Today GQ published an article online on  four-star General David Petraeus, entitled, “Leader of the Year.” A key graph:

He starts by talking about his father, Sixtus Petraeus, who passed away six months ago at the age of 92. Petraeus couldn’t even leave Iraq to bury him. (As he puts it, “Our soldiers make all the same sacrifices.”) Sixtus was a Dutch sea captain who came to the U.S. at the start of World War II, “when Holland was overrun. He was at sea, and they couldn’t go back to Rotterdam, so they went to New York.” He was “a stubborn, independent Dutchman” who was both extraordinarily proud of his only son and a strict disciplinarian who pushed him to the limit. “I was raised by the kind of father who if his son could do twenty pull-ups, he wanted you to do twenty-one. There were, you know, no excuses. I mean, there was a phrase he actually used: ‘Results, boy.’ ” 

Later on in the article, writer Lisa DePaulo notes that the patterns of change experimented with and refined to success by Petraeus when he was running the 101 Airborne Division in Mosul in 2003, did not come from the top of the “theatre” or Pentagon command structure. They came from “the fringe,” or as Petraeus says:

“Well, I would sort of think it was intuitively obvious. To be truthful…strategic leaders make big decisions at times. And at my level, in the first year and very early on, a huge decision was to say, ‘We are going to do nation building.’ I know that we as a country didn’t think the military should get into nation building and all this. But very early on, we decided in the 101st that we’re gonna do it…” 

Those who have followed the Iraq war in depth — and not just through the superficial coverage in most of the press — will know that Petraeus was not popular with his “uplines” in the command structure for his views or for the successes he achieved in Mosul, even though he did it without “glory-seeking” or challenging the chain of command. ** 

After his outstandingly successful Mosul tour of duty was up, Petraeus was transferred by his superiors in the Pentagon command structure, back to a desk job for awhile (where he wrote a new Army field manual on counterinsurgency strategy), before being plucked out by President Bush to turn the war around.

That’s an oversimplified and truncated version of events, but the point is that Petraeus didn’t wait for those “smarter” than him, “more experienced” than him in the “same old same old” to tell him what to do, within his legitimate sphere of decision making and action taking.

As an aside, if you enjoy romances, writer Lisa DePaulo humorously shares how Petraeus met and courted his wife. DePaulo notes with supreme deadpan:

Perhaps the “wildest” thing was when he [young cadet Petraeus] ended up dating the daughter of the superintendent (who also happened to be a three-star, soon to be four-star general named William Knowlton) of West Point. Or “the Supe’s daughter,” as she was known. Knowlton was a man you didn’t want to mess with… 

SPEAKING OF AMWAY GLOBAL, have you thought about how real change — and as Petraeus puts it, “irreversible success,” — is going to come to your business? As Bridgett put it in a comment at IBOFB’s Amway Talk blog a couple days ago, change always happens at the fringes first.

** disclosure: one of my cousins served with the 101 Airborne in Mosul as an army doc for two years, which has added to the respect I have for Petraeus’ approach to modeling personal leadership and responsibility.

Fortune’s Phillip Elmer-Dewitt writes at his Apple 2.0 blog — quoting from the ChangeWave Research Report released yesterday:

“It’s not easy to increase market share in one of the worst spending environments in years,” writes Carton, but Apple seems poised to do so. Among those few consumers who plan to buy a laptop in the next three months, one-third said they planned to buy an Apple — up from 29% in September.

As Amway Global prepares to wrap up another financial year and evaluates the success, thus far, of its Transformation game plan, what core goal could it set to ensure future leadership, not just in the direct sales “industry” but in a way that would empower it to stand along side industry giants in the Fortune ‘Most Admired’ list of companies. 

Remember that it was only 10 or so years ago when Apple was languishing – it stock had become a ‘laughing stock’ (before Jobs returned). Michael Dell infamously recommended that the best thing that could be done with Apple would be to liquidate it and return the remaining scraps of value to the shareholders.

Today, Apple has been surging with record-breaking growth, profits and good will while at the same time adjusting and fine-tuning price points on the strategic Macbook, iPhone and iPod lines — even while continuing to ‘add value’ to those products, and ‘build out’ from the base of raving fans (to borrow from the Ken Blanchard title) created on its common platform of iPod, iPhone, Macbook and worlds’ most customer-friendly software interface.

SPEAKING OF AMWAY, is Amway Global the kind of enterprise which should aspire to being mentioned with respect and admiration (and, by its IBOs, with pride) in the same breath as Apple, Google, Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, Berkshire Hathaway, or Toyota?

Could Amway Global — and that includes independent business owners — pull off its own ”Cinderella story“?

Well, why not? 

SPEAKING OF AMWAY, which ones do you identify with, and which ones could you adopt, adapt or modify to help your business become more successful? Not your upline or sponsor’s business. Not Alticor or Amway Global’s business. YOUR business.

 The 12 Steps to Practical Problem Solving:

1. Go where the action is. “Spend significant time with your customers. This is how you learn what they need,” he says. Not hours, days. Polak lived with his farmers for 6 months.

2. Interview at least 100 customers a year. You do it. Not an employee. Listen to what they have to say. “Too many entrepreneurs build the product they want to build — not the one that’s needed.”

3. Context matters. If your solution isn’t right for the context, for example, if it costs too much for the customers you’re trying to serve, you won’t succeed.

4. Think big. Act big. 

5. Think like a child.

6. See and do the obvious. Others won’t, which is opportunity for you.

7. Leverage precedents. If somebody has already invented it, don’t do it again.

8. Scale. Your business must have potential to scale. Remember, your market must include at least 1 million customers.

9. Design to specific cost and price targets. Not the other way around. (Celeste: it means — Do not price to your design, design to the price you need to hit to make your product appropriate to your customer.).

10. Follow practical three-year plans. Two years is too short. Ten is too long.

11. Visit your customers again. And again. “Any successful business in this country is based on talking to your customers all the time. A good CEO spends half his time ‘in the field.’”

12. Stay positive. Don’t be distracted by what other people think. 

If you’ve ever pondered over how to explain to a retail customer (or a potential business associate) what the Gensona DNA tests are about and the life-long value of the information they provide, now you don’t (have to ponder). Just refer your retail customer or potential business associate to this link for a quick, easy-to-understand presentation.

The Science Behind Interleukin Genetics

****************

Still with me? Attention span longer than you  thought? (hehe) 

Beyond that, you should still know something about the Nutrilite brand and why it gives us such a unique position in the marketplace. If you don’t know how to talk about Nutrilite’s history and the just-in-time fresh fresh freshness of the organic functional-whole-food-based products you represent, here are a few more “movies” to which you can go (and take your retail customer along).

Washington State organic farm

Mexico organic farm

Brazil organic farm

Optimal Health: The Heart of the Original Brand

Lifestyle

Personalization

Nutrigenomics

Nutrilite clinical validation studies

Nutrilite research associations

SPEAKING OF AMWAY, don’t foget to watch this space for a timely and provocative three-part series coming very soon from the pen keyboard of Chuck Lia.

Blessings for a great day…

This new article in GQ Magazine, The Book of Me, is of keen interest in that it demonstrates how personal genomics and Personalized Health are now growing in mass market interest in general media outlets, and not just science-oriented journalism and publications.Someone in the Alticor organization had the exceptional foresight back around 2002 or 2003 to recommend an ‘angel investment’ in Interleukin Genetics, which had made some key discoveries — pre-Human Genome Project completion — which are turning out to be core to understanding how our personal genetics influences the ageing process and chronic health conditions related thereto. Interleukin was able to apply for a number of patents based on their unique discoveries and thus claim some significant IP real estate in the “land rush” around human genome research which is shaping the future of health and health care. Alticor has thus far shown good patience with their investment in Interleukin and has provided its Distributors with an unparalleled product and business development opportunity with the Gensona DNA tests, and Nutrilite’s IL-1 Heart Health supplement — the world’s first clinically validated (published in peer-reviewed and respected scientific journals) nutrigenomic supplement – with more in the Nutrilite and Interleukin research pipelines. The article in GQ is an easy read and well-written, almost in a mystery novel genre by a top-selling novelist, so your time spent reading will be enjoyable for those who don’t think they “like” science related stuff, and a joy for those of us who see the future now and can’t wait.A key quote from the article — key for me, at least: 

He [George Church, Harvard University] defends the coming revolution, comparing it to the birth of personal computing in the late 1970s. That earlier revolution was all about mass empowerment, going, he says, “from a few people in the priesthood that guarded the mainframes, to everybody.” But few people saw the potential of that revolution early on: “Just like with personal computing, until there are some compelling stories involving real products [my emphasis] the only people who are going to get what’s happening are the ones who can imagine things that aren’t yet there.”                                        

 SPEAKING OF AMWAY GLOBAL, where do you rank Personalized Health and Nutrilite Health in your list of business development priorities? Is it “hot” or is it “not” for you, and why? Second, what is Amway Global doing well to assist you in understanding and marketing the Gensona DNA tests and the Nutrilite IL-1 Heart Health, and what in your view might they do better?  Before you answer that last question, watch this video clip. 

This move makes eSpring a highly competitive value proposition, and should now be considered a key resource for anyone wanting to finance their business based on do-able retail sales. That should include everyone, from new business owner to Crown Ambassadors wanting to set the example and show leadership in retail sales.

One should be particularly delighted by this move as eSpring is part of the Personalized Health “products and services portfolio” in that it addresses the pure water aspect of environmental health needs better than any other water purifying/filtering product on the market. eSpring is still the ONLY household consumer product on the market which includes an ultraviolet light component to address biological entities  which could make it through the solid block carbon filter.

Now that the Amway Global has adjusted prices on this product to make it exceptionally competitive for us at retail, the question becomes, whether IBOs are going to respond and start driving sales and creating more consumables-based retail profits for our businesses.

Speaking of Amway Global, how much will this affect the focus you are putting into your First Circle, Personal Profit Circle, retail sales?

 With Personalized Health — which includes Interleukin Genetics’s patent protected IP and DNA tests, which we market under the Gensona brand, and the IL-1 Heart Health supplement patented by Nutrilite — we truly have an opportunity to reshape the health care debate in North America, even more so than the politicians campaigning for election at this moment in both the US and Canada.

As of next year, 2009, that same Personalized Health opportunity will be available to our colleagues in Asia as well, when Gensona DNA tests are rolled out for markets there.

Paper Reports Value of Specific Nutritional Products is Dependent on Individual’s Genetic Make-up WALTHAM, Mass., Sept. 12

WALTHAM, Mass., Sept. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Researchers at
Interleukin Genetics, Inc. (Amex: ILI), today received the 12th John M. Kinney Award for Nutrition and Metabolism at the annual Congress of the European Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, in Florence, Italy. The award was given for the paper, “Interleukin-1 genotype-selective inhibition of inflammatory mediators by a botanical: a nutrigenetics proof of concept,” which was published in Nutrition: The International Journal of Applied and Basic Nutritional Sciences (2007;23:844-852).

Kenneth Kornman, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at Interleukin Genetics, and the first author on the publication, commented, “We are honored to receive the 12th

John M. Kinney Award for Nutrition and Metabolism. Many botanical and nutritional supplements claim to provide countless health benefits without being subjected to rigorous clinical study. Our paper reports a well- controlled clinical study has shown the value of specific nutritional products is dependent on an individual’s genetic make-up.” The study, a joint research effort by scientists at Interleukin Genetics and Nutrilite, a division of Alticor Inc., is one of the few controlled clinical trials that has shown the value of specific nutritional products is dependent on an individual’s genetic make-up. The data showed that a proprietary botanical supplement (Nutrilite IL1 Heart Health Supplement) could lower inflammation in individuals who tested positive for pro-inflammatory IL-1 gene variations from Interleukin Genetics’ Heart Health Genetic Test. These individuals also had elevated levels of C-reactive protein.

About Interleukin Genetics’ Heart Health Genetic Test

Interleukin Genetics’ Heart Health Genetic Test was developed to identify healthy individuals who are genetically predisposed to over-produce inflammation and are at an increased risk for an early first heart attack.

The Heart Health Genetic Test is marketed on a non-exclusive basis [edit: it became non-exclusive for us only as of last week] through Access Business Group International LLC, a division of Alticor Inc. Interleukin Genetics recently announced an agreement with Access Business Group International that will permit the expansion of Interleukin Genetics’ distribution network for such genetic tests.

About Nutrilite IL1 Heart Health Supplement

Nutrilite IL1 Heart Health Supplement, a proprietary botanical supplement, was developed to reduce inflammation in those individuals who are genetic over-producers. The Nutrilite IL1 Heart Health Supplement is currently marketed by Quixtar, Inc., a division of Alticor Inc.

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 Genetics uses its leading genetics research and scientific capabilities to develop and test innovative preventive and therapeutic products. Interleukin Genetics currently offers an array of Nutraceuticals and OTCeuticals(R), which are sold at the nation’s largest food, drug and mass retailers, and has commercialized genetic tests for periodontal disease risk assessment, cardiovascular risk assessment, and general nutrition assessment.

Interleukin Genetics is headquartered in Waltham, MA. For more information about Interleukin Genetics, its products and ongoing programs, please visit
www.ilgenetics.com.

Note, of course, that as of last week, Amway Global business owners no longer have the exclusive distribution rights to the Interleukin DNA test IP. Why? Two basic reasons:

(1) Because of Quixtar’ screwed up launch and lack of support for  the Personalized Health product portfolio and health solution two-plus years ago and ongoing. They admitted as much when management acknowledged last year that Personalized Health was the victim of a “launch and abandon” product support mentality that prevailed before Steve Liebeman came on board and took control.

(2) In the old (and growth-destroying) business model — still ‘de facto’ business practice for most – based on the “Systems”-developed and promoted ”buy from yourself and teach others to do the same,” a major product/solution portfolio like Personalized Health was doomed to fail on that count as well. This could just as well be characterized as a “lack of leadership” by organizations which claim to be devoted to teaching leadership principles.

The defining advantage Independent Business Owners still have with Personalized Health is the core “value-add proposition” which we bring to the table — the ability to educate the consumer in a field which requires consumer education to be successful. Under the new retail sales focused paradigm being driven, thankfully, by Steve Lieberman and his new team, Personalized Health finally has an opportunity to flourish, and be the breakout health solution which will take Amway Global in North America way beyond the goals set by Doug DeVos and Steve Van Andel.

 I’m driving down to Portland later today to the Spotlight showcase, and hopefully Personalized Health and Amway Wellness will be getting the “showcase profile” they deserve. With Interleukin Genetics now winning these kinds of international awards for their ground-breaking research, we expect to see Personalized Health being promoted and celebrated front and center.

“When a train goes through a dark tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off.  You sit still and trust the engineer.” – CORRIE TEN BOOM

“Trust your own instinct.  Your mistakes might as well be your own, instead of someone else’s.” – BILLY WILDER

When I originally created this blog this past April my primary motivation was to encourage candid dialogue among IBOs about topics and issues that concerned me in the business.  The company was in the early months of a global business transformation and I hoped that open discussion of challenges that I and others perceived in the business would potentially lead to real world solutions and change.  I was also hopeful that Amway and Quixtar’s executives would listen in on our discussions — and even participate in our discussions when appropriate — and that has happened from time to time.  From day one this blog was intended to be a collaborative effort, open to original posts by other IBOs, and not centered around one IBO’s point of view or a particular business direction or outcome.  That intention has been realized with frequent posts by “rdknyvr” and post-like comments by “Big Apple,” “IBOFightback,” and others.

My approach to posting about our business was different than anything that I had seen online to that time.  Posts were theme- and issue-based; and initiated dialogue on numerous topics rather than only responding to issues after a problem had emerged publicly, or simply reporting business news.  The approach has been highly effective, has led to hundreds of comments on many topics, and was eventually copied by other sites.

But you might ask, why was creating this blog so important to me?  And that’s a good question.  So if you don’t mind, allow me to answer it.

It was important simply because in my heart of hearts I didn’t believe in the business anymore.  I didn’t believe I personally could honestly promote our business model to potential prospects in its state at the end of 2007 — as much as I wanted to.  (As an aside, allow me to add that my challenges with the business had little to do with the issues that the TEAM debacle raised.  In fact, I thought the TEAM approach was a big part of the problem.)  Even though the company was in the first months of its global business transformation, I had heard the promise of “change” in the business before, and had been disappointed each time, so I had little real hope it would follow through.  In short, I knew that if I was ever going to be able to confidently and honestly build the business there would have to be substantial changes in the business at a foundational level — the company would have to come through and prove to me it was serious about real, lasting change.  I knew it was going to take a lot to bring me back into the fold, and in all candor, I held little hope it would happen.  A lot had transpired over the years to undermine my belief in the company, its leadership, and the IBO leadership.  There was a lot to overcome.

What were the challenges that disturbed me the most?  What were the issues that would have to change for me to be able to honestly and confidently pursue building the business?  They primarily fell into three areas:

The first area of concern was the lack of balance in the business in relation to the tool systems.  I believed the tool systems had become the tail that wagged the dog.  It is interesting to note that Orrin Woodward recently revealed that he never made more than $750,000 in Quixtar at the Executive Diamond level, yet Forbes.com stated a month ago that Orrin told it that he was on schedule to make $4 to $5 million this year alone from the tool support side of his MonaVie business, and that’s after lowering the price of his system tools when he joined MonaVie!  So which business was he really in when he was in Quixtar?!  Quixtar, or tools?  It appears Quixtar was little more than a receptive host that the parasitic TEAM used to feed itself.  And by the way, TEAM was not alone.  Many tool systems had evolved far beyond their original purpose and now ruled the roost, particularly in terms of income, and often treated the company like a second class citizen.  Rest assured, not all tool systems were equally culpable, but all were culpable on some level.

The second area of concern was the mismanagement of the Amway/Quixtar businesses by corporate leadership and the effect its mismanagement had had on its IBOs, its business opportunity, and its product lines.  I held the company leadership personally responsible for allowing the tool systems to usurp so much business territory and to hijack the business far off its original course, often for reasons that allowed the company to be lazy in the marketplace and to serve its own interests.  In all honesty, I’m still disappointed the company leadership has not apologized for its failure in this area.  The company’s failure at this point was more than a “mistake” in my opinion (as they’ve often called it).  One simple example (there are many others) was the retail customer price of most products in 2007 and the company’s retail customer sales volume.  The figures revealed during the TEAM court case revealed that only 3.5% of the company’s U.S. volume was retail customer volume.  But why should the company care?  It was getting its billion dollar plus sales revenue from the IBOs and that was all that mattered.  Otherwise wouldn’t they would have taken steps to initiate change in this area well before mid-2007?  And why should the system leaders care?  They were deriving a substantial portion of their income from the IBOs participating in their systems and that was what mattered most.  Besides it was far easier to generate income from business support materials and functions than to earn income from developing business sales volume with downline IBOs.

The critical role of tool income to IBO leaders in the business was driven home to me in the summer of 2007 when numerous business leaders quickly left the business as soon as it became clear their substantial tool incomes were being threatened.  They saw the writing on the wall.  Knowing it was far easier to generate substantial tool income quickly than business income, they just weren’t willing to get back to having to truly build the business they said they were building all along.  I sometimes think tool purchases by new IBOs are just the tool systems’ back door version of product front loading, but with tools the only ones who benefit are the tool system leaders.  Interestingly, the word on the street from Amway/Quixtar corporate insiders is that the corporation has been shocked to see how resistant the tool systems have been to having their role in the business reevaluated and somewhat diminished, and I’m sure much of that resistance has been due to the tool income issue.  But recent events in the UK and the US have made it clear to Amway Global that the tool system dynamic and the retail customer dynamic had to change — dramatically and soon.  As the Alticor Media Blog put it, “Never Again!”  I agree.

The third area of concern was the IBOs themselves.  I believed that many IBOs, myself included, had acted irrationally, irresponsibly, and immaturely by allowing the tool systems to sell us a bill of goods on their so-called “proven” systems; and the company to sell us overpriced products with limited customer potential.  If an airline had a proven safety record comparable to the tool systems’ proven success record in developing profitable IBOs, it would have been shut down long, long ago.  And the company’s retail customer development with its products and retail pricing was no better.  The attitude of many IBOs, often encouraged by system leadership’s “Are you a team player?” mantra, appeared to be “Question nothing, believe everything.”  I’m convinced a far better approach for IBOs would have been to “Trust, but verify.”  No one should blindly follow anyone anywhere.  By the way, if you only read a couple of books a year (hopefully more), this year I’d recommend making one of those books Predictably Irrational:  The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely.  It will convince you of the importance of “trust, but verify.”  All IBOs would be well-served to read it at the earliest opportunity.

Another new book offers some interesting insights along similar lines to Predictably Irrational.  Ori and Rom Brafman, in their new release Sway:  The Irresistable Pull of Irrational Behavior, make a number of intriguing points.  For example, why would a seasoned pilot, the head of KLM’s safety program, ignore his co-pilot and attempt a takeoff in dense fog with 55 tons of fuel (far more than the allowable limit for his intended flight) at an unfamiliar airport, Tenerife — causing the worst air disaster in history?  And why would the co-pilot, who had followed procedure exactly when he reminded his captain that the flight had not been cleared for takeoff, fail to repeat his warning when the pilot pressed ahead anyway?  The collision at Tenarife airport cost the lives of 583 people. Using that accident as their starting point, the Brafman brothers explore the psychological forces that cause people to take large risks to avoid small losses, to judge people and situations by first impressions despite subsequent inconsistent evidence, and to ignore objections from dissenters.

One of the most interesting aspects of the book is the most reassuring in regard to the purposes of this blog.  Research reveals that groups often make better decisions when there’s a “blocker” or “dissenter” present — even if that person dissents for the wrong reasons.  The authors describe a classic experiment in which test subjects are led to believe they are being tested for their visual skills:  three lines of different lengths are to be matched to a fourth line.  The differences in line length are clearly obvious, so there is plainly only one correct answer.  However, if you put the real test subject in a room with several actors who pretend to be test subjects, but actually have been instructed to give an obviously wrong answer, most subjects in the experiment will behave in a completely irrational manner and agree with the other test “subjects” that lines that are clearly different in length are exactly the same.  But if an actor playing “blocker” is added to the mix and points out that the group is wrong, the subject then feels free to disagree and usually makes the right choice.  Interestingly, this is true even if the “blocker” makes a different “wrong” choice by picking two other lines of plainly different lengths.  What this experiment says to the business and political world is that organizations that allow no dissent, or demean dissenters, are likely to perform about as well as that ill-fated flight at Tenerife.  It also implies that the mass mind is often intimidating, a good reason for strong checks and balances in this business.  As an aside, pilots at Southwest and other airlines are now trained to avoid the disaster that happened at Tenerife.  Pilots are taught to listen to objections from other crew members, and crew members are trained to communicate those objections in a way that enables the pilot to respond quickly and correctly.

But back to my three areas of concern.  Obviously, there was plenty of blame to go around in mid-2007, and it wasn’t limited to one part of the business or any one group of people or IBOs.  Everyone, and I mean everyone, myself included, was culpable.  Fortunately, last summer the company promised that big changes were coming and a complete business transformation was in the works.  Having heard that unfulfilled promise before, I began to shape my vision for a blog like this one, an online “coffeehouse” to discuss my perception of what shape IBOs like me might want that business transformation to take if in fact the company was truly serious this time.

So where do I stand today in relation to my 2007 concerns?

Today I am convinced that the company is serious about taking its business back and creating a more appropriate balance between the corporation and the tool systems (although I would not be surprised if somewhere down the road the systems’ role is limited to motivation only — or they no longer exist at all).  As I stated earlier, the UK and US issues (and those in other countries) have made it clear that the status quo was unworkable.  Where that unworkability takes us all long-term remains to be seen.  However, there is absolutely nothing going on in the corporate training arena for product knowledge and retailing (Quixtar University and related) that is not easily transferable by the corporation to the training arena for building a network of IBOs — and it could likely be offered at far less cost to IBOs.  Important factors such as “identification and association” would still be best served by upline IBOs, but would not require the costs associated with them in the current system approach.  Years ago when the company offered business training materials they were dramatically less expensive than system produced BSMs, over 50% less.  I look forward to a return to those days and enhanced new IBO profitability.  The current state of the business in the tool system and business support materials area generates confidence in me that things are going to be positively different in the months and years to come.

Today the focus on new product offerings in health and wellness — for example, Simply Nutrilite — and the pricing that goes with them are all customer driven.  The new Gensona offerings are leading edge and can be expected to be even more diverse over time.  The Ribbon Gift program is nothing less than terrific.  The above-mentioned Quixtar University puts a foundation under every product offering the company has.  In addition, the continued sponsorship of top-notch professional athletes will lead to even greater awareness of our company and our products in the public at-large.

Today the public “coming out party” of Amway Global in print and media ads and other venues has convinced me the company is serious about building, maintaining, and monitoring its public and internet image and reputation — and this will serve the needs of IBOs increasingly well.  Everything the company is doing in this arena is first rate and bodes well for the future of all IBOs.  But it is important for IBOs, and myself in particular, not to waste the opportunity Amway Global is giving us in this area today.  This is a real opportunity for all of us, not just a pig in a pretty dress.

I’ve said all that to say this:  Today I  believe I could honestly promote our business to prospects without any serious reservations — and I intend to do just that. There are still a few areas where I’d like to see some changes implemented, but they are not deal breakers for me.  Thus, in the coming months and years I intend to work diligently to build a Diamond level business outside of a system context.  At the same time I intend to keep the company’s hand to the fire from time to time regarding those few critical issues that I still consider important and worth reevaluating.  Those issues still critical to me are:

1.  The curiosity approach (or as some call it in other variations, the Professional Business Approach).  I personally believe the curiosity approach should be banned outright.  It creates far more issues than it solves — and none of them are positive.  Lack of trust, the potential for deceit, misrepresentation, half-truths, and worse, all come into play with the curiosity approach, and the general public hates it.  It is time to do away with it once and for all.  Amway needs a clear and upfront image and reputation, not one based on how much information we can hide from a prospect while we dance away in doublespeak.  I have no problem with explaining the business in full at an appropriate time when it can be explained properly, but I have a big problem with an opaque response to a direct question.  In his recent autobiography/success tome Get In The Game, highly respected baseball Hall of Famer and former Baltimore Oriole Cal Ripken, Jr. wrote:

“Both my parents were as honest as the day is long.  My mother just wouldn’t tolerate dishonesty of any sort.  Dad [Note: Cal Ripken, Sr. was a former manager of the Baltimore Orioles] was also as straight a shooter as they come.  If you asked him a question, you got a direct answer.  He had a strong sense of right versus wrong.  And if he thought something was wrong, believe me, you heard about it.  Dad also tended not to mince words.  Nor would he stay quiet just to avoid telling you bad news.

So, just as with the values of hard work and excellence, my parents raised me to be honest and to have integrity.  Because of them, I believe I grew up to be a sincere and serious-minded adult.  But how do honesty and integrity help a person persevere?  Personally, I think it has something to do with trust.

Honesty breeds trust in others.  Straight shooters get more work, are appreciated more, and are almost always respected.  On the other hand, dishonest people almost never garner universal respect.  As with honesty, integrity also breeds trust.  If people believe you have strong principles, are sound in mind and body, and are incorruptible, they’ll choose to work with you over others.

You cannot persevere in any organization without the trust of others.  If an executive doesn’t trust you, you can be out of a job in the blink of an eye.  If coworkers don’t trust you, they’ll complain about you behind your back.  And too much of that can also lead to a loss job.  It’s far better to be trusted by the people with whom you work and associate.  But, as the adage goes, trust has to be earned.  Only over a sustained period can people come to count on you.  You have to demonstrate your honesty and integrity over and over.  And you can’t slip up — not even once.  If you do, you’ll have to start all over again.  In that case, it’s doubly difficult to regain a person’s respect and esteem.  Therefore, it always wise to start out being straight with people from day one.  Let them know right from the start that you can be counted on…“

2.  Selective openness, honesty, and transparency.  When Steve Lieberman announced the global business transformation he stated the company was committed to “openness, honesty, and transparency.”   Yet certain outcomes since his announcement have led me to believe Steve should have said “selective” openness, honesty, and transparency.  I’ve posted numerous posts on this topic in the past so I won’t rehash them here, but let it suffice for me to state the company could do a better job in the areas of openness and transparency.  When Amway Global gets these areas right I honestly believe it will be on the doorstep of getting everything right.

3.  The arbitration clause.  I believe in the arbitration clause.  It can benefit both sides in a dispute, but not if its a one-sided arbitration process in which the company holds all the cards.  A one-sided arbitration process is just what the several courts have said it is:  unconscionable.  Amway Global’s owners are Christian men who hold to Christian principles of fair and equitable dealing.  They should know better.  Fix it guys. Now.  Enough said.

4.  The non-compete clause.  I understand and accept some of the solid reasons for the non-compete clause, and can see its value in protecting the integrity of our businesses, particularly in relation to IBOs at a certain level in the business, say Platinum and above.  But in its current form it is nothing less than overkill, and it creates a lot of ill will.  Reevaluate it and apply only it to those who really have something at stake in the business, as I said, perhaps IBOs at Platinum and above.  And like the arbitration clause issue above, do it now.  I’m not particularly excited about asking my new IBO to sign an IBO agreement with these two clauses in their current form.  So fix it and ask all IBOs to sign a new contract.  The sooner the better.

5.  The pricing of core line products.   The company clearly needs to reset the price of some of its existing core line products to a more competitive retail market price.  Current pricing assumes IBOs are the paying customer and real target market.  Yes, incomes might drop as the BV drops.  However, with the increased emphasis on retailing in the business, and the increase in retailing that should occur with reasonable price adjustments, over both the short term and intermediate term, incomes should actually rise — particularly for those actively building balanced businesses that include a strong customer component.  Quality, overpriced products don’t create any buzz in the market; but quality, competitively priced products do.

6.  The pricing of logo clothing and other items used to promote the business.  While this is not nearly as important as the other issues as a general matter, it is an important philosophical issue for me.  If the company wants the tool systems to reduce the price of tools (and it does), the company should also reduce the price of clothing using the company name or logo, and other items and literature used to promote the business to customers and prospects.  As a philosophical matter I do not believe materials or items used to promote the business should be a high margin profit center.  If an IBO can only earn income through the personal and downline sale of products, the company should make the same commitment.  IBOs are the company’s partners and its wholesale customers.  We should not be treated as retail customers on any level, particularly when we are purchasing clothing with the Nutrilite or Artistry logos to promote and personally advertise our business and its products, for which Amway Global benefits as well.  I don’t believe an IBO should have to pay a premium to purchase a company hat, shirt, or jacket to promote his or her involvement with the business.  In the most recent “Achieve” magazine Steve Van Andel and Doug DeVos asked IBOs to make their friends and acquaintances aware of their involvement in the business.  To that end the company should be going out of its way to offer clothing and literature that allows us to do just that as inexpensively as possible.  Brochures that IBOs use to present the business and promote the products should not be retail priced items.  The Quixtar Business Opportunity Brochure is priced very well.  But the price of most of the Nutrilite logo clothing is not.  (XS Energy’s clothing is full retail as well.)  In Steve Van Andel’s recent talk at Diamond Club he stated that the company recognizes that it is really our “upline.”  That should mean that the company and IBOs make money the same way, the “old-fashioned way,” moving products to customers.  Let’s keep it that way.

As I look back at it, that’s a pretty short list of issues.  That tells me the company has come a long way since mid-2007.  It also tells me that it’s time to get to work.

When I first heard Steve Lieberman’s promise of a global Amway business tranformation in the summer of 2007 my first thought was that I had heard all this before — and it was always an empty promise.  But today it has become clear that Steve Van Andel, Doug DeVos, and Steve Lieberman really meant it this time, that the promises of 2007 are real.  Recently the company began a series of print and media ads around the “Now You Know” theme, geared toward creating awareness of our brand, products, and our business in the mind of the public.  For IBOs like me though the company had to go much further than brand awareness, for as I stated at the start of this post, I personally can’t promote a business model that I honestly don’t believe in.  Thankfully, the promises of real change that the company has continued to keep over the past year have begun to restore my belief in the company, its leadership, and its future.  I am beginning to believe the company is going to follow through and create a business we can all be publicly proud of and place our trust in.  And that leads me to my final thought.

Amway Global:  “Now I Know.”  I not only know what the company is doing today, I also have a better sense of why the company is doing it and how the company is going about it.  More importantly, today I believe more deeply in the company and can more readily embrace it and its goals.

So folks, it’s time for me to get to work.  You’ll be hearing from me.

Speaking of Amway, how have the recent changes in Quixtar North America and Amway Global affected your belief in the business and your future in it?