Dear Orrin;

Being involved with Quixtar proir to our joining Team 2 years ago I have come to realize something. I totally understand why you are doing what you are doing. I have only met you personally once, however have seen you several times over the past two years, and of course listen to you every day. One of the main things that I have learn't from the leaders and especially you is to stand up for injustice no matter what the cost. Someone has to. There will come a day when you will be written about in history books for what you are doing. How you were trying to help correct a wrong from a big corporation so all the little people would benefit. IBO's still in will come to appreciate you and love you the way we do for what you are doing for them.

Orrin you are a man the world will one day see in the likes of great leaders such as Churchill, Reagen, and many many more.

Thank You.
J.J. Robbins
Retired Canadian Military

J.J., Thank you for the message. The reason I am doing this is my conscience. I believed all the marketing lines that Amway was going to change the country and that these were good Christian people that you could trust. I put all of my credibility and efforts to defend them and now me and some of my best friends are trying to be destroyed by the very people we produced multi-millions for. I will be a sheepdog and protect the people who cannot protect themselves. We desire peace but not at the sacrifice of our principles. thanks, Orrin

With every swing of your sword, you are providing real world experience to our leadership teachings! Keep swinging, brother! From you, I am learning what it means to live my life by the fundamental, absolute truths!

Looking forward to our future mentoring sessions!
-Vido

Good morning, Orrin!
I am glad you continue to expose the truth about the character and morals of the leadership at Amway. They continue to sue the leaders we all love. That should be enough reason in itself. And, knowing you, it isn't so much that they sue you - but I am guessing what angers you the most is that they sue your friends. And on a smaller level - I have friends and relatives that continue to believe and be loyal to Amway. I would never argue with them over it because they are convinced and they listen to their own upline leaders who they have grown to respect. So - for all the good people who are trying hard to make the dying Amway business work by spending their money and time away from their famillies - Hooray for Orrin for letting them know the truth. The truth is hard to swallow at first - like it was in August of '07 for us - but less than one short year later, the future is amazingly bright. Keep up the good work, Orrin. I am amazed at your ablility to handle so many things at one time. You are teaching us by example that by relying on your Lord and Saviour you can handle anything.
Look forward to seeing you in Minneapolis!
With all our love and admiration, The Szymanskis

Orrin,

Love these posts, and I, as a fellow Christian believe that the right thing to do is expose the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth as it applies to the way Amway treats people. Integrity is not joining in on the fraud, and character is doing all you can to stop it!! Thank you for this!!!!

I am still anticipating the evidence(aka benchmark study) to show how well Amway has changed with innovations in the industry. Are they the Model T or an F150?!?!

I believe this is Davids rock to take down Goliath!!!

Thanks for all you do, and see in you Minneapolis Friday Night!
Steve

Hey Orrin! Great Blog! Just wanted to say Thanks for continuing the fight for the little people...the information is great!
I love quality answers!
I joined Team 4 months ago, Im sure youve heard this 1000's of times, but our lives have changed forever! Thanks Orrin!
Im a convicted felon, who had a victim mentality and blamed everyone for my problems! Ive come to learn that I can change my path, and build a new riverbed into the future!
Discipline is just a decision! You dont know what you dont know!
Thanks for the wisdom, and know California supports you in any battles, because we know who is going to lead us to victory!

AJ Burnham

Special Thanks to Jay Smith and Andre Morales for all your time and hardwork! Thanks for bringing the hunger back into my life, Thanks for showing me what true Honor is, and Thanks for making me hone-able again! God Bless!

Orrin,

These have definitely been some interesting articles over the past few days. You are displaying some great courage and I am so proud and glad you are bringing these into the spotlight! I have to tell you that many of the numbers, equations, and figures are way over my head, but that shouldn’t surprise anyone:) However, one thing that is not over my head is the continual throwing of punches that have been thrown at you and many of the PC/RT Members. This crap is getting really old! I am really going to try and not to rant and rave, but I have seen way too many people get punished because they know the facts. I am tired of reading some of these comments that have been said about you and other people so I want to throw my hat into the ring to help add to setting the record straight. I have learned a long time ago that you cannot speak the truth, live out good values, and choose your own direction without disappointing some people. Forget the popularity polls. Don’t try to avoid upsetting people; just make sure you are upsetting the right ones. So to all you A/Q fanatics……..BRING IT!

The smoke and mirrors that “Mr. IboFightBack” and other “A/Q droids” seem to always muster out of their brainwashed mind never ceases to astound me of people’s incompetence to face reality. Here is a simple thought for you: If you always do what you have always done, you will always be where you have always been. That might be too complex so let me see if I can even simplify it even more….A plan for the future based on an unrealistic view of the present will lead to disaster! Do you get the drift..? You can change your name all you want, come out with new products all you want, put out “fancy spin” PR releases about earnings all you want, but the brutal fact is that the A/Q business is a sinking ship. It is almost like instead of allowing people to escape on the emergency life rafts so they can live, they want everyone to share in their misery and go down with the sinking ship. I guess it is true that misery does want company……. The bright side is that you can fix these problems if you would just stop denying the brutal facts!

My passion in life is to add value to others so what I would like to offer, because I know many A/Q people are reading this blog on an hourly basis, are issues that must be addressed in order to help you dig yourself out of this mess. My belief is that there are great people involved with the Amway business. Trust me, as a “PROUD for Leaving” former IBO, I know there are great people because I have shaken hands with them. My biggest problem and fear for the good people involved with A/Q is quite simply: INCOMPETENT LEADERSHIP!!! Why? Because everything within an organization stems from leadership. If the leadership is bad, regardless of how many talented people you have or products you provide, the organization is doomed to fail and innocent well intentioned talented people are typically the scape goat.
I know probably many A/Q droids won’t pay any attention to these issues because any teaching outside of “their system” is discarded, but if it helps just one person than it is worth every word I write. Here are some of the issues (not all of the issues because that list is way too long)

1. Confronting Reality
2. Incompetent Leadership (both corporate and field leaders)
3. Constructive Criticism
4. Irrelevant Business Model
5. Business Ownership vs. People Ownership


Confronting Reality:

This is a huge issue in my mind because it is impossible to know how things are going by just knowing how you feel. For some reason, especially incompetent egotistical leaders want to size everyone else up in the world except ourselves. Trust me, I have many things I am not good at, but the difference is for me as a growing leader, I do not deny being bad in those areas. Outside of building relationships, communicating, character, leading, and learning I am proud to admit that I am basically useless. I might be average in other areas, but people don’t want average. That is the reality in my life! The problem with not dealing in terms of reality is that you begin leading people based on assumption. That is terrible because as humans we tend to judge others according to their actions. It’s very black and white. However, we judge ourselves by our intentions. Even if we do the wrong thing, if we believe our motives were good, so we let ourselves off the hook.
Let me explain to you a little bit about what denial means since many of the A/Q managers seem to be professionals at it.
According to John McCallum in his article “Leadership Trap Doors,” “Denial is a psychological device through which people convince themselves that a painful reality really is not. It is a defensive mechanism that enables people to cope with something unpleasant. When we are in denial, we are denying the existence of that which is causing the pain. So as long as we deny, then presto, we feel better. Denial can take many forms including ignoring, minimizing, pretending, rationalizing, and at the extreme, just plain asserting that such and such does not exist at all. People have a remarkable capacity to deny even what stares them directly in the face.”

In the spirit of wanting to add value to people and not sounding like an “Amway Sheep”; let me give you 4 ways to acknowledge the truth without hurting people:

1. Acknowledge the Truth – you have to understand that there is a difference between what you expected and what was delivered. At this point you have a decision to do something about it or keep stashing it under the rug. Remember “The truth shall set you free.”

2. Be honest as to how you got to this point – figuring out the who, what, when, where, and why to a situation is what allows you to fix the problem and move forward with better solution. This is a point of reflection. The more you reflect why you got into a particular situation, the more insight you will gain to fix the issues. However if you just function off the basis of intentions, like we discussed earlier, you are dealing in a fantasy land.

3. Establish a new plan of action (preferably one that does not include suing others!) – plans always change, but visions don’t. Just because a plan that you implement does not work does not mean you can’t change it to make it better. By being honest with what got you into the situation you are in and learning lessons, you will be armed to make decisions to set a new course. That is however if you value feedback…….

4. Allow people that are in the trenches to give you feedback. – it is imperative that you receive the correct feedback from people that have the “sweat on their brow.” Patrick Lencioni said “Human beings do not have an innate way to get their way. They have an innate need to have their way heard and considered. The fact that many of the top A/Q leaders have been complaining about the way the business has been functioning over the past 10 years or so tells me that the A/Q managers aren’t interested in feedback. In other words it seems like more of a dictatorship than a democracy

Incompetent Leadership:

This is the main reason why my wife and I resigned almost one year ago. I have and will always be a student of leadership. I have read and studied many, many (not as much as Orrin) leadership books and every book has basically taught me to do the opposite of what Amway’s leaders have practiced. I can’t and will not surround myself with incompetent people.

Incompetent leaders have unlimited opportunities to be ineffective. The terrible part about being incompetent is that many times incompetent leaders hurt people by not even knowing they are hurting them. Doing things the way they have always been done proves to me that incompetence is alive and well. Because leadership is about not settling for the way things have always been done. Innovation is the only consistent proof we have that a leader or group of leaders are growing in there competence. The problem with A/Q leadership and management is that none of them have ever built the business. They just rode on Daddy’s coat tails and now they are in a position where it is evident they never really took leading themselves seriously.

If a person can lead people without having a position, they'll do very well when they get one. If they can't lead people without a position, giving them a title will not help. The leader makes the position; the position doesn't make the leader. The people at A/Q headquarters are like a bunch of little Sadaams!

Let me give you an example of the A/Q management incompetence so you know what I mean and that I am not personally attacking one person. About 9 months or so ago A/Q put out a press release that stated that they are going to change their North American Business name from Quixtar to Amway. They decided to do this because they said “because of their market research they found that Amway has greater brand recognition than Quixtar.” No you don’t have to sit up in the ivory tower to know that is the case. However it does take common sense to know that the “greater brand recognition” they are speaking about is not a good brand. In fact when I heard the word Amway before I got involved into QUIXTAR I used to cringe! Can I tell you something? So does everyone else in this world! When I used to go out and show the Quixtar plan people used to say to me even before we would get started “If this is Amway you can leave now.”

Now to be fair to the management at A/Q, although that was a pretty incompetent action, they are not the only ones to blame for incompetent leadership. Many of the so-called “leaders” in the A/Q organization prove they are just as incompetent as the people at HQ. I am not saying all leaders are this way, but unfortunately many are. I have been to tons of seminars and conventions that quite frankly wouldn’t hold any wait to the outside world. I understand there are certain business specific techniques you need to learn, but 99.9% of what you learn has to deal with listening to others babel on about either one of two things: either how much money they make or having a dream. I am all for making money, lots of it for the right reasons, and I am a proponent of having dreams and a vision for your life because without it you have no idea what you are shooting for. However, if all you have is a dream and nothing else, without learning and developing the right habits it will very quickly turn into a nightmare. Look at the following equation below:

A Big Dream + Bad Habits = Frustration and Disappointment
A Big Dream + Good Habits = Fulfillment and Success

I can’t tell you how many seminar and FED functions I went to and all they talked about was things they did, instead of things they are doing. In fact I even heard one of the biggest leaders say “I don’t read books, I write books.” Common man, you might be good but trust me you ain’t that good! It was quite obvious that my association with Internet Services was a joke except for when they brought in outside speakers like Lou Holtz, Les Brown, or Bruce Wilkinson. As far as I was concerned I could have left right after they were done speaking because many of the other “leaders” they had speak were as dry as corked boots.

I learned a few principles that have helped me in my leadership walk from my dealings with Internet Services Corporation, but it wasn’t until I started attending Team meetings did I ever feel a sense of fulfillment in what I was investing my money into learn. TEAM has a special way about them. The leaders are there to serve not to be served. They understand that as leaders we cannot give something to others that we first don’t possess ourselves, so their leaders and group were always learning. In fact I would describe that people on the TEAM have an appetite to learn, grow, change, and relate. It is very evident in their teachings because I always come away from a CD or seminar with good nuggets of information.

I am sorry to say this but until people like Dexter Yager, Bill Britt, Jody Victor, and some of the old leaders start handing over the reins to younger more active people they will keep burning people out because their teachings are so unrelateable, boring, and I would say unvaluable. Times change and it is obvious their time has run out because it was their choice to make their applauses greater than their continued performance! Part of having leadership competence is knowing what your strengths and weaknesses are and I must say it is obvious the old leaders in the A/Q business don’t realize that. When the audience is sleeping when you are on stage it should tell you something! Trust me, if you are that good everyone will want to stay awake and here you! Try coming down off your mountain and relating to what people want to hear.

Remember this: When people follow you they ask themselves 3 very simple questions:
a. Do you care for me?
b. Can you help me? - Why would they follow you if things would get worse
c. Can I trust you?

I can honestly say my answers to these 3 questions are as follows:
a. It might be possible, but doubtful
b. Absolutely not
c. NO

I want to make sure I cover my last 3 points: Constructive criticism, Irrelevant Business Model, and Business Ownership vs. People Ownership, but I will save it for a later post. I have already gone on for a while so I wanted everyone to have a chance to digest the first two because they are big ones. Stay tuned…..

Orrin thank you for being a leader of leaders!!! It is because of examples like you I continue to grow, learn, and stretch myself every day. I know you have been under fire for the past year or so, but you and Laurie have grown your leadership to levels to new heights because of the challenges you have faced and beaten. I appreciate you and I am so thankful for your influence in my life!

God Bless,
Matt

Nice post Matt. Shame you don't read what I write, where I have regularly commented on poor leadership from both Amway and IBO leaders, then you'd know I agree with much of what you have written and you wouldn't have to consider me satan incarnate.

Ibofightback,

I appreciate your feedback. I don't consider you satan incarnate. Maybe just a little.....just kidding! I would like it if you brought some thunder though! I was expecting a little more of a fight back from "Mr. Ibofightback!" COMMON MAN!! BRING IT!! You are entitled to your opinon and I am responsible for mine. Orrin has always modeled the example to take the high road and that is what I intend to do. I appreciate your passion for your covictions! I wish more IBO leaders in the Quixtar business would listen to you because I think you bring somewhat of a competent viewpoint of the Quixtar business.

I orginally wrote the post not to defend your arguments because I don't like to acknowledge your level of thinking, but to defend Orrin and the rest of the TEAM leaders. In fact, since you seem like you are so well connected with A/Q; tell them to drop their childish lawsuits!!!!!!!!!! They look like idiots! I am really sick and tired of people criticizng people like Orrin. All he and other TEAM leaders wanted to do was to apply their talents in an arena that rewared them for producing. Is that a crime!? I have spent one-on-one time with leaders like John Maxwell and other corporate executives (CEO's and SVP's from major fortune 500 companies) for some time and I will tell you I have not met any other leaders like Orrin and Laurie Woodward and Chris and Terri Brady. They are truly leaders of leaders. They understand leadership unlike many of the Quixtar people. Your criticism of them makes you look foolish! If you want to make yourself look credible stop attacking them!

I have made well into the six figures in my corporate sales job because of the TEAM System, which is more than all Emeralds and some Diamonds in your so-called business made for the past few years, at the age of 28, and I find it repulsive that you or any competent IBO think it is possible to make any considerable amount of $$ in your "business." Some of your arguments are valid though. In particular, your agreement with me about the incompetence of the Quixtar / Field Leadership. I am sure that you will agree with me that improvement is always related to ability. The greater your natural ability, the greater your potential for improvement. Too bad many of the A/Q management and IBO "leaders" lack the competence or ability for improvement. That is not a shot at A/Q personally, but rather being a leader and asking someone to fess up to the reality! I will say that because of the leadership from people like Orrin and Chris, we have made a drastic improvement for the better leaving the chains of Quixtar. Maybe that is why you and other desperate IBO's have been so critical.

Just so you know I am not some disgruntled ex-IBO. I am a proud ex IBO! I know just about every rebuttle you could give.........especially those half truth lines I am sure you have up your sleeve that you learned at your last function. Trust me......I used to be a Quixtar defender.....I have heard it all! Bring the fight Mr. Fightback and lets let the readers decide!!!!!!!!

Best,
Matt

EXCELLENT!!!!

Orrin,

I see the below quote as you and the example you set for the rest of us. Go With God My Friend.

Tim Peterson
====
“What was Christ doing in the carpenter shop? Practicing. Though perfect, we read that he learned obedience, and grew in wisdom and in favor with God. Do not quarrel therefore with your lot in life. Do not complain of it’s never ceasing cares, it’s petty environment, the vexations you have to stand, the small and sordid souls you have to live and work with. Above all, do not resent temptation; do not be perplexed because it seems to thicken round you more and more, and ceases neither for effort nor for agony nor prayer. That is your practice. That is your practice which God appoints you; and it is having it’s work in making you patient, and humble, and generous, and unselfish, and kind, and courteous. Do not grudge the hand that is molding the still too shapeless image within you. It is growing more beautiful, though you see it not, and every touch of temptation may add to it’s perfection. Therefore, keep in the midst of life. Do not isolate yourself. Be among men, and among things, and among troubles and difficulties, and obstacles. You remember Goethe’s words: ‘Es bildet ein talent sich in der stille doch ein charakter in dem strom der welt.’ ‘Talent develops itself in solitude; character in the stream of life.’ Talent develops itself in solitude – the talent of prayer, of faith, of meditation, of seeing the unseen; character grows in the stream of the worlds life. That chiefly is where men are to learn love.”

ps: This came from a book titled, "The Greatest Thing in the World."

Truth needs champions willing to go to the mat for it, willing to expose entrenched error in full and free discussion, willing to expound truth attractively, until the old falsehoods finally slink away.

Orrin, you are a champion....keep up the great work!

Joy S.

Orrin,

You're the man...

Keep rockin' the free world!

That was awesome Orrin! You have got to be loving every minute of this:)

The Brutal Reality here is that you do not want to accept that a corporation that you were involved with previously doesn’t want your help. We get it already. Amway/Quixtar is dying a long slow death. Their market is shrinking. Yeah for them. If they want to die, let them. You offered your help. Then they terminated your business and sued you. You have moved on, and they refused to change. There is an old saying, “Quit beating a dead horse!” The second generation management and Alticor does not want to change. They are like Hem in the book “Who Moved My Cheese?” You are being like Haw taking cheese back to Hem only to have it refuse. Let them go and die their long slow death that they imposed on themselves and forget about it. They didn’t want your help and they still do not. The truth is simple; nobody is knowingly signing up with Amway. The only people that are signing up are those that feel obligated in one way or another to the person who showed them the, dare I say, opportunity.

Orrin,
I would be curious to know how many of the people that are pleading with you to stop bringing the truth to light regarding the "big bully" are tied into the leadership program. I sense a good many have it in their heads that you're making this fight personal. If I weren't tied into the system and hadn't had the opportunity to see your heart and what you truly stand for, I'm not so sure I wouldn't feel the same way. People need to understand that there are several battles in this war being fought. They also need to understand that this particular "bully" has been picking on people who don't have the means to fight back and stand up for themselves. I think I know your heart well enough to know that it's not revenge that you're seeking.... it's freedom for the people. I learned a great principle early on in my leadership journey titled: "Seek first to understand". I believe if people get the right information and look at this thing from that perspective, their opinions would change about you. I know that you don't ask anyone to defend you, but, this TEAM community has pulled together through some "dicey" times thanks to the courage and honor you've displayed. This TEAM is a group of individuals who have joined together and collectively become one and we've got your back. I know you'll continue to the right things as we continue on this journey together towards ONE MILLION and beyond. God Bless you! ~ Gary S.

Hey Orrin - I too left the Q last year. I was w/ the company for over 4 years, and my best month was just over 4000 PV...
Amway/Q do need to make a TON of changes. Between prices of products, how you can't actually MARKET your opportunity and you need to rely on the good ol' list of friends and family, the expensive BSM system, old school comp plan, and so much more... it was a HUGE hill to climb...
I mean, I'm not saying this to brag... but just to make a point, I joined a different company and made 4-figures in my 3rd month.. Now I'm not saying everyone can do that. I did have several years mlm experience, however I started completely fresh too (no bringing my team over or anything...). Show me ANYONE in Amway in the past few years that's made a Ruby-income inside of 3 months..
I came from the Britt (BWW) organization.. and my upline is now in fact in Diamond Qualification... ****and for Britt to supposedly have one of the biggest teams in all of Amway, only having ONE Diamond in qualification out of hundreds of thousands of IBOs (if not a million) is a freakin' joke!****

Thanks for leading the way, Orrin.

Adam Holland

BWW does not have "hundreds of thousands of IBOs" involved with it, let alon "a million".

Where on earth did you get that idea?

Orrin,

I wrote a post about this article over at Quixtar Blog and of course linked to the article. However you are blocking anyone from coming to this site from Quixtar Blog. Can you explain?

Truth, I apologize for whatever is blocking your comment and will get it fixed. thanks, Orrin

Orrin,

keep bringing the truth out orrin, i feel very blessed to be part of team. "NEVER GIVE UP", we can defeat the bully's as a team. We are with you 100%

God Bless, Rene

Orrin,

This is not really comment about your great article but an article I found in my local paper that I thought would interest you.

To a million strong and beyond.

Lou G

http://www.mcall.com/features/religion/all-faithseifert.6476088jun28,0,1474176.story

Orrin,

Just to clear things up, I didn't send you the article on humility to indicate that you needed to be more humble. I just thought it was a good article. I know you didn't take it as a shot but I just wanted to be sure.

To a million and beyond!
Lou G

It would be interesting to see this analysis in PV numbers---afterall; isn't PV suppose to be the inflationary index!!!