Hey Orrin, you truly are a "leader of leaders". I am proud to be with a group that is truly heading in the right direction. Keep up the good work and I'm with you to the end.

Orrin,

Why don't the family owners of Amway change their ailing company? It's because they still have enough money flowing to maintain their lifestyles (even if it is 30-60% less than 1980 income - they were only kids then anyway). Why would they care to take responsibility? They aren't in any pain.

As you have often said, change comes when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of changing. The only pain they feel is external PR pain. So that is what is focused on. It is like the alcoholic father standing over his ill child and ordering the maid to shoo the fly away instead of treating the festering wound - all the time thinking the fly is the problem when the whole time the problem was created by lack of treatment of the child. And ultimately, the reason the father orders the fly to be shoo'd away is because THAT was what was bothering him, not the wound or his ailing son.

Let's face it. When you didn't build the business, you forget (or simply never understood) what created the wealth in the first place. And, as Bob McEwan and Paul Pilzer teach, when you don't understand how the wealth is created, any solution proposed for a problem is based on faulty assumptions and will fail.

The families are not looking at the distributors and wondering how they can improve their lives, they are concerned about keeping the money flowing! And if that means from Asia, India or the polar cap - FINE! Just keep it flowing!

I wish it were more complex than this - that Dick or Doug Devos were wringing their hands, struggling with the decision of how to improve the lives of the IBOs. But I think we both know, the only thing Amway is thinking about is how to improve the lives of the family owners. Actions speak louder than words. I wish a different conclusion could be drawn.

But, I applaud your positive attitude and hope for the remaining IBOs. At least they've got someone thinking about them.

Larry

Orrin & Matt,

My family and I thank you for being salt and light in this and using words when necessary.

Thank you God Bless You.

I absolutely agree with Matt. The last time I heard Dexter speak, he was railling on about how terrible Halloween was. I know for some very devout Christians, this is a problem, but for a significant number of us, it's a fun holiday with no danger of becoming Satan worshippers. But there he was, sucking up my money, and expelling nonsense that had nothing to do with business. And this was in 1995 or thereabouts. I knew then Dexter no longer had anything of real value that he could tell me about business. the funny part of it was, not only was it late October, but there was a new distributor in a bright orange Halloween-themed shirt at the function. Never saw him again. Odd....

What impressed me at TEAM majors is the sheer competence and organization of the entire operation. Things like having hand-baskets at the entrance to the tool room denote a leadership that has studied the situation and has planned for the average TEAM member's needs. Not so in the previous organization, where long lines and chaos were more often the rule than the exception.

Thank you for leading from the front, Orrin. Godspeed

I used to like Dexter Yager quite a bit when in the Internet Services program. In fact I loved the entire program, it was a lot of fun. I still respect Dexter for what he has accomplished, but of course I feel that there is a need for him to change in many ways now that I am more informed.

I will say that there is nothing like TEAM and Leadership Incorporated. I didn't know what I was missing until I left Internet Service Corporation just over a year ago and joined TEAM. I am actually learning things of value from TEAM while having fun. Whereas I have since realized I was only having fun at Internet Services and I was hardly learning much.

Also, I was never convinced to start reading until I learned that habit from leaders of TEAM. That alone has changed my life eternally.

Thank you Team Leaders!

What I wanted to do was to make a comparison. I started as an IBO in 1997. I was never able to get a group going, and due to the challenges of the old distribution model, let my membership lapse after moving too far away from my direct to deal with getting product. I never blamed Amway for my lack of success, nor do I now. I did, however get negative feedback whenever I showed the plan due to the name.
I recently worked for another company that had a similer problem, Sprint. I was hired by Nextel about 6 months before they merged with Sprint, and found myself washed along with the tide. Durring the merge process, they had to decide what name to use for the new company. Many of us wanted them to use the Nextel name because it carried with it the reputation for value and quality, but they chose Sprint because it had greater name recognition. The problem was that, like Amwy, that recognition was a bad reputation. Since that descision, Sprint has closed hundereds of stores and let go around 10,000 employees as they continue to lose money. Amway is in for a similer fate f they do not change. The only difference is that with Sprint, I had the choice of quitting and going to work for a company that is succeeding. With Amway, I was locked in by an obscure clause that I never knew existed until I wanted out.
Nik

Good article Orrin. Way back in residency training I always believed I could learn a lot from good surgeons about what to do and bad surgeons ( and there were a few doozees) about what not to do. I could never understand how some of the bad ones stayed so bad. Either they were blind to there results, or they're egos were completely out of wack. Such is the case I guess with Q/A. Sometimes I think the Q/A initials really stands for Quack/Attack.
I have to correct you on one point however. When I was at a Q/A achievers trip I think I heard Steve VanAndel say that he built the business too. All the way up to 12% before he quit. A whopping 1000 pin.
God Bless Joe

Hi Orin:

Let me begin by disclosing that I am not involved in MLM and/or network marketing. I also agree with virtually every single one of your assertions with regard to the leadership challenges that you have pointed out. I believe this has become such an impassioned debate because this issue is very personal for those people involved in the business of network marketing. That being said, I think the discussion of leadership is not synonymous with an attack on business models...I think I may be able to offer some clarity on this issue if you'll stick with me...

My opinion is that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the business model of network marketing. In fact, the business model in-and-of-itself is rather brilliant. However I think it is also fair to note that there are a number of issues where I believe the MLM industry misses the mark, and what it is that makes most of us shiver when we hear the term network marketing…

My personal belief is that MLM is like any other business in that there are very successful and credible companies within the industry, and there are those to be avoided like the plague. In spite of whatever perceptions people may have, the fact is that companies like Amway, Mary Kay, Primerica, PrePaid Legal, and many others have sold millions upon millions of dollars of products to a broad base of satisfied customers, many of whom are NOT also reps. As further proof of credibility, many of the world's leading consumer products manufacturers have chosen to align themselves with MLM companies in diversifying their distribution strategies.

MLM is just a business model, and really amounts to little more than "micro-franchising". Its upside is that it has a very low cost of entry, with the potential for exceptional revenue, and there are those who achieve that. So why is it that in the circles I tend to run in you might as well declare yourself a leper as admit to being involved with network marketing? The answer is that for the reasons mentioned above (low barrier to entry and large earning potential) MLM doesn't always attract the best people…

The reality is that most people that have a problem with MLM don't really have a problem with the business model but rather they have a problem with some of the people they have met over the years that have been involved with MLM. This is a leadership and talent management issue, and not a business model issue.

Let me give you two personal experiences with MLM encounters at both ends of the spectrum: The first is a negative experience that occurred when my wife and I were a newly wedded couple just getting to know other young married couples in our neighborhood. We were invited over for a dinner at a neighbor's house and were excited to get to know the couple better…that is until in the middle of a pleasant conversation the husband abruptly left the room, returned with a vacuum cleaner and then promptly proceeded to demonstrate by dumping a veritable plethora of disgusting materials on his carpet so that he could show the prowess of his shiny and way overpriced machine…We in fact were not potential friends, but rather just prospects that were subjected to less than professional sales tactics.

The other experience that I'll share is one that was positive, motivating, and that is perhaps the definition of what MLM is all about. I had a workout partner for a few years that was at the highest level of the Amway hierarchy. When I met him he was three years removed from being a UPS delivery driver and was at the time making between $40 and $50 thousand dollars per month. He is an outstanding husband and father and works very hard for the income he earns. Since that time he has moved into an incredible home (he even has his own lighted baseball diamond) and his business and income have only continued to grow. In the entire time I have known him he has never once attempted to "recruit" me. He has respected what I have accomplished while I have respected what he has accomplished and I count him among my friends.

The difference between the two examples mentioned above is that in the first example the people were in fact attempting to get rich quick (while only working "part-time" I might add) by exploiting their friends and family. I certainly don't begrudge anyone the opportunity to earn a living, I just prefer that I have the opportunity to make an informed decision as to the authenticity of someone's intent. In the second example this man treated what he did as a business. He worked hard, smart, and professionally and would have been successful in any business endeavor he chose to undertake regardless of the model or platform. It was his honesty, work ethic, and professionalism that made him successful.

Bottom line…There is nothing wrong with MLM as a business model. But there is often times much that is wrong with the people it attracts and the tactics employed…it is all about the people. If an MLM organization attracts well educated people who desire to build a company based upon solid business principles and professional practices it will thrive. If the organization recruits inexperienced people with unrealistic expectations as to what it takes to build a successful company then the organization, its associates and customers will collectively experience less than favorable results.

As Orin points out this is simply a leadership issue...

Orrin -
Thank you for posting Matt's comments!

Matt -

Wow! Next time, don't beat around the bush, tell me how you really feel! :) Although we have only met once or twice, I know your background in leadership businesses and I therefore appreciate your perspective. I am proud to move onward in His name!

Jim Grant

On what Matt said,
Didn't you ever read that trashing someone else doesn't make you better. Dexter Yager may not have always said what you wanted to hear when he spoke it, but it usually meant you were not ready to hear it, you had not grown enough. It's like being taught by Prof's who are PHD grads, they talk at a level so high we have trouble understanding them.
I know Dexter doesn't need my help, but he made a business work for lots of people and helped many people.
I dont think there is one tape from Dexter that doesnt have atleast one nugget that could be used to produce a better me.
Sincerely,

Dave in FL

Dave, I think Matt in his passion may have named names, but the point is valid. If leaders do not continue to grow and learn they will fallback mentally and in influence. There is no staying the same in leadership - you are either growing or shrinking. Many of the old leaders became to confident that they had all the answers. I hate the term expert because and expert has all the answers and we are really all students attempting to learn everyday. You both have valid points so learn from each other and encourage one another. We must encourage poor leadership to change and that is what I took from Matt's excellent post. thanks, Orrin

Dave,

My apologies if I offended you in any way. Your comment about "not being ready to hear what what Dex had to say" is somewhat disheartening to me. As you should know: Information is only giving out and communicating is getting through. As communicators our job is to not put the responsibility of connecting on the audience's shoulders, it is the responsibility of the speaker to connect with the audience. The audience then decides if what he or she learned was valuable.

As for your comment about understanding PHD grads and professors: Many, not all ,high level educators have a spiritual gift of taking things that are very simple and complicating the heck out of them.

I am not attacking any one person, I am just questioning their competence. Questioning competence and attacking someone personally are 2 totally different facits. One questions ability and the other is derogatory towards a person. Never once did I make a personal attack against Dexter, I called into question his competence.

Let me explain! The reason I mentioned Dexter Yager is because of this very reason: I very respect what he did for the MLM industry, but I don't respect what he is doing now or for the past few years, based on what I heard from him. Too many leaders that are goal oriented instead of growth oriented fall into the "trap" that I talked about in my post; they make their applause greater than their continued performance! When leaders fall into this trap pretty soon they stop growing and learning. In fact to quote Dex: "They start writing books and stop reading books." Pretty soon after that thought is adopted, we give are people all that we know. Thus going forward you cannot give or add value to others unless you first have something to give.

You are right that he has helped a bunch of people. There is no denying that. However, as a growing leader, I can't help to think how many more people he could have helped had he never allowed himself to become irrelevant in his teachings. My question to the people that say his teachings are relevant is quite simply this: How much of that value is tied to blind loyalty?

I have not heard an audio from Dexter in the past 2 years or so because I stopped receiving his Cd's. I stopped my subscription based on the value I was getting for what he was teaching. Please share with me some of what you are learning currently from him that is valuable, so I can see your point of view more clearly.

As for me though: the best value for my $$ is investing in cd's by people like Orrin Woodward, Chris Brady, many other team leaders, and last but not least Dr. John C. Maxwell! Not because I am biased, but because each person I mentioned are going places both personally and professionally.

I am sorry again if I offended you with my last post and I hope my explanation helps to clear up the misconception. Thanks for your contributions!

Best,
Matt

Orrin, (Here is Part 2.....It's a long one:)

I must say that I am very humbled that you shared my comments from my previous post to help serve others. For the readers that are consistent to this blog, for the new readers, or even for the A/Q fanatics: the reason I write is to add value to others. That is it! Not to gloat or to sound like the message, but I am merely passing on to the readers the thoughts that have been dwelling in my heart and mind. Why? I have said this before on a different post: I have learned from my mentors in life that God will only give to me what He knows will flow through me. So when I learn something I think might be valuable to others, my responsibility is to pass it on to them. It does me or no one any good to hoard thoughts. If my posts bring clarity to a confusing situation in at least one person’s life than it was worth every amount of time that I have invested to write the message. That is what communicators do. They try and take a complicated subjected and make it simple. Educators take something simple and make it complicated. (That is not a negative comment towards teachers because I have had many great ones!)

There has been a lot of corporate bullying, posturing, fear tactics, and lack of emotional intelligence (almost child-like) portrayed by A/Q over the past year or so (probably longer from what I have been learning) and their actions has made it tough to sift through their noise to find the principles they are violating. Bestselling author Andy Andrews in his book “The Traveler’s Gift” said this about violating principles: “Principles are at work whether you know them or not. Ignorance of a principle does not exempt you from the principle.” Just because someone or an organization’s leaders are incompetent does not mean they or the people following them won’t have to deal with the compounding consequences of consistently violating principles.

In the last article I listed my top 5 reasons why I believe A/Q is in a downward spiral from a sheer leadership perspective. Here they are again for your reference:

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

I was never in the A/Q boardroom, but I have been a serious leadership student for some time and the actions they are choosing is what all companies have practiced before they have fallen. If they don’t start paying attention to the seeds they are sowing, they will reap a harvest that will destroy the previous 50 or 60 years of sacrifice, legacy, and contributions of others.

To recap: we spent a ton of time on first two reasons: A/Q’s inability to confront reality and stated examples of both corporate and field leadership incompetence. There are plenty of additional examples I could give for both groups of “leaders”, but I want to get off the soapbox and get on with the other reasons. No name I mentioned or people I inferred was intended to be a personal attack because like all human beings; we all have our strengths and or weaknesses. The problem A/Q faces, along with all it’s people is that the individuals that are leading the organization both at a corporate level and some field “leaders” are VERY WEAK in leadership competence, which is killing the company and destroying people’s lives! They need to step down and go work on their strengths, because they are proving that leading others is not one of them!

Issue #3 - Constructive Criticism:

Constructive criticism or valuable feedback is an achilles heel to an organization. Bestselling author Ken Blanchard has said “feedback is the breakfast of champions.” Especially the feedback a corporation receives from the top producers within an organization. There are two types of criticism that any organization receives:

1. Criticism that condemns – people criticize you because they are jealous or envious of your position. Many times criticism that hurts normally has very weak factual basis that helps an organization because much the criticism is tied to an emotional feeling, not for logical business benefit.

2. Criticism that counts – people question systems, procedures, and policy’s to ensure the business is competitive. If they are not competitive than it is up to the leaders to make them competitive. Many times the criticism is not what an organization wants to hear, but it is something that requires them to fix. Especially if the criticism comes from people that have a vested interest in the organization succeeding.

Dr. Bruce Weinstein gives us exactly what I mean by “criticism that counts.” Here's how he describes the value of criticism: "The goal of true criticism is to help someone be the best they can be…When criticism is done appropriately, the person who has been criticized will understand what he or she has done wrong and will feel inspired to make a change for the better. Not only should we not avoid being criticized, we should embrace criticism because it is the only way we can continue to grow professionally and personally."

Picture this: for the past few years 8 of the top 1% of income earners within your organization have been stating problems and issues that need to be addressed in order to stay competitive in the market, but those issues for whatever reason have fallen on deaf ears. In fact, the issues and problems brought to the table were not self-serving propaganda, but rather serving responsibilities with win-win results for everyone associated with the company as the motive.

So how would an organization know if they were receiving “Criticism that Counts” instead of “Criticism that Condemns”? According to bestselling author John Maxwell you have to put criticism to the “acid test.”

“The acid test of criticism is made up of three questions:

1. Does the criticism have basis in fact?
2. Is the criticism offered constructively (in an effort to help)?
3. Does the critic have the insight and perspective to speak credibly?

When all three questions can be answered, "yes," then a leader should take the criticism seriously and weigh its meaning.” When leaders pay any cost to ward off constructive criticism, they sacrifice their best thoughts.

In the case of A/Q let’s answer each of the three questions shall we?

Does the criticism have basis in fact? – One of the criticisms the IBOAI board brought to the attention of the A/Q leadership was the price of products. Anyone that has been affiliated with A/Q for any amount of time probably has experienced the “sticker shock” of 90 percent of their products when they log on to their website or see their catalog. I did not say 100% because I am giving them the benefit of the doubt that not all partner store products are over-priced.

For purposes of an example let’s just examine one of A/Q’s product lines for men called Tolsom. Tolsom is a men’s skin care system. Let’s just compare their shaving crème and face wash with a well respected-high end brand like the Nivea for Men line. I am not comparing Tolsom with a basic product like Edge Shave Gel because Tolsom, in my mind, is better quality than Edge. However I would compare Nivea and Tolsom side by side any day of the week; let’s compare Quality with Quality!!

Price of Nivea for Men shave Gel is $6.92 (according to Amazon.com)
Price of Tolsom shave Gel is $12.45 (according to Quixtar.com)
Price for Nivea for Men face wash (pack of 4 bottles) is $20.57 (according to Amazon.com)
Price for Tolsom Face Wash (1 bottle) is $20.62 (according to Quixtar.com)

Now let’s let the readers decide………Does anyone think the 8 IBOAI leaders that were terminated for bringing up these issues had factual information for their criticism? I would venture to say yes. I am sure each one of you would agree with them as well.

Is the criticism offered constructively (in an effort to help)?- Based on the IBOAI’s suggestion of changing the price of products; do you think changing the prices of products would have made the product more attractive to purchase? In the A/Q business the more volume that is done, the more money the distributor makes. The more competitive the prices are, the more easier it is to sell the product. If the prices were priced more competitively do you think more volume would be done? Sure you would agree with that. If more volume is done do you think people would have a better opportunity to make money? Sure they would have a better chance to make money. Do you think raising this criticism was raised to help others, which would have provided a win-win result for all distributors? YES In fact you can read a memo that Orrin Woodward wrote to Doug Devos (Founder’s Son and President), in an effort to help spearhead the turnaround. Read the article online and you decide if the tone it was written in was.

So the “Question Behind the Question” as author John Miller would say: Why wouldn’t a company want to do that? Let that question simmer a while in your brain and I will address it when I get to the issue of “Irrelevant Business Opportunity” or you might already have your answer because of the issue regarding Incompetent Leadership.

Does the critic have the insight and perspective to speak credibly? - you would think that 8 people which represent some of the largest organizations in the entire A/Q business would give you credibility wouldn’t you. I mean, do you think the Chicago Bulls valued the insight of Michael Jordan when addressing what the team needed in order to build a championship caliber team? The people in the front office don’t play in the games with Jordan. So of course they wanted his perspective and most of the time implemented his criticisms and suggestions.
A/Q works the same way. You have your leaders and you have your managers. The leaders are the people that are getting the most results in the field. A/Q management is not in the field, so wouldn’t you think that it would be hard for them to have any idea what is going on? The closest any of the Devos or VanAndel kids got to the field was asking their Dad how their day at work was coming off their sail boat.

Orrin and Laurie Woodward had the fastest growing North American A/Q business from 2000 until they were terminated in 2007. They helped many people go diamond and emerald without many of them having an Amway foundation. I am not sure of their exact figures, but you can read about them in an article on Orrin’s blog. He knows his own numbers better than I do. All I know is that the numbers were way more than practically any other A/Q group in North America. So wouldn’t you think that he along with the other 7 IBOAI board members that were terminated had credibility to raise these issues? Of course they did!

Any competent leader or organization would listen and learn from this valuable criticism and leading the charge to making the necessary wrongs, right. However, that would be the case for a GREAT organization that is called for greatness, not the case for self serving organizations like A/Q. Why did I call A/Q a self-serving organization? Very simple! Bestselling author Ken Blanchard addresses this very issue when he discussed the problem with self-serving organizations and self-serving people. Here is an excerpt from a speech I heard him give about this very topic: “Self Serving organizations and people think they own everything; they own their home, their relationships, their job, and all their life they are trying to protect what they own. How can you tell if you are dealing with a driven person? Give them feedback and they kill the messenger. Why do they kill the messenger? Because they are self serving leaders that want to protect their position, and your feedback is acting like you don’t want them to lead.” Does that sound familiar?!


I don’t know if it is a pride reason, an ego reason, an incompetence reason, or an all of the above reason as to why they don’t listen to the people with the “sweat on their brow” to make the necessary changes. That is one issue that must be addressed. Because a business’s flexibility to change and adapt is directly tied to it’s realistic ability to compete. And as the facts and figures show (without A/Q’s spin) they are losing their ability to compete.

Not only did the corporate “leaders” turn their backs on the group of 8, they decided it would give them a competitive advantage to terminate them! Can you say incompetent!!!!!?

Issue #4 – Irrelevant Business Model

There are 3 parts in my mind that make this business very irrelevant to compete effectively in the 21st century:
1. Compensation Plan
2. Product Prices
3. Image of the Company

1. Compensation Plan

I am not a professional or intelligent MLM compensation plan guru at all so I do not have the credibility to discuss anything about how their pay plan works. However, I do have common sense. The only thing I do know is that many of the top distributors in other of the top MLM companies make a lot more than many of the top achievers in the A/Q business. All system income put aside because in the A/Q business you only make system money if you play the politics in the right way. It has very little to do with your performance. If you are one of the blessed ones then you receive system income. If not, you are stuck with your little PV check.

One of the other parts of A/Q’s compensation plan, and in my mind the most important, that makes it irrelevant is that it is very hard for the new person to make money, reasonable income, not $7 dollar checks. I have seen other MLM opportunities that structure their compensation plan so not only to the performers make money, but the new person can realistically make some pretty significant income in a manageable period of time. I am all for putting in effort and anyone that expects to make money without exerting any effort is ridiculous. I just want a compensation plan that rewards people enough to take an opportunity seriously.

If people have an opportunity to make money quicker, do you think they will be more or less motivated to invest more time, resources, and effort to build towards their vision? They will be more motivated.

Sure A/Q puts out spin that you have to sell products in order to make money quickly. Based on our product price comparison above, no one in their right mind or with a good conscious would sell those products. Maybe if you live amongst the most affluent in the world, but that would disqualify most of the people in their business. Not only do they want you to sell their overpriced products, but they then hamstring you with ridiculous product marketing rules and regulations that restrict your ability to sell. This leads me to my second part of what makes this business irrelevant.

2. Product Prices

You can’t sell products if they are not priced accordingly. You can manipulate others to buy your products though. Especially since the products A/Q wants their people to sell are products that people are already used to paying between 30%-60% less for at their local store of choice. (Walmart, Meijer, Kroger, etc..) I don’t want to spend a lot of time on this issue because I was thorough when I was describing the different prices between Tolsom and Nivea. My challenge for the realistic thinker is to honestly go to A/Q’s website and search for yourself. You will be shocked at what you will find compared with what you are used paying for almost the same products at your local store. How can you be competitive if you are not competitive? You can’t be.

Remember when I asked the question: Why wouldn’t a company want to change this? I bet you thought I was going to forget to bring this up……..Do me a favor and Google “Jay Factor + Amway” and share with me what you learned. It will blow your socks off of your feet. Once you understand what it means, you will know exactly why A/Q doesn’t want to lower their prices. I am not going to explain it because if I get one calculation wrong, I wouldn’t put it pass them to come after me for misrepresentation. Once you read about it and draw your own conclusion, you will further understand what I meant when I called A/Q a self-serving organization.

Listen, I am all for making money, and lots of it for the right reasons, but to make it on the broke backs of others in my belief is terrible. I guess that is the difference between manipulating someone versus motivating someone. When you manipulate others you move them for your own benefit, but when you motivate someone you move them for mutual advantage. After you read about this “Jay Factor” you tell me if A/Q distributors are being manipulated or motivated!

3. Image of the company

The image of A/Q as you all know is not very good to say the least. Anytime the word Amway is mentioned, people cringe and walk (if not run) away. How can anybody, in the 21st century, build a business like your and be proud of the image you have created. Common………We are in the information age, not the product –pick – up age! Information is plentiful and trust me there is plenty of information about A/Q all over the web that just adds to their poor image.

Other than having a poor compensation plan, high priced products, and a poor brand image this company is a good opportunity! I hope you see my sarcasm!

Issue #5 – Business Ownership vs. People Ownership

When I used to be in the A/Q business, it was pitched to me as a business that was mine. In fact, they even said I was an Independent Business Owner. After explaining all 5 of my issues with this company, you don’t have to be a genius to know that you are more like a DBO or a “Dependent Business Owner.” You are dependent because an A/Q affiliated field rep is dependent on A/Q’s incompetent decisions, incompetent leadership, irrelevant business model, and high product prices. Think about it: if you were independent, you are free from this debacle!! You set the pace and make the decisions for yourself.

The people ownership side is once you are in; you are their property. Read the court documents and you will find where they called everyday people like you and me “their property.” Let me explain. After I had registered in their business and without me knowing, they added in a clause into my auto-renewal that said I could not go and compete against them for 6 months, use any trade secrets, etc…. Here is the kicker; when you sign up for auto-renewal A/Q just charges your credit card and the only time you know it was done was when you got your credit card statement. Never once did I receive any notification that I was committing myself to be their property.

Let me give you a few of my opinions regarding this non-compete, trade secret junk!:

1. People like Orrin and the rest of team, or for that matter people that leave A/Q, don’t have to compete with you in order to beat you. Your leadership is doing a great job destroying the organization.

2. Trust me A/Q no one wants your trade secret. They are not valuable at all. You are proving that consistently. Think about it: who in their right mind would want anyone’s trade secrets that have been proven to fail year in and year out. Stop taking yourselves too seriously. You might think you’re good, but common, your numbers are dropping faster than you can get your next lawsuit out the door.

3. If I knew I was going to be called someone else’s property, never would have I signed up for this so-called opportunity. News flash to the A/Q managers: this is the USA not the USSR! We are free people to live a life of our priorities and responsibilities!

4. If people were unconscious when they “apparently agreed” to the Non-Compete doesn’t that make it void? Oh that’s right…..you are in the business of manipulation!

5. STOP THE HARRASSMENT AND LAWSUITS!! – how many more people have to be hurt or punished because they want to take their talents elsewhere and apply them to another opportunity or another venue in their life! If I want to lead my life, who has the authority to tell me or my wife that we have to accept our life? Nobody does! Especially two - faced families and gutless two-faced so called “leaders”!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If your opportunity was so good A/Q, people wouldn’t want to leave…..would they? Don’t force people into staying with your opportunity. Les Brown said “A man convinced his will is of the same opinion still!” Force yourselves to make your opportunity better and people won’t want to leave!! The buck has got to stop with you! Take responsibility for your failures and fix them or face the consequences when you are forced to close your doors!! Learn from these 5 issues and FIX WHAT YOU NEED TO FIX! Face the reality, get competent leadership steering the ship, accept constructive criticism, change your business model, and stop viewing people as property!

In Conclusion:

To all TEAM leaders and friends; thanks for meeting the needs of the hour! Orrin and Laurie, Chris and Terri, thank you so much for standing up for what is right and not wavering! All of us are better people because of the example you all set!

My prayer is that this post will land in the hands of someone that can put a stop to all this childish behavior that A/Q is exemplifying. This has been a very difficult post for me to write, not because it is not based on truth (it is 100% the truth), but because I have seen great men and women’s character come under fire from people that, based on the facts I presented to everyone, have no room to label anyone except themselves! I have never seen a company behave or carry itself like this, with the exception of Enron, WorldCom, and the other scandalous companies we have all heard about over the past few years.

God Bless,
Matt

Bravo Matt!!! SO WELL PUT!! My old upline reminds me so much of Amway leaders......BLIND SPOTS.......or was it just denial???? No matter what we did or said....it didn't make a bit of difference! They had been around so long, that winning wasn't the goal to them anymore....it was just winning out!! We are so thankful that TEAM came along and got us out of the sorry situation!!! THANK YOU TEAM!!! And yes......Dexter was a broken record.....come on the stage at Midnight......totally interrupt Birdie....who was halfway interesting....then start droning and droning.....about what a womanizer he was......how many girlfriends he had in Highschool.....talk about a small man image!!! My husband and I never left our seats though....that would be TABOO......you could never succeed if you left the auditorium when Dex was on stage droning! Yes....Dex worked hard to get where he was and he beat the odds......but then it turned into being all about HIM!! I have such bad memories of all the time and money my husband and I spent in Quixtar and all the work we put into it for 6 hard years.....that we are afraid to get going in Mona Vie. We have no help or encouragement from our former Emerald or Double Diamond......who we are under once again. We are happy for others who are succeeding......we are happy for the TEAM......we are cheering you all on.........we are slowly registering people......we just need to really believe again!! Thank you Matt for throwing your hat into the ring. You have our applaud!!! Each accounting we read like yours....gives us hope that we can get going again!! I don't even care if this gets posted.....it just feels good to share the pain!! I'm sure there are many who feel like we do! Orrin....thank you for everything you have done so far.....if you do nothing else.....we are grateful and respect you a whole lot!! P.S. Oh....and the other article that posted....Our unrequalified Sapphires were the wolves.....our unrequalified Platinums were the sheep and my qualified Founder's Platinum husband was the sheepdog! The picture keeps getting clearer!!

To anon, the one that starts out with Bravo Matt!!!! I just wanted to let you know that we too were in a similiar sitsuation but we just kept hangin on and the Lord blessed our committment by bringing into ourlives people who encouraged us with out any gain (they are cross line). While they can't give us any specific advice on how to build our business (which we don't need cuz it's not rocket science) they love on us, encourage us, inspire us and most of all they teach by example how to lead our lives and our teams. All this after hanging on for 15 years is amazing!!! Please just go out and build this business and think of it like this, if you can go out and build and maintain a Founders Platinumship business in A/Q then you can definetly do way more than that with MV! Just never ever miss any open (assuming you have one in your area), seminar and especially a major. Oh, if you are plugged into a major where the Michiganites are not, then I would suggest you make other arrangements to be where ever they are even if you have to go to both!!


Stay Strong!

Orrin:

Just began the book "Leadership and Self-Deception" by The Arbinger Institute today. I have read the Preface and through the first three chapters of Part 1 and it is quite evident what the challenge continues to be here.

Allow me to quote from the book "Identify someone with a problem and you'll be identifying someone who resists the suggestion that he has a problem. That's self-deception - the inability to see that one has a problem. Of all the problem's in organizations, it's the most common - and the most damaging"

We all struggle or have struggled at some time with this to a greater of lesser degree.

Thank you for your dedication Leading and helping us all face our own Self-deceptions.

Theodore

I have not even made it all of the way through teh main article, let alone the comments, but this quote hit me so hard that I felt I had to comment on it and then when I am able to come back and finish the article perhaps have more to say.

He said under the idea of confronting reality, "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." What A list!

I was telling my wife as I sat here reading that, that if I could say that I was not useless in those areas he mentioned I would feel a sense of accomplishment in my life like I have never felt. I'm getting there, and it takes time, but that is a list of things I would proud to not be useless at. Being even moderately good at those things means you can literally put your hand to anything and receive a measure of success.

Looking forward to reading the rest of this later...