoking post from him later this week on … can’t tell you but it will be good!!!

written by rdknyvr \\ tags: 23andme, Alticor, Amway, Amway Beauty, Amway Wellness, direct sales, DNA Direct, genomeboy, genomics, Gensona, George Church, Kleiner Perkins, Knome, MarkMonitor, Navigenics, Nutrilite, personalized genomics, Personalized Health, personalized medicine, Quixtar, Sciona, synthetic biology, Weber Shandwick, Wired magazine

A few days ago, Forbes Magazine published an article on former Quixtar IBO and TEAM co-founder Orrin Woodward that suggested Woodward’s training system business, now ported over to MonaVie, is little more than a thinly disguised “pyramid selling scheme.” The article, while not really critical of Amway per se, revealed a basic lack of understanding on the part of the Forbes reporters of direct sales business models which are legally and gainfully employing — many part time and some full time – millions of Americans and Canadians.

 In anticipation of the article’s publication, and after Forbes interviews with Alticor and Amway executives in Ada, Michigan, Amway sent a confidential communication out to all Diamonds and above, which was leaked by an astute and sympathetic Diamond (I’ve no clue who so don’t ask me) to the independent Amway commentary sites Amway Wiki, Amway Watch, Amway Talk, and The Truth About Amway.

In that letter, Amway executives promised,

We may object to aspects of these articles and will follow up with the publications regarding inaccuracies and misstatements … we remain committed to telling our own story and have invested an unprecedented amount in a national ad campaign, sponsorships, and public relations programs. Through these efforts, we will openly and transparently communicate who we are and what we stand for, creating greater awareness and favorability for our business opportunity and product brands – ultimately strengthening this business opportunity and the potential for success for every hard-working Independent Business Owner.

So, while the business and system critics were jumping up and down in their high chairs, spitting up, and throwing their food on the floor, what did Alticor do?

Alticor quietly purchased a significant volume of banner ads at Forbes.com, taking a positive upbeat approach with banner ad versions of the already familiar and popular ”Hello, my name is...” and “Now you know” ads which have been running so successfully in other media.

Was that a brilliant move or what!!!

SPEAKING OF AMWAY, what has Alticor learned from it’s PR battles of last year, and are they now performing in a much more transparent, proactive, and positive manner, consistent with the goals of the Transformation initiatives?

It’s a given that last year was a bumpy ride for Alticor PR particularly as they worked with green and “Internet-inexperienced” outside crisis management consultants who had no understanding of the community nature of and loyalty associated with our business model, to respond to a uniquely bitter legal attack by TEAM.

But has Alticor learned from that experience in the truest sense of being a Peter Senge ‘learning organization’?

I say ‘Yes’, in spades. What say ye?

written by rdknyvr \\ tags: , Alticor, Amway, AmwayTalk, AmwayWatch, amwaywiki, direct sales, Forbes Magazine, learning organization, Orrin Woodward, Peter Senge, Quixtar, TEAM, The Truth About Amway, transformation, Transparency

TWO VERY INTERESTING articles and a TV story about Alticor and Amway were published today online, with markedly different perspectives. The first site to pick up on the pending Forbes article was IBOFightBack at Amway Talk followed a bit later by a brief post at the IBOAI blog site.                                            

Forbes article link: Climb to the Top   

Information Week article link: Amway Parent Catches iPhone Fever

TV Story: First Steps health initiative in Grand Rapids: article and video link with Alticor CEO Doug DeVos

The Forbes story focuses on Orrin Woodward’s TEAM – unflatteringly — and also touches on Amway in a tangential way. With respect to Amway, the Forbes ’business reporters’ clearly have little understanding of the direct sales channel despite having talked with the Direct Selling Association, and seemed to perjoratively tag anything to do with direct sales as a “pyramid,” (although allowing for a false distinction between “legal” and “illegal” pyramids — no such thing as a “legal pyramid selling scheme”). There seemed to be no understanding of network marketing as a viable, non-pyramid-structured sales channel.

To put the whole article in perspective, the best response I’ve seen so far was in the Forbes article’s reader comments from a ‘JCSmith9898′ who said:

As an Amway/Quixtar business owner in Michigan, I was very glad A/Q terminated Woodward and his Team leadership. Many times, I have met with people who have a distorted view of my business because of the Team’s focus on tool training profits and a building approach that made money for the top guys with little left for the new guy — if taught to structure an Amway biz properly, the new guy can make good money too — Amway should be congratulated for cleaning house of organizations that are damaging its reputation.

About an hour later, the second article was published online by Information Week, about an iPhone pilot being considered by Alticor for its Amway North America “sales force.” (Yes, that’s how you are considered by the corporate world — an independent, self-employed commission-based sales force.) The tone here was much different, as one might expect from a cutting edge business/tech publication:

Ada, Michigan-based Alticor is the parent company of Amway, which for almost a half-century has sold household items and nutritional supplements to U.S. consumers through a contracted sales force.

And a bit later,

Alticor’s IT team is building the applications for the pilot now. Beginning in January 2009, the program will be limited to a pre-selected group of 150 or so independent business owners… The iPhone trial is part of a larger effort to create a suite of Amway-specific mobile business applications and make them available to the sales force. The trial will look at how well the apps function over the iPhone and how they affect sales results.

A tale of two cities, a tale of two articles. One set of journalists taking a ‘National Inquirer’ approach, the other looking to a mobile ’Web 2.0′ future.

Finally, a seemingly unrelated story from Grand Rapids today about a new initiative called First Steps to help underpriviledged pre-school aged children access the health care and learning opportunties they  need to be successful when they enter school. Who is leading this initiative by donating from its profits, and donating CEO Doug DeVos’s time? Watch the video at the link above and see for yourself.

An example of Compassionate Capitalism* at work?

SPEAKING OF AMWAY, what do these perpectives say to you about Alticor’s attempts to be better at Transparency, to implement Transformation and move to focus emphatically on increased retail sales? Do these kinds of articles give Alticor a stronger hand in enforcing the Accreditation ground rules? Is your System/LOA really on board with the First Circle personal profit retailing concept or is it, in your view, just paying lip service?

What are you doing personally to implement the Transformation process into your business? How are you using technology to build your business, specifically, your First Circle personal retail sales, and developing consistent retail customers?

 INTEGRATING the ideas from the two stories and video clip above, do you have a goal, a mission, a desire to invest some of your business profits into something that will make a difference in your community? ie. TRANSFORM your community? Can you do that with the income you’re earning from your Quixtar/Amway business now?

* Compassionate Capitalism was the title of Rich DeVos’s landmark book published in 1993

(PS. Please don’t use this as a forum to slag TEAM or Woodward… go somewhere else if you have issues with them)

written by rdknyvr \\ tags: , Alticor, Amway, Compassionate Capitalism, direct sales, Direct Selling Association, Doug DeVos, First Circle, First Steps, Forbes, IBOAI blog, IBOFightback, Information Week, iPhone, Orrin Woodward, Quixtar, TEAM, transformation, Transparency

Tantalizing hints about new Transformation changes have been leaking out from Alticor sources to bloggers over at Amway Talk (http://www.amwaytalk.com/) — see post on “Transformation: Major Changes Coming in September.” In addition, some have noted the registration by Alticor or its consultants of the domains Amway Wellness.com and Amway Beauty.com.

Now this morning (July 22) comes the press release below: 

WALTHAM, Mass., July 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Interleukin Genetics, Inc. (Amex: ILI), today announced the launch of an enhanced test report format and information package for the company’s Heart Health Genetic Test. The test is currently marketed under the brand name Gensona(R) Heart Health Genetic Test by Quixtar/Amway. The new report will include quantified risk information on heart attack and coronary artery disease generated from clinical studies and conducted by the company. The company believes that this enhanced report format will provide individuals and their physicians more complete information about a person’s inflammation-based genetic risk factor for a heart attack. The new package also provides information on the science behind the genetic test and information to help people understand preventive measures and actions that can be taken to lower the risk of heart disease.

In addition, the company will conduct scientific lectures on the Gensona(R) test for interested Quixtar/Amway individual business owners at their scheduled conferences. The first of these lectures will be on Saturday morning and afternoon, July 26, 2008 at the Nardone/Melillo/Callendar conference at the Radisson Valley Forge Hotel & Convention Center in Valley Forge, PA. Thousands of attendees are expected at the conference.

Lewis H. Bender, Chief Executive Officer at Interleukin Genetics, commented, “Heart disease is by far the leading killer of Americans. Individuals with different interleukin gene variations have vastly different clinical trajectories for heart disease progression. The ability to know your individual genetic predisposition for this disease is a new and powerful tool to allow a customer and their physicians to design the best preventive care for that person.”

About Coronary Artery Disease

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is an inflammatory disease in which plaque builds up inside the coronary arteries. These arteries supply your heart muscle with oxygen-rich blood. Plaque is made up of fat, cholesterol, and other substances found in the blood. When plaque builds up in the arteries, the condition is called atherosclerosis. Variation in interleukin genes has shown to be associated with different degrees of CAD risk. Over time, CAD can weaken the heart muscle and lead to heart attack and arrhythmias. CAD is the most common type of heart disease and is the leading cause of death in the United States for both men and women. Lifestyle changes, medicines, and/or medical procedures can effectively prevent or treat CAD in most people. Certain cholesterols have also been associated with increased CAD risk. According to the American Heart Association, over 105 million American adults have total blood cholesterol values of 200 mg/dL and higher, and 36.6 million American adults have levels of 240 or above. Doctors consider total cholesterol levels of 240 mg/dL or greater high in adults and levels from 200 to 239 mg/dL borderline-high.

About Interleukin Genetics

Interleukin Genetics, Inc. (Amex: ILI), is a genetics-focused personalized health company that develops preventive consumer products and genetic tests for sale to the emerging personalized health market. Focused on the future of health and medicine, Interleukin uses its leading genetics research and scientific capabilities to develop and test innovative preventive and therapeutic products. For more information about Interleukin, its products and ongoing programs, please visit http://www.ilgenetics.com.

SPEAKING OF AMWAY, how do you  plan to incorporate Gensona and Personalized Health into your Amway Wellness business? Will you be leading with a product opportunity to build a strong, profitable client base from which you will find others who want to build their own part-time businesses? Or will you be leading with a business opportunity and trying to redirect those who are not interested toward products and to become clients?

written by rdknyvr \\ tags: , , American Heart Association, Amway, Amway Talk, Amway Wellness, Callendar, cardiovascular risk assessment, coronary artery disease, general nutrition assessment, genetic predisposition, Gensona, heart attack, heart health, Heart Health Genetic Test, inflammation, inflammatory disease, interleukin genes, Interleukin Genetics, Lewis Bender, lifestyle changes, Melillo, Nardone, Personalized Health, prevention, Quixtar, risk of heart disease, transformation

“It just seems to me you aren’t going to be credible if all you talk about is your successes.” — JAMES CANALES, President and CEO of The James Irvine Foundation, one of California’s ten largest foundations

“A real leader learns ways to promote and reward truth-telling, demands honesty from his or her crew, and never punishes messengers with bad news.” — C. MICHAEL ABRASHOFF, former Commander of the “Best Damn Ship in the Navy, the U.S.S. Benfold,” and the author of three New York Times bestsellers on leadership, including It’s Your Ship

Amway is currently in the first year of a major business transformation.  It goes almost without saying that all businessmen understand that turning a company like Amway North America around is no easy task and takes tremendous skill and expertise.  Well, Steve Miller is affectionately nicknamed “U.S. Industry’s Mr. Fix It” by America’s business leaders for his unparalleled success in turning around failing companies.  In 2002 the Wall Street Journal asked Miller if he would share with the Journal’s subscribers his thoughts on the most important aspects of turning a company around.  That request resulted in an article in the WSJ by Miller that same year titled “Tips From A Turnaround Specialist.“  Allow me to note that Steve Miller is the former CEO of Delphi Corporation and the author of the recent book release The Turnaround Kid:  What I Learned Rescuing America’s Most Troubled Companies.  As Amway Global is in the midst of its transformation today, its turnaround if you will, I thought after reading Miller’s book that looking at Amway’s North American business transformation today in light of Miller’s seven tips might be a worthwhile online exercise.  Below is a list of Miller’s seven tips with my comments added after each tip.  I would be interested in hearing your comments about these seven tips as well.

TIPS FROM A TURNAROUND SPECIALIST by Steve Miller

1.  Tell everyone the truth, especially if the truth hurts.

This is the one issue I find most disappointing about Amway’s public image.  As James Canales says in the quote leading off this post, only bringing up the positive undermines your credibility.  Publicly owning up to challenges adds credibility to the positive things a company says.  A few weeks ago, Microsoft lost a court case.  Within hours their media and PR folks (are you listening Amway/Alticor Media Blog?) released a statement saying “we still believe in our position and expect to appeal.”  So, even when a current outcome isn’t positive Microsoft at least publicly acknowledges the current state of affairs.  Every time Amway fails to acknowledge or comment on a recent negative court ruling or public event (as has been the case multiple times this year alone) it loses a little more credibility with me and others, and it will continue to lose credibility until its actions in this area become more transparent — or I and others no longer care about Amway enough to be concerned about its failure to be fully forthcoming.  In my opinion, Amway’s failure to openly discuss negative news and outcomes shows weakness and frailty, not strength and resolve — and I believe the company is stronger and more resilient than that.  It’s well past time to demonstrate it when it comes to truth telling.

2.  Don’t study things to death.  Most of the choices you need to make are clear, and decisiveness breeds confidence.

Would anyone say Amway has been clear and decisive over the last twenty-five years?  While sometimes Tex can annoy people, one point that Tex makes is not refutable:  Amway has had more than enough time to deal with several critical issues, some of which were clearly delineated by Rich DeVos over twenty-five years ago.  The perception that Amway has failed to act decisively on those issues in the past has bred a lack of confidence in the company among many IBOs, and a general lack of credibility in the public at large.  Regardless of what Amway is doing today, it is accountable for failing to act in the past.

Please understand, I am not saying that Amway is not dealing with these issues in several meaningful ways today, but it is important for Amway corporate to remember how long some of these issues have been on the table.  It’s definitely time for Amway corporate to be very clear and very concise about where the company is headed.  I do get a sense that some real changes are being implemented and that the corporation is taking serious steps to turn things around, but clarity and ongoing communication about those changes and steps are critical.  The new national ad campaign is a meaningful step in the right direction on a public level, but there is much more that can be done on the IBO level.  The North America Spotlight Tour is an important step in that direction, clearly demonstrating the change and innovation coming from the company today.  This weekend the Tour stopped in Chicago, and bloggers Big Apple and Bridgett were both in attendance [as were AJ Gannon and bernsber!].  I’m looking forward to hearing from them online when they get home.  The recently announced sponsorship of the Tina Turner Tour by Amway Global is another terrific step in the right direction.  There is much positive to talk about in this area.

3.  Listen to your customers.  They know more about what’s wrong with your company, and what’s right, than anyone.

Who are Amway’s real customers?  Based on recently revealed data from court cases I think we would have to say it’s Amway’s IBOs.  Retail sales of only 3.5% of total volume can hardly be considered much in the way of true customer retail volume.  So the question morphs into which so-called “customers” is Amway listening to?  Better yet, which of its “customers” should Amway be listening to?  It’s IBOs?  It’s retail customers?  Both?  Neither, but “focus groups” instead?  Often it appears Amway’s so-called “focus groups’ are made up primarily of IBOs.  Think that one out, doing product marketing research with a captive clientele like starry-eyed new Platinums.  What we need instead is marketing research done with our target audience, potential customers with whom we have no leverage.

Just who is Amway doing its market research with?  I’d really like to know the answer to that question so I would have a better feel for the direction Amway is taking.  For what it’s worth, I believe if Amway wants to know what is wrong with these aspects of its business perhaps it should listen to some of the people who have refused to buy our products or decided not to join our business.  Ask them why, and then take their answers seriously.  The bottom line is that products purchased by IBOs are important to our success, but products that retail customers are willing to buy because they find them compelling and attractively priced are even more important to our long-term success.  We do not need or want discounted, low quality products.  Discounted products often say the wrong things about a company and its products.  (If you don’t believe that take a read of Chapter 10 “The Power of Price:  Why a 50-Cent Aspirin Can Do What a Penny Aspirin Can’t” in Dan Ariely’s book Predictably Irrational.)  At the same time, over-engineered (so-to-speak) products, expensively priced for our general clientele, also create serious credibility issues for us (think Tolsom Shaving Gel).  Neither discounted products nor high end, expensively priced products are the right approach.  Beyond that, developing products with the IBO in mind as the primary customer is borderline deceitful in regards to the marketing plan.  Hopefully we have learned something from the past on this issue and are not going to travel further down this road.

As an aside, IBOs are customers of Amway in a different and rather unique way:  We are asked to promote the business to other potential business owners.  So in a very real sense we are “business” customers of Amway.  We have to “buy” into the Amway business, and then effectively “promote” it to others.  We have to believe it has real value, not only to us, but to others as well, if we are going to build profitable IBO business networks that move products to end users.  How do you feel about the value of an Amway business in the marketplace today?  Personally I’d say an individual Amway business is more valuable today than it was a few years ago, and it also has greater potential than ever.  I’d also add however that it has some serious issues it needs to overcome if our company and our business opportunity are going to recapture their places as the industry leaders in North America.

4.  Listen to your people.  Consult everyone, from the boiler room at the plant to the executive suite so you become fully informed.  Invite everyone to send e-mails, and answer them!  (emphasis Miller’s)

My personal experience tells me that Amway does this decently on every level but one.  The Opportunity Zone corporate sponsored blogs have been a terrific new approach and have demonstrated Amway’s willingness to listen to everyone and anyone with virtually no censorship.  They are moderated by talented and interesting people like Robin Luymes and Beth Dornan, and have convinced me the company is open to hearing from us.  However, what these corporate blogs have not done is convince me of Amway’s willingness to allow some of its employees to discuss the truly tough issues.  It appears that when the topics get tough, Amway goes mute, and mutes its staff as well.  On some level, this needs to change.

Another area where Amway falls down in my own limited experience is in responding to inquiries for clarification, particularly if the topic raised or the question asked has a negative connotation.  This kind of goes back to Tip #1, Amway’s apparent unwillingness to speak openly about negative issues.  A few weeks ago I sent an e-mail to Amway’s Rules Department requesting feedback on a specific issue, and was promised by e-mail reply that I would receive a prompt answer.  Since then I’ve heard nothing, and it’s been over a month.  There is tremendous room for improvement in this area. As Miller admonishes, “Answer them!”

5.  Do a wardrobe check.  If people gladly wear caps and shirts with the company logo, morale is good.  If no one wants to be identified as your employee when they go to the mall, you’re in trouble.

This tip is true of IBOs in the field as well, and needs to be directed at both corporate and IBO leaders.  I would say to Steve and Doug and the new Alticor and Amway corporate staff, if you don’t see any of your IBO leaders wanting to be identified publicly as your business owners, you’re in trouble.  You tell me, have you seen any Quixtar or Nutrilite logos on the baseball hats of any Diamonds on the recreation fields of North America lately?  Or on any of the apparel of your corporate staff on a Saturday afternoon?  Have you seen any Nutrilite logo clothing on any Diamonds outside of an Amway sponsored function?  Have you seen any XS Energy logo decals on any Diamond vehicles lately?  (I have one on mine.)  By the way, those XS Energy marketing folks really get it.  They know how to promote their product and their brand.  We should do half as well as they do.

Yes, I know, IBO leaders lead with the business (”Which business?” I might ask, but I digress), that’s why they don’t wear a hat or a polo shirt with Nutrilite’s or Quixtar’s logo on it, and why they don’t have an XS decal on their car.  It’s the curiosity approach, stupid.  Yeah, I get it, that’s the reason.

Sure it is.

Can you imagine a Nike executive having any problem wearing apparel with the company logo on it?  Any Google exec having a problem with wearing her company’s logo on a sweater?  A Celtic fan?  A Harvard student?  Been to a professional golf or tennis tournament lately?  Seen any corporate logos around?  Heck, as much as it annoys me, I’ve seen dozens of vehicles around Atlanta with large MonaVie logos and contact info on their back window.  Do we want Amway to have a reputation that we can be proud of?  Let’s start by putting ourselves on the line and have everyone go public about their affiliation with the business — and that means corporate staff and IBOs.  Then we’d be forced to truly live up to the reputation we want the company to have. 

I recently made a commitment to wear warm-up jackets, shirts, baseball hats, or something else with the Nutrilite logo on it whenever possible when I give tennis lessons to my students (I am a tennis pro), so I am going to purchase some clothing with company logos on it for myself.  I have also made a commitment to tell anyone who asks me what I do for a living (and also those who don’t ask) that I am a tennis pro who is also building an Amway business, chips fall where they may.  And I know that by doing so over time I will learn how to handle their follow-up questions appropriately, effectively, and winsomely.  I’m not interested in any more “spinmeister” answers to simple questions from prospects and friends, answers that avoid providing transparent, honest, and relevant information.  So far my commitment to candor hasn’t created a single problem for me.  I am convinced one of the best ways to deal with the negative on the internet is to demonstrate the positive aspects of the business publicly on a personal level.  If we can’t do that, then we really do have a problem. As I wrote earlier in this post, the recent national ad campaign by Amway is a great step in the right direction, but it’s time for all IBOs to come out into the open and put themselves on the line too.  Right now Amway is investing huge financial and human resources trying to tell North America the real story of Amway.  An important aspect of making that investment worthwhile to Amway is having IBOs become publicly visible as representatives of the business.  Thus, when people are looking for Amway, they’ll know where they can find it and they’ll have a better feel for the quality of the people in the business.  Clearly revealing our affiliation with Amway is one way to do just that.

6.  Practice calm realism.  The key here is to stay balanced.  Truth telling can be scary, but if you let people know there are solutions for most problems, they’ll be less discouraged.

This goes back a little to my comments in point 1.  Truth telling is scary, but it’s better than hiding the truth, and all of us know that from experience.  In May, in a move unprecendented at a U.S. corporation, the top performing insurance giant, Aflac, decided on its own to give its shareholders the right to weigh in on the issue of executive compensation.  Brian Cadman, an associate professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management said, “This is going to be a peer-pressure issue and it’s going to be the better-run firms that are going to start down this path.  Down the road, it’s going to be the type of thing to help Aflac signal that they are doing the right thing by their shareholder.”  Interestingly, Aflac is taking this step while they are not suffering from any public relations nightmares that might have required a face-saving response.  Aflac Chairman and CEO Daniel Amos at first said, “I was nervous [about the say-on-pay proposal].  I didn’t know what we were getting into.”  But the company decided to that it had to allow the shareholder vote on executive compensation to live up to its “corporate philosophy of openness.”

We’re beginning to see a return to respect for the truth from a number of large organizations.  After the Carnegie Foundation’s ill-starred efforts to help Zimbabwe overhaul its constitution and its government, for example, the foundation published a report that began, “This is the anatomy of a grant that failed.”  In addition, the Army has begun a critical self-assessmentof the miscues in Iraq to make sure they will never be repeated.  No company or institution can afford anymore to deceive itself about the truth about itself.  And that includes Amway.

As D. Michael Abrashoff wrote in his new book, It’s Our Ship:  The No-Nonsense Guide to Leadership,

“It is plainly suicidal today for any high stakes leader to reject bad news as is it were a live hand grenade and treat its messenger like a traitor…leaders in place or in training have an overwhelming incentive to encourage truth-telling by themselves and everyone who reports to them.  Sure, honesty can be dangerous, but, in the long run, dishonesty always loses.”

7.  You don’t need all new players to make a team into a winner.  Even at companies in crisis you’ll find lots of people who know their job and do it well.  Try to hold on to them.

I admit, this point falls outside my knowledge of Amway and Quixtar.  I don’t know the corporate staff at Amway all that well.  I’m sure several of you know them far better than I do and can comment on this point more intelligently than I can.  I do know that the people I have worked with at the company regarding specific needs I’ve had in the business (outside of the previously mentioned ones) have been terrific.  Everything I’ve read and heard about the new corporate leadership brought in by Alticor and Amway over the past year has been nothing less than stellar.  I would say this bodes well for the company’s future on all counts.

Obviously, after looking down this list, it appears Amway is doing very well on several of Miller’s tips.  It’s heartening to know that the company could easily rise to the occasion on a couple of the other points having to do with transparency and complete truth-telling.  All it would take is a total commitment to the three dynamics Steve Lieberman recently stated that Amway Global was committed to:  honesty, openness, and transparency.  I hope Amway’s leaders will jump in with both feet and deliver on that promise no matter how scary it might be.  I’m convinced doing so will pay off handsomely in the coming years.

Steve Miller obviously understands company turnaround dynamics far better than I do, so I take him at his word and his expertise that these are seven of the most important tips for turning around a company.  It seems to me to be a reasonable list and one worth contemplating in relation to Amway.  But, without wanting to be arrogant I would add an eighth tip to his list.  Here it is:

8.  If, at any time, you are not sure what to do next, refer back to Tip #1.  Telling the truth is always the best place to start.

Speaking of Amway, particularly in regards to Miller’s seven points, what are YOUR thoughts on what Amway and IBOs could do collaboratively to truly transform our business positively over the next few years?

written by Chuck Lia \\ tags: Alticor, Amway, Business Transformation, Opportunity Zone, Quixtar, Steve Miller, The Turnaround Kid, Transparency

Do you believe you are for the most part a “rational” IBO?  Or, would honesty require you (and me) to admit that we might be a little irrational at times, perhaps even highly irrational sometimes.  What if there was some aspect of our approach to the business that might be more irrational than rational at times, would you know how to be aware of it?  Better yet, if we could predict the area of the business we might be most irrational about, and we were aware of the cause of that irrationality, how might we use that knowledge to help us in our approach to the business?

For years I’ve been fascinated by studies into human behavior; why we do what we do and whether we even know why we do what we do.  Now, Dan Ariely, the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Behavioral Economics at MIT, where he holds joint appointment between MIT’s Media Laboratory and and the Sloan School of Management, has examined another side of human behavior, namely, how “predictably irrational” we are in many areas of life, particularly in areas where money is involved.  Ariely’s 2008 release, Predictably Irrational:  The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions, which became an instant New York Times bestseller, is a compilation of numerous fun and clever experiments in human behavior, many of which have direct implications for IBOs.  Thankfully, Ariely’s book is a very easy read and quite engaging as well.  While the book is not so much a scientific tour de force as it is a personally challenging work, it is nonetheless, very interesting.  If you enjoyed Freakonomics, you’ll find this book an equally good read.

Ariely’s book has received strong reviews.  Here are a couple of samples: 

“This is going to be the most talked about book in years.  It is so full of dazzling insights–and so engaging–that once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down.” — DANIEL McFADDEN, 2000 Nobel Laureate in Economics, University of Callifornia at Berkeley, Morris Cox Professor of Economics

“A marvelous book that is both thought-provoking and highly entertainly…Ariely unmasks the subtle but powerful tricks that our minds play on us, and shows how we can prevent being fooled.” — JEROME GROOPMAN, Harvard Medical School, Recanti Chair of Medicine

In one of the early chapters, “The Fallacy of Supply and Demand:  Why the Price of Pearls–and Everything Else–Is Up in the Air,” a chapter with fascinating discussions on “imprinting,” “price anchors,” and “arbitrary coherence,”Ariely notes:

“With everything you do, in fact, you should train yourself to question your repeated behaviors…We should also pay particular attention to the first decision we make in what is going to be a long stream of decisions.  When we face such a decision, it might seem to us that this is just one decision, without large consequences; but in fact the power of the first decision can have such a long-lasting effect that it will percolate into our future decisions for years to come.  Given this effect, the first decision is critical, and we should give it an appropriate amount of attention.”

“Socrates said the unexamined life is not worth living.  Perhaps it’s time to inventory the imprints and anchors in our own life.  Even if they once were completely reasonable, are they still reasonable?  Once the old choices are reconsidered, we can open ourselves to new decisions– and the new opportunities of a new day.  That seems to make sense.”

After you read Ariely’s discussion on how the pricing of black pearls came about it you might think it a worthwhile exercise to ponder the pricing on your tool system’s “Professional Starter Pack” for $250 (but hey, it’s a $750 value!).  Or why the Tolsom Shave Gel is $12.45, even if it does have 19 worthwhile ingredients not found in Nivea’s product.  Heck, the first question a rational person might ask is “Is there a sizeable retail market for a $12.45 shaving gel with forty more ingredients than Nivea?”  I’d be interested in seeing Quixtar’s figures on the retail sales of Tolsom Shave Gel to non-IBO retail customers (assuming there have been any sales to non-IBO customers).  I’m sure that would be an eye opener.  You see, despite statements to the contrary, the real issue isn’t whether our products have ”a story to tell,” it’s whether they have a compelling story to tell.  If Amway is going to come out with a product like Tolsom Shave Gel it would behoove the company to clearly demonstrate it can reasonably justify to a retail customer (the final arbiter of price) the premium price of its product, otherwise what’s the point in bringing the product to market?

Dan Ariely looks at a number of intriguing issues in his book — and one or two that are not so intriguing.  As my kids used to say when a topic was being discussed they found a little offensive or outside their social norms, “Too much information!”  And I can say with confidence that I agree with them when it comes to Chapter 5 in Ariely’s book, “The Influence of Arousal:  Why Hot Is Much Hotter Than We Realize.”  Like I said, too much information.  Read the chapter and find out for yourself if you wish. 

Chapters 11 and 12 touch on areas that should be of interest to all IBOs.  They are titled “The Context of Our Character, Part 1:  Why We Are Dishonest, and What We Can Do About It” and “The Context of Our Character, Part 2;  Why Dealing With Cash Makes Us More Honest.”  Near the end of Chapter 11 Ariely writes:

“What can we do to keep our country honest?…first recognize that when we get into situations where personal financial benefit stands in opposition to our moral standards, we are able to “bend” reality, see the world in terms compatible with our selfish interest, and become dishonest.  What is the answer then?  If we recognize this weakness, we can try to avoid such situations from the outset..  We can prohibit physicians from ordering tests that would benefit them financially; we can prohibit accountants and auditors from functioning as consultants to the same companies; we can bar members of Congress from setting their own salaries, and so on.”

There is much in the book that should strongly challenge every IBO to consider how rationally he or she approaches her business.  In Chapter 12 Ariely adds:

“We can hope to surround ourselves with good, moral, people, but we have to be realistic.  Even good people are not immune to being partially blinded by their own minds.  This blindness allows them to take actions that bypass their own moral standards on the road to financial rewards.  In essence, motivation can play tricks on us whether or not we are good, moral people.  As the author and journalist Upton Sinclair once noted, ‘It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.’“     

At the end of Ariely’s book he writes, 

“We are all pawns in a game whose forces we largely fail to comprehend.  We usually think of ourselves as sitting in the driver’s seat, with ultimate control over the decisions we make and the direction our life takes; but alas, this perception has more to do with our desires–with how we want to view ourselves–than with reality…By the time we comprehend and digest information, it is not necessarily a true reflection of reality.  Instead it is our representation of reality, and this is the input we base our decisions on.”

I have a strong suspicion that if more IBOs read books like this one, it would be far more difficult for IBO leaders to lead their IBOs down roads and in directions that are not in the downline IBOs’ best interests, nor in the best interests of Amway Global/Quixtar.  And on that basis alone it is worth reading, for what this business needs more than anything today is thinking, nuanced IBOs who will not allow themselves to be taken down non-productive, non-profitable paths, regardless of who might be promoting that path; or taken in by leaders who primarily have their own interests at heart.

Consider two final recommendations: 

“Predictably Irrational is wildly original.  It shows why–much more often than we usually care to admit– humans make foolish, and sometimes disastrous, mistakes.  Ariely not only gives us a great read; he also makes us much wiser.” – GEORGE AKERLOF, 2001 Nobel Laureate in Economics, University of California at Berkeley, Koshland Professor of Economics

“Dan Ariely is a genius at understanding human behavior:  no ecomomist does a better job of uncovering and explaining the hidden reasons for the weird ways we act, in the marketplace and out.  Predictably Irrational will reshape the way you see the world, and yourself, for good.” — JAMES SUROWIECKI, author of “The Wisdom of Crowds”

Stop in at your local bookstore, grab a cup of coffee, and read a few pages of Dan Ariely’s book. Or go online and take a look.  Who knows, you might find the material as interesting as I did and decide buy it and read all of it.  Then take some of what you’ve learned and challenge yourself.  Consider how you have approached your business and whether you have been asking the right questions — or just assuming your leaders have your best interests at heart.  Heck, perhaps the discussions on this blog and others like it will improve and become more rational as a result as well.  Lord knows, that wouldn’t be all bad. 

Speaking of Amway, how ”predictably irrational” or “rational” do you think IBOs are? 

written by Chuck Lia \\ tags: Amway, Dan Ariely, Predictably Irrational, Quixtar