July 2022 Direct Selling News

DSN

DIRECT SELLING NEWS

VOLUME 18 / ISSUE 7

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AVOIDING YOUR LEADERSHIP BLIND SPOTS HOW TO BEST COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR TEAM

LEADING

BY EXAMPLE A R E T H E C H A N N E L’ S ICONIC CEOS BIGGER THAN THEIR BRANDS?

IC

Direct selling software, without limits In an industry that demands adaptability, Exigo delivers unrivaled access to the data that drives your business, from CRM to transactions to commissions.

Flexible, scalable, and powerful, with Exigo the possibilities are unlimited.

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LISTEN TO THIS. THREE DIFFERENT PODCASTS, EACH DESIGNED FOR THE DIRECT SELLING CHANNEL.

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ICONIC I N S I G H T S with HEATHER CHASTAIN

BIWEEKLY Timely insights and relevant takeaways from executives for executives to help grow and evolve your businesses

SPECIAL EDITIONS Deep dives into the biggest issues and opportunities surrounding the channel

SUBSCRIBE TO ALL THREE!

MONTHLY Candid conversations with some of the world’s best-known authors, speakers and innovators sharing their unique insights on entrepreneurship

NEW FOR

2022

ICONIC I N S I G H T S

C O N T E N T S J U LY

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36 F E AT U R E S

Avoiding Leadership Blind Spots B Y H E AT H E R C H A S TA I N

Communicating to Your Team so Everyone Wins More B Y TO N Y J E A R Y

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DEPARTMENTS

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F O R YO U / F O R YO U R F I E L D /

Your Essential Monthly Motivation

B Y

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CHELSE A HUGHES

ICONIC INSIGHTS /

Jason Dorsey: Connect with Gen Z B Y PAU L A F E L P S

I N EV ERY ISSU E 6 AD INDEX // 9 FROM THE PUBLISHER // 11 INDUSTRY NEWS // 30 FORWARD THINKING // 75 DSA MESSAGE // 76 SUPPLIER DIRECTORY //

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DIRECT SELLING NEWS

Serving the Direct Selling and Network Marketing Executive Since 2004 A Direct Selling Partners Company FOUNDER AND CEO

Stuart P. Johnson PUBLISHER

Shelley Rojas S T R AT E G I C A D V I S O R

Heather Chastain EDITOR

COVER STORY

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LEADING BY EXAMPLE

Are the channel’s iconic Founder/CEOs becoming bigger than the brands they built?

BY LISA ROBERTSON

Lisa Robertson editor@directsellingnews.com NE WS EDITOR

Sarah Paulk pr@directsellingnews.com C R E AT I V E D I R E C T O R

Susan Douglass ART DIREC TORS

Greg Luther Jenny Paredes

PRODUCTION M ANAGER

Virginia Le

PRODUCTION ARTIST

Megan Knoebel Ascencio COPY EDITOR

Peter Tepp

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT M ANAGER

Jerilyn Taylor advertising@directsellingnews.com PROGR A MS AND SUBSCRIPTION M ANAGER

Nancy Ratcliff

CONTENT CONTRIBUTORS

Heather Chastain Tony Jeary CONTRIBUTORS

Paula Felps Chelsea Hughes David Lee

Sarah Paulk Lisa Robertson Beth Douglass Silcox

Direct Selling News (ISSN 15546470) is published monthly by Direct Selling Partners, 5800 Democracy Drive, Suite 100, Plano, TX 75024. Periodicals postage paid at Lake Dallas, TX and additional mailing offices.

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Leading the Way

IN THESE CHALLENGING TIMES, when so many companies are understaffed and overburdened, I know many of the executives in the channel are hyper focused on leadership. It’s important that each of us dig deep for ways to help our teams, both internal and in the field. The saying “we are in the people business” has never carried more meaning than it does today. The world has changed, and what people need and want has changed. Our leadership styles must evolve and adapt to provide people what they need to feel appreciated, encouraged and successful in today’s environment.

With that in mind, we dedicated this issue to leadership. Each of the articles this month offers insights and strategies into how executives are answering the call for new and innovative ways to inspire and evolve the channel. We’ve got all bases covered—from a deep dive into the evolving role of the Founder/CEO, to a primer on the leadership blind spots you may not be aware of, to some quick, easily actionable strategies to better the communication style of your team—you’ll find it all in this month’s DSN.

We’ve also included an excerpt from this month’s Iconic Insights podcast where our host Heather Chastain interviews the always insightful and entertaining Jason Dorsey. If you are looking for ways to best connect with Gen Z, Jason is an expert like no other!

DSN is your daily resource for global news impacting the direct selling channel. If you haven’t yet, make sure to sign up for the weekly dashboard email which delivers a week’s worth of news in a quick 15-minute read each Sunday. You can also sign up for free text alerts by becoming a member of our VIP Community where you’ll always get the top stories first and fast.

I’m excited to share that the DSU executive educational event will be back this fall with both in-person and virtual options available free of charge. I hope you can join us October 6-7, 2022 in Irving, Texas—register now at dsu2022.com

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The Month in News Affecting Our Channel 12 / Insights 16 / Sustainability 18 / Events 21 / Top 5 News Watch 22 / Executive Announcements 28 / CCR Program

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I N S I G H T S

INSIGHTS

For the full articles, visit directsellingnews.com/ category/news/

Designing with Generations in Mind Prevents Brands from Becoming “Niche Players”

A

recent study conducted by Oracle in partnership with CRM Essentials illustrated that younger generations have a higher level of trust for social media influencers than they do brands. Almost 40 percent of Millennials and Gen Z survey participants reported feeling this way—numbers that were 2.4 times higher than Baby Boomers.

This generational divide has become a key indicator for how to design effective customer service. Whereas Baby Boomers who need to troubleshoot a problem with a new product might instinctively reach for the phone to call a customer service representative, younger consumers instinctively reach for what they know and trust—which is authentic, brief videos from an online representative they see as knowledgeable.

In fact, the Oracle study discovered that online communities are rapidly replacing traditional customer service channels. Only 18 percent of participants reported wanting to pick up the phone to call customer service with a question. Almost one-third of consumers would rather

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comment on a brand’s social media page and nearly onequarter would prefer to direct message a brand.

Across generations, 93 percent of consumers said they turn to videos on a social media platform, like YouTube or TikTok, to get an answer to their product or service question.

Why? Respondents said they trust this content because it is created by other consumers (20 percent); the answer is easily searchable (19 percent); and there are a lot of videos to choose from (14 percent).

Turning to an online interaction with strangers instead of calling up a brand to talk to customer service is quickly becoming the norm for consumers. For now, there is still room for call centers and traditional customer service channels, but brands who refuse to take their communications to the next level, allowing for social mediaenhanced customer service, quick direct message chat services and TikTok-style product videos, are choosing to become a niche brand that will lose out on the next generation of buyers. DSN

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I N S I G H T S

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DSA Reports Industry Retail Sales in U.S. Reached $42.7 Billion in 2021

T

he direct selling industry experienced record high retail sales in 2021 in the United States, according to the Direct Selling Association’s (DSA) Direct Selling Growth and Outlook Survey for 2021.

“The U.S. direct selling channel experienced recordsetting sales and growth during the pandemic,” said Joseph N. Mariano, DSA President. “As expected, in 2021 the number of direct sellers has moved closer to pre-pandemic levels after the significant increase in 2020. The impact our channel had on local economies, its philanthropic contributions to communities across the country, and the demonstrated resilience of the business model represent ongoing momentum for stable, sustainable growth.”

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The channel served 44.6 million customers, resulting in a 6.4 percent increase in retail sales or $42.7 billion. The number of direct sellers decreased 5.2 percent during 2020 to 7.3 million, a number that remains higher than the total reported the previous year.

“Innovation and flexibility are the hallmarks of direct selling companies, to the benefit of direct sellers and consumers,” Mariano said. “The public’s opinion of the direct selling channel, in large part for the way it adapted to a rapidly changing and disruptive world, may be the industry’s greatest achievement. Direct sellers and customers alike entered this decade at an incredible level of momentum and respect.” DSN

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DSN SHARES A COMMON GOAL WITH THE SUPPLIER COMMUNITY—to serve and support the growth and evolution of direct selling companies. When they win, we all win—including millions of customers and distributors around the globe.

Our mission is to serve, educate and edify the channel with daily breaking global news, emerging trends and powerful stories, made possible through the generosity and support of our Premier Supplier Partners. Thank you for your dedication to the direct selling channel!

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S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y

S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

For the full articles, visit directsellingnews.com/ category/news/

Nu Skin Joins Sustainability‑Focused Consortium to Improve Industry Standards

N

u Skin has become a member of the EcoBeauty Consortium, a group working to develop an industry-wide environmental impact assessment and scoring system for cosmetics products.

“An increasing number of shoppers are basing their purchasing decisions on the environmental impact of products,” said Ruth Todd, Nu Skin Senior Vice President and Chief Reputation Officer. “It’s time to provide customers with even more clarity and transparency into the environmental impact of their beauty products. We look forward to partnering with other industry leaders and developing a globally recognized system that allows consumers to make informed decisions.”

Nu Skin joins more than 40 other cosmetics brands, including Colgate-Palmolive, Coty and Unilever with the goal of uniformly measuring the environmental impact of products. The Consortium is also working with sustainability consultants Quantis to create a robust and scientific approach to designing this assessment methodology.

This new sustainability scoring system will be guided by: n The

principles of the “Product Environmental Footprint,” the European Union’s scientific method based on life cycle assessment for quantifying the environmental footprint of products;

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n An

environmental impact database of standard ingredients and raw materials;

n An

environmental impact assessment tool of individual products;

n A third-party verified

scoring system that allows companies to voluntarily inform consumers about the environmental footprint of their cosmetics products. DSN

Infinitus Honored for Sustainability-Focused Architecture of Its Headquarters

I

nfinitus was recently recognized for the design of Infinitus Plaza, its headquarters in Guangzhou’s new Baiyun Central Business District. The 185,643-square-meter center was designed by Zaha Hadid Architects over the span of 5 years, costing approximately $671 million.

Named the jury winner and the People’s Choice because of its innovative approach to design, construction and sustainability, Infinitus Plaza was built to LEED Gold certification standards, with life cycle carbon emissions calculated at 15.3 percent embodied carbon and

84.7 percent operational carbon emissions. The plaza was also optimized to reduce concrete usage and instead utilized more than 25,000 tons of recycled material. Other sustainability-forward features include external perforated aluminum shading panels to reduce solar heat gain; double-insulated low-E glazing; effective shading and heat insulation to lower energy consumption; and a smart management system that safeguards indoor air quality and automatically activates a network of sprinklers to naturally cool interior temperatures. DSN d i r e c t s e l l i n g n e w s . c o m 17

/ INDUSTRY NEWS /

E V E N T S

EVENTS

Kyäni Global Convention Debuts New Shopping Technology

K

YÄNI, INC. HOSTED MORE THAN 1,500 business partners at its annual global Amaze! Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event featured a welcome party with DJ RanKan; a two-day convention at the Paris Hotel in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip; a Masquerade Gala that recognized almost 3,000 Business Partner achievements and 13,000 rank advancements; and a live-stream virtual option that was accessed in 50 countries.

More than 40 speakers discussed business-building techniques and participants experienced interactive product displays, a photo booth video wall, an exclusive VIP lounge and a sneak peek preview of the company’s new online shopping experience that will launch this summer.

PM-International Hosts Largest World Management Congress in Company History

P

M-INTERNATIONAL WELCOMED MORE THAN 3,500 leaders live in Luxembourg for the biggest World Management Congress in company history.

This is the first time in three years that leaders from Asia were able to personally attend after their home countries lifted many travel restrictions.

CEO and Founder Rolf Sorg announced efforts to reach the $3 billion mark in sales as the company approaches its 30th anniversary. The company currently serves more than 3.5 million customers worldwide and announced expansion plans to open new offices in Portugal, Belgium, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Hungary, Colombia and New Zealand this year.

Seldia Hosts 8th European Direct Selling Conference

S

ELDIA, THE EUROPEAN DIRECT SELLING ASSOCIATION, hosted 155 delegates over two days in Brussels and online in a hybrid event. The gathering follows a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.

“The past years have profoundly changed our sector,” said Beatrice Nelson-Beer, Seldia President, prior to the event. “The conference will be an opportunity to take stock and look to what is ahead for direct selling in Europe. And to meet in person, at long last.”

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A N N O U N C E M E N T S

For the full articles, visit directsellingnews.com/ category/news/

EXECUTIVE ANNOUNCEMENTS

Gordon Hester

Roberto Vicinanza

Paul Jarvis

General Manager Sales for USA and Canada, PM-International PM-International announced the hiring of Gordon Hester as the company’s new General Manager Sales for USA and Canada. Hester joins PM-International with three decades of experience in multiple industries, with emphasis in strategic development, analysis and sales and has worked in both the operational and field side of the direct selling industry.

Hester will now lead sales strategy for PM-International’s American and Canadian markets and will support the company’s partners and customers in North America.

Scientific Advisory Board, Kyäni Kyäni announced that Roberto Vicinanza, M.D., Ph.D. has been appointed to the company’s Scientific Advisory Board. Vicinanza is a physician, geriatrician, researcher and associate professor at USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, a research institution that specializes in the field of aging. His expertise will bring innovative scientific support to the role.

“It is never too late to build new nutritional habits and embrace a healthy and active lifestyle, creating a significant positive impact on people’s lives at any age,” Vicinanza said.

“Nitric oxide may mediate some of the benefits of a balanced diet and exercise, supporting cardiovascular health and overall well-being and potentially promoting healthy aging.”

Chief Operating Officer and Global President, Tocara Tocara, Inc. has appointed Paul Jarvis as the company’s new Global President and Chief Operating Officer (COO). Tocara Founder Randall Markus will remain active within the company as CEO. “We are thrilled to have Paul join Tocara and to lead the company into the next phase of growth,” Markus said. “By harnessing the potential of digital assets, Paul has successfully led organizations to achieve periods of double-digit growth internationally and we are confident that he is the right person to take our company global.”

Jarvis joins the company from an $800 million U.S. direct sales company and has spent the last 25 years working with a number of global direct sales companies within the U.S., U.K., France, Switzerland, Malaysia and Russia. He will now lead Tocara’s daily operational and management responsibilities.

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Dr. Andreas Laabs Chief Executive Officer, LR Global LR Global Holding GmbH announced that Dr. Andreas Laabs, currently Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer for the company, will succeed Andreas Friesch as Chief Executive Officer. Friesch will now also step down from his other management positions in the company.

“I would like to thank Andreas Friesch for the joint successes we have achieved for the LR Group and wish him all the best on behalf of all LR employees and partners,” said Dr. Laabs. “I am looking forward to building on the foundations laid with the LR management team. We will continue to further digitalize our corporate structures and drive forward our international expansion by expanding our business in South Korea. Together, we are tackling the challenges of the current market environment.

In particular, we are dealing with the currently unpredictable development of the macroeconomic situation due to the conflict with Russia, the general pressure on supply chains and global trade and the resulting restraint in private consumption.

Nevertheless, we are confident that we will be able to continue the LR Group’s successful course in the long term.”

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A N N O U N C E M E N T S

For the full articles, visit directsellingnews.com/ category/news/

Carla Stent Board Leadership, Telecom Plus Telecom Plus announced Carla Stent will now serve as a Non-Executive Director and Audit Committee Chair.

Stent also holds a non-executive board role with a number of other companies, including JP Morgan Elect plc, Marex Group and the Post Office Limited.

As an executive, Stent has worked as Chief Operating Officer and Partner at Virgin Group, as Deputy Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer of the Global Retail and Commercial Bank arm of Barclays Bank and more.

Roberto Marques Natura &Co Announces Group Reorganization Natura &Co’s strategic direction to increase accountability among its brands, including Natura, Avon, The Body Shop and Aesop, will now also include a group restructuring. After a season of acquisitions and what the company described as “complex integration of its businesses, processes and a common sustainability vision,” Natura &Co will now embark on a period of evolution as it seeks a simpler holding company structure.

Non-executive director Fabio Barbosa, who served as Chairman of the People Committee, will now lead the Natura &Co Group and help define the new corporate structure of the company in the coming months.

Roberto Marques, the company’s current CEO and Executive Chairman, will step down from his roles but will remain on the board of directors to ease transition.

Marques plans to retire by the end of 2022. The roles of Sustainable Growth Officer and Chief Transformation Officer will no longer exist, although the company stated that it may revisit these roles in the future.

Vincent McMahon Distribution Center General Manager, Southwestern Family of Companies Southwestern Family of Companies announced it has appointed Vincent “Vince” McMahon to the role of General Manager for Southwestern Distribution Center.

This 100,000 square foot distribution center handles the fulfillment needs for all of the Southwestern Family of Companies organizations and now also offers third-party logistical partnerships with full-service distribution, including bulk storage, order fulfillment and 2-day shipping to 60 percent of the U.S. population.

McMahon has more than two decades of operational leadership experience and specializes in distribution management, sales operations, data performance analysis and team building.

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IDLife Strengthens Executive Team with New Leadership Structure Newly appointed IDLife Chief Executive Officer Josh Paine announced shifts within the company’s executive team as part of a new data-driven strategy to drive momentum. n Laura Brandt has been appointed to the role of President and will now establish the company’s short- and long-term goals, oversee resource allocation and help cast Paine’s vision. nM ark Bennett has been promoted to Chief Business and Legal Officer. Previously, Bennett served as the company’s COO and General Counsel. In this new role, Bennett will work closely with Paine to execute key growth strategies, manage and develop new business opportunities, oversee the company’s legal and regulatory affairs, enhance the company’s product offerings and provide counsel to the board of directors, chairman, CEO and other senior management. n J ustin Sparks is now the company’s Chief Financial Officer. Sparks worked with Paine at a previous organization as well as a number of large and small start-up ventures, and will now oversee the company’s financial strategy to increase profitability, improve overall financial health and use data and analytics to drive business. DSN

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based solely on a company’s customer-to-distributor ratio taking into consideration the following definitions:

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IRECT SELLING COMPANIES with a strong retail base of satisfied customers are experiencing impressive growth and deserve recognition and acknowledgment for

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Crafting Your International Messages Vital Factors for Marketing in Multiple Countries and Cultures.

E

BY DAVID LEE

XPANDING BUSINESS TO OTHER COUNTRIES presents countless challenges. Your marketing strategy can vary incredibly. Some marketing and branding efforts can have a global appeal, while others need to be uniquely crafted for different cultures.

Let’s look at three key issues to focus on when developing a marketing strategy when expanding into new countries.

1/ INDIVIDUAL VS. GROUP MINDSET

National cultures can lean more individualistic or collective. More individually minded countries, such as the U.S., tend to focus on achieving personal goals and react to more targeted marketing messages. Collective cultures, such as many Latin American areas, usually prioritize community or family values over individual people. “Standing out from the crowd” is sharply contrasted to wanting to feel part of a group.

This can reflect the duality of the direct selling industry, leveraging individual relationships but also providing a group culture of like-minded people.

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Different cultural mindsets can affect customer behavior. Customized products and even customized online navigation have become expectations in North American markets, but longterm brand reputation is more valued in collectiveminded cultures. National brands tied to the country’s heritage are important in areas such as Costa Rica and South Korea. People can value those brands over newer or foreign ones.

Psychology Today offers these website design and content tips for individualist and collectivist countries.

INDIVIDUALIST COUNTRIES 1. Give visitors a sense of personal achievement to motivate actions.

2. Use content that uses novelty and difference to attract attention.

3. Create competitions and challenges to engage your customers.

4. Use controversial language (if appropriate).

5. Attractive images should favor youth and material symbols of success.

COLLECTIVIST COUNTRIES 1. Engage the community—“we” not “me.”

2. Respect moral tenets, traditions and status.

3. Be careful when using images—especially when

depicting women or people smiling.

4. Focus on wisdom and the experience of age.

5. Show that you respect privacy and security of

personal info.

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/ BRAND LOYALTY DIFFERENCES As mentioned earlier, national identity can greatly influence brand loyalty. This can also apply to individual state, territories and cities. Napa Valley wines, Chicago deep-dish pizza and Central Texas barbeque are just a few cultural examples throughout the U.S. that create strong ties to local brands in the food industry.

Brand loyalty tends to be stronger in collectiveminded countries. Cultural traditions can be a core pillar of brand loyalty. Creating loyalty programs, re‑order incentives and long-term customer rewards can be more effective with this type of culture. Conversely, less brand loyalty means putting higher priority on convenience, price and promotion.

This means people more likely willing to try new brands and open to trying samples.

Data research firm Qualtrics studied more than 17,000 consumers across 18 countries to calculate a “loyalty index” on how likely consumers in those countries are to trust, purchase more and recommend products and services. Here’s how the countries ranked from most to least loyal: 1.

2.

3.

4T. 4T. 6.

7.

8T. 8T.

India Indonesia Thailand Hong Kong Philippines Malaysia Mexico Singapore U.S.

10T. 10T. 10T. 13.

14T. 14T. 16.

17.

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Australia Brazil UK South Korea Canada France Spain Germany Japan

6 DO YOUR RESEARCH

CONSIDER THESE SIX VITAL MARKET

RESEARCH FACTORS WHEN EXPANDING INTO A NEW COUNTRY.

4CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

Understand customs, traditions, religious beliefs and how they fit or clash with what your brand represents.

4ECONOMICS

3/ CREATE LOCALIZED MARKETING CAMPAIGNS

Localized marketing can involve an array of strategies from imagery, color selection, clothing, slogans, social media hashtags and even understanding local language or slang. For example, in America, McDonald’s is often called “Mickey D’s.” In Australia, it’s “Macca’s.” Buffalo Wild Wings is “Bdubs” and Target is “Tarjay.” The authentic consumer experience helps shape the brands, and this consumer-created culture can be leveraged for localized marketing campaigns.

As a direct selling example, anime is incredibly popular in Japan (and a roughly $20 billion export) and has spilled over into many forms of advertising.

When Ambit Energy expanded to Japan, it created an anime-style cartoon named “Sparky” to help promote the launch.

Localized marketing might require unique online experiences for website visitors or creating multiple social media accounts geared toward different countries. The strategy and timing of social media posts can be affected as well. Choosing images for print and digital campaigns can vary based on cultural traditions, clothing, age demographics, lifestyles and even seasonal celebrations and holidays. DSN

Is the country currently experiencing economic growth? Or are things on the downturn? Economic timing and messaging are important factors when creating international marketing projects.

4LEGALITIES AND REGULATIONS

Laws vary from country to country and sometimes withing specific states and territories. Certain food ingredients might be banned. Manufacturing requirements can also be significantly different.

4POLITICS

Is your target region more conservative or more liberal? Is there political stability? These factors play a huge role in whether it’s worth your investment if stability is an issue.

4COSTS

How expensive is it to do business in the country?

Shipping, licenses and translation services costs can vary and add up quickly. Know the prohibitive taxes and fees on businesses.

4DEMOGRAPHICS

Some countries have much older or younger populations than others. Roughly 26 percent of people in Japan, for example, are over the age of 65. Buying power is also an important consideration. Can enough people even afford your products or services?

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Twitter Upgrades Analytics and Accessibility for Spaces Chat Feature Take advantage of this easy way to connect with teams—both corporate and field.

BY DAVID LEE

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N LATE 2020, Twitter launched its Spaces feature to capitalize on the growing trend of live audio group chats. However, it was limited to those with at least 600 followers. A year later, it was available to everyone. Now, Spaces is evolving once again to include detailed analytics, making it easier for people to discover when chats go live.

If you’re not familiar with how Spaces works, it allows users to create a live audio chat room similar to the Clubhouse platform. Hosts can control chat rooms, remove people and invite participants to speak. The goal is to help people exchange ideas, teach and engage in conversation. It can be an effective platform for direct selling leaders and teams to huddle up; hold a Q&A session; offer tips; interview customers; or do a quick training.

Purple bubbles appear at the top of a user’s timeline when live conversations are happening.

Users can tap on a bubble to join a Space and then message a host to request to speak. The new features announced in early May allow hosts and co-hosts on iOS and Android to view analytics about their Spaces such as live listeners, total replays and number of speakers.

When a host starts a Space, a notification card will be tweeted out, making it easier for people to find live chats to participate in. Before this feature, hosts had to tweet out a link to the Space they created.

Live Spaces now feature more information, such as

TWITTER USERS

BY AGE GROUP AGE

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(SOURCE: STATISTA .COM)

host information, topics, active listeners and who’s shared a tweet. Twitter is testing a feature that lets hosts clip 30 seconds of audio from recorded Spaces to share them with followers.

Twitter expects its audience to gain up to 315 million by 2023 using the Twitter Spaces feature.

Spaces can have 11 speakers, one host and two co-hosts. Fifty-two percent of Twitter users use Twitter daily. DSN d i r e c t s e l l i n g n e w s . c o m 3 5

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BY H E AT H E R C H A S TA I N

I’M NOT SURE THE WORLD NEEDS

ANOTHER PONTIFICATION ON LEADERSHIP STRATEGIES

complete with bullet points, numbered lists and corporate-speak. But as a former President of a few iconic direct selling brands, and advising and consulting with many other amazing companies both in and outside our channel, I’ve seen a few common blind spots that even seasoned executives can easily overlook.

So, with no bullets or numbers in sight, here are a few suggestions to up your leadership game:

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WE HAVE A greater obligation to always see the bigger picture and know that we

Remember your Power as Leaders

Genuine connection starts at the top. Community within your organization doesn’t live in the company Facebook group or Slack Channels. True community starts in YOUR office—building trust, fellowship and openness with the entire team. We know the importance of recognition to motivate our field leaders, but often don’t employ those same practices in our home offices. Creating a loyal community starts with listening for opportunities to recognize and celebrate contributions at every level.

Seek out opportunities to highlight a job well done, no matter how significant or mundane.

But be sure to recognize the right things. Too many times, we recognize those who pulled the all-nighter or fixed a crazy problem while overlooking the planners, the maintainers, the doers—those who keep us ahead of schedule, on-track and help us avoid problems without us ever knowing! Becoming a world-class recognizer will model this behavior for others—you’ll be surprised how fast it multiplies and how positive an impact it can have on your team.

Our teams look to us for all the signals…all the time. Our confidence, our energy, our belief in our mission is all seen, felt and mirrored by everyone around us. Our willingness to approach

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have the power to really impact the quality of lots and lots of people’s lives.

our business with unflagging optimism, devoid of cynicism, regardless of what’s happening, will mark the difference in morale, retention, referrals and generally happy and high-functioning groups of people.

We don’t get the luxury of a bad day. Well, not more than once or twice a year, anyway! We have a greater obligation to always see the bigger picture and know that we have the power to really impact the quality of lots and lots of people’s lives.

I’ve found that when I can keep my eye on the horizon (metaphorically speaking given my current view of the mountains) and my hand steady on the wheel (to see how many metaphors I can butcher) that my impact as a leader increases tenfold. And a little secret? All that raw determination to remain positive has the most bizarre impact on you, too.

Any guesses? Yep…you will BE more positive.

And that’s a good thing, no matter what.

THREE KEY T A K E A W AY S

1 / SEEK OUT OPPORTUNITIES TO RECOGNIZE A JOB WELL DONE

Don’t focus solely on the heroic, over-the-top crisis averters for praise. Acknowledge the key role of the planners and doers in your organization that keep the train on the tracks every day.

2 / FIND THE RIGHT BALANCE BETWEEN EMOTIONAL AND RATIONAL RESPONSES

Passion is important, but don’t react to resistance without first truly understanding the objection.

3 / STRATEGIC PLANNING IS NOT A ONE-TIME EVENT

Strategy is something we should be doing every day as part of our day-to-day activities.

Strike the Right Emotional vs.

Rational Balance

Guard yourself against overly emotional reactions and responses, particularly when dealing with points of difference between field organizations and the Home Office. You and your team members make short-term and long-term decisions based on what you believe to be the best course of action for your brand. When rolling out change to the field, there will certainly be both advocates and adversaries.

It’s very easy to slip into a reactive mode based on a post that someone makes or hearing from the

vocal one or three that may be unhappy about the change. Stay calm, stay steadfast.

This also applies internally, particularly when working through significant change. There is the point in any project, rollout, implementation or initiative (insert your word-of-the-day for change here) where everyone wants to bail. Sometimes from exhaustion and sometimes from a kernel of a good reason. As leaders, we should always be thoughtful about and open to pivoting, but sometimes you have to believe enough for everyone.

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APPLY YOUR JUDGMENT—calmly, rationally and thoroughly. Have enough confidence to change direction if you genuinely believe it’s the right thing to do. But also have enough confidence not to, particularly in the face of opposition.

have a unique point of view on a project—your vantage point allows you to see things that your team can’t always see. Or perhaps you have a clearer sense of how this thing fits into your overall vision.

When dissention creeps in (minor or major) it’s always good to: (apologies for breaking the numbered list thing, but these are more like instructions, so I hope you’ll forgive):

1/ LISTEN AND UNDERSTAND THE CONCERN. Really

listen, though. Don’t just assume you know what the concern is and formulate your response while they’re talking. I have found that if you first assume that the other person is right and you are wrong, and then listen for proof of that (instead of the other way around) more often than not you will learn something.

2

/ BOUNCE THAT FEEDBACK BACK AGAINST YOUR ORIGINAL ASSUMPTIONS and strategic underpinnings for the project. If true, would it change the outcome? Change your course?

3/ APPLY YOUR JUDGMENT—CALMLY, RATIONALLY AND THOROUGHLY. Have enough confidence to change direction if you genuinely believe it’s the right thing to do. But also have enough confidence not to, particularly in the face of opposition.

4/ EITHER WAY, AS LEADERS, WE ARE CALLED

ON TO BELIEVE ENOUGH FOR EVERYONE. Cast our vision over and over and over and over again. Focus on what is possible; remind everyone what the future looks like when we reach the goal; and encourage those whose energy is flagging.

Over time, your team will see that you have a balanced approach to feedback. You listen, think, respond and act. Not always in the way they want, but always in a way that thoughtfully considers the strategy against which you all are working.

And speaking of strategy….

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Stick to the Plan—Until You Shouldn’t

I know, sounds wishy-washy, but it’s not. The genesis of this encouragement (or watch out if you prefer) is in how we view strategy. Strategic planning is not a one-time event; it’s not a department; it’s not an outsourced function; it’s not something that goes in a binder on a shelf. Strategy is something we should be doing every day as part of our day-to-day activities. Integrated in our plans, meetings and prioritization sessions. Each day, every day.

However, strategy can’t be rigid either. A well‑developed strategic plan leaves plenty of space for the new idea, the Ted-talk inspired program, the competitor-driven response…with a little room left over for genius. If we get too ingrained in this idea that we must adhere to the plan, regardless of results, then we run the very real (and very great) risk of missing out on a brilliant, game-changing initiative.

So, what to do? Stick to the plan without question or implement every new shiny idea that comes down the pike? Well…neither. Put in a system that measures the value of the late-to-the-party strategic idea. Bounce it against your current strategic plan, quantify the benefits vs. the costs….and decide.

If you’re adding new things to your plan mid-cycle, great! But be sure to communicate that clearly and transparently to everyone impacted. While the first reaction to a “change in plan” is usually a little moaning and groaning, I have discovered that is quickly replaced by enthusiasm and creative ideation when the benefits and rationale are simply and clearly explained. Even if not everyone agrees, they will at least respect that there was thought to the process and will feel more in control and empowered.

It’s especially important to be aware of these now when our leadership is being tested like never before.

Remote work environments mean we have to work harder than ever to lead our teams, foster and cultivate culture and create environments where our orgs can thrive. DSN

HEATHER CHASTAIN, Founder and CEO of Bridgehead Collective, brings an impressive understanding of sales, marketing, manufacturing and operations—all gained through 20 years of experience at Shaklee, Arbonne and BeautiControl. She is also the host of Iconic Insights, a monthly DSN podcast featuring legendary thought leaders in and around the world of direct selling.

The Experience Today’s Direct Sellers Expect, All in the Palm of Your Hand

Train, Instruct & Inform Drive Daily Activities Social Selling Promotions Recognition Promote Events Distribute Content Customer Shopping And so much more...

Proven Technology from a Trusted Partner with 35 Years of Direct Selling Experience Let’s Connect 310-428-9936 info@now-tech.com

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BY EXAMPLE A R E T H E C H A N N E L’ S I C O N I C F O U N D E R /C E O S B E C O M I N G B I G G E R T H A N T H E B R A N D S T H E Y B U I LT ?

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he names say it all.

Walt Disney. Henry Ford. James Cash Penney.

Iconic Founders and CEOs who came to personify the brands they led in the minds and hearts of their employees and the world. This phenomenon is perhaps even more prevalent in direct selling, where there is a long and storied tradition of charismatic leaders who have become synonymous with the companies they helm.

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THREE KEY T A K E A W AY S

1 / THE ROLE OF FOUNDER/CEO AS CELEBRITY AND INFLUENCER IS EXPANDING

There’s no denying it. In our channel, the Founder/ CEO is often a very powerful symbol—the person the field rallies around and gathers inspiration from; the keeper of the vision; the company’s driving force and undeniable figurehead. Having one person so closely associated with your brand presents both tremendous opportunities and challenges.

But what elevates a Founder/CEO to icon status? Is it unwavering vision and commitment? A charismatic persona? Passion for the products? A desire to provide stability, flexibility and opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs? A combination of all of the above?

We recently spoke with several of the channel’s most impactful CEOs—some who founded their companies and others who have taken over for visionary leaders. We asked them for their thoughts on the role of the Founder/CEO in direct selling to discover how they balance being the face of the brand while safeguarding the brand itself.

In direct selling, social media, events and incentive trips gives the field easy access and an unprecedented personal connection to the Founder/CEO.

2 / THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FOUNDER/CEO AND THE FIELD IS ESSENTIAL

Distributors must believe in the vision and leadership of the Founder/CEO— cultivating close personal bonds with the field builds belief.

3 / PASSING THE BATON CAN LAUNCH THE BRAND IN A POSITIVE NEW DIRECTION

While the Founder/CEO is a powerful figure and asset, new leadership can subtly shift the company in an intriguing way.

Casting a Long Shadow

When asked what trait makes a leader iconic, the word charisma is often cited. And while a lot of energy has gone into examining the charisma behind influential leaders like Reese Witherspoon, Elon Musk and Richard Branson, charisma is an elusive term—and almost impossible to quantify.

Paul Adams of the Adams Resource Group has over 30 years of experience working closely with direct selling executives and understands the power and the pitfalls of charismatic leadership.

“I love folks with charisma who can paint a vision that people want to follow,” he shared. “I’ve seen many companies grow to amazing heights through brute force and charisma. But that will only carry you so far. There comes a time where they have to run a good company with a good team and sound fundamentals.”

It’s a sentiment echoed by Heather Chastain of Bridgehead Collective, a direct selling strategic consultancy. “The belief, conviction and passion of Founder/CEOs is a special kind of magic that inspires in ways that nothing else can. There’s a consistent authenticity that shows through in every aspect of the business.” d i r e c t s e l l i n g n e w s . c o m 4 5

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If the Founder/CEO believes they are always right and doesn’t want to listen to others…that is a lonely road. Hubris is a terrible but far too common cause of corporate decline.

— PA U L A D A M S

Bigger than the Brand?

Social media has undoubtedly contributed to the rise of the idea of Founder/CEO as influencer and celebrity. Consumers can now interact and get insights into the personal lives and beliefs of the CEOs they admire through Twitter and other social media channels. CEOs now have the power, means and platforms to instantly connect with their followers, turning them into passionate brand advocates and members of a larger community.

And in direct selling, it’s particularly important for the field to feel that connection with their CEO. Through conferences, incentive trips and social media posts, the field develops a relationship (real or perceived) with leadership that feels personal and full of expectations.

While the benefits of that kind of community and connection are powerful, there is also a risk of the CEO eclipsing the company in the field’s eyes.

It’s something that Jason Camper, Founder and CEO of Le-Vel, has been concerned about since Day One. “I never wanted Le-Vel to be about one person. I wanted it to be a community. You just don’t know what the future holds, so it needs to be about the mission, the culture and the impact you can have.”

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The challenge is ensuring that the organization fosters and maintains a strong identity separate from that of its founder. “It’s vital that an organization have honest and open conversations about how the company positions the founder. From the very beginning, the role and voice of the founder should be something that’s used strategically,” urged Chastain. “This is critical for scalability during the initial growth phase. It’s imperative the company isn’t dominated by one person or personality.”

“Many companies have found a way to use a founder’s big persona AND build a great company at the same time,” added Adams. “If the Founder/ CEO believes they are always right and doesn’t want to listen to others…that is a lonely road.

Hubris is a terrible but far too common cause of corporate decline.”

Bottom line? Strong leadership trumps charisma.

Jack Fallon, Founder CEO of Total Life Changes (TLC), understands that while people relate to his underdog story of building a business against all odds and find inspiration in his persistence and perseverance, ultimately the field and customers are motivated primarily by the products.

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The products create the success stories. It’s not my company. I founded it, sure—but it is the energy and ability of others to promote their success stories that carry TLC. I will never become bigger than the brand.

That’s not even a consideration or concern for me. .

— J AC K FA L L O N

Inspiring the Field

“The products create the success stories,” he explained. “It’s not my company. I founded it, sure— but it is the energy and ability of others to promote their success stories that carry TLC. I will never become bigger than the brand. That’s not even a consideration or concern for me.”

Fa Park, Founder and CEO of Color Street noted a simple solution that works for his company.

“When we keep our products, innovation and manufacturing capabilities front and center, there is no risk that I become bigger than the brand.”

While the concerns are valid and precautions are important, being the face of the company is not something that confident leaders shy away from.

“We don’t really see any drawback to being the face of 4Life,” said Co-Founder Bianca Lisonbee who created the company with her husband David.

“But it does place a big responsibility on us to be a good example in all that we do. And anything that can remind or motivate us to be the best version of ourselves is a good thing.”

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There is a an undeniably special relationship between the CEO and field in direct selling. It’s a relationship that across the board the channel’s most iconic CEOs nurture through transparency and respect. The field must believe and share in the founder’s vision, and by cultivating strong sense of partnership and open communication, iconic CEOs can effectively lead the field through the peaks and valleys of the business.

“Is having a heathly relationship with the field important? It’s like asking if it’s important to have a healthy relationship with your spouse,” shared Camper. “It’s super critical. It’s beyond critical. When there’s a problem and you try to sweep it under the rug—that’s when people get frustrated. I think we have a healthy balance of what we share with the field and what the field shares with us.”

Katy Holt-Larsen, Kyäni’s CEO, agreed. “We call our field business partners, because we see them as such. We are vested in each other’s success, and this requires a relationship created by listening, understanding and building together.”

FINDING THEIR “WHY” ICONIC DIRECT SELLING CEOS SHARE THE ORIGIN STORIES OF THEIR COMPANIES.

“

MARY KAY ASH WAS passed over for promotion for a man she herself had trained. She decided it would be the last time where she would not have an equal opportunity for success. —DAVID HOLL

“

I WAS STARTING MY CAREER at Ford Motor Company—a dream job for metro Detroiters. But I had a vision for so much more for myself than 30 years of service and a moderate pension. I began to develop a vision for operating my own company in a different way. That led to launching TLC in my basement in 1999. —JACK FALLON

“

PAUL GRAVETTE AND I founded Le-Vel after being in the industry for a very long time. We had a unique idea for a cloud-based direct selling company, and we felt like it was the right place and the right time for us to do it in a better way. —JASON CAMPER

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FOR COLOR STREET, it all stems back to having a product that people love to use. We knew there was a great opportunity in direct selling where customers could experience the product directly and get that instant gratification and excitement.. —FA PARK

“

I STARTED MARKET AMERICA because I felt there were some systemic problems and missed opportunities within direct selling. Market America was created to remedy those issues. Over the course of the past 30 years, we’ve seen our business flourish in ways we never even imagined.” —JR RIDINGER

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Is having a heathly relationship with the field important? It’s like asking if it’s important to have a healthy relationship with your spouse. It’s critical.

—JA SON CA MPER

For Market America Worldwide | SHOP.COM’s Founder and CEO JR Ridinger, the reciprocal nature of the relationship between field and leader cannot be underestimated. “The greatest benefit of leading Market America is having the opportunity to share such a powerful entrepreneurial business with people all around the world. Our business isn’t about figureheads and CEOs. It’s about enabling people to achieve their personal and financial goals. It’s about leading by example and succeeding so other people can realize their dreams. It’s really about their achievements—not mine.”

For Park, constantly building that belief is a primary responsibility of his role as CEO. “Our field knows that when I talk about having hopes; believing in what you have to offer; building a business one person at a time—they know it comes from my personal experience. I didn’t give up on my dream for Color Street, and I encourage them to not give up on theirs.”

Building on Powerful Legacies

But what happens to the organization when these iconic leaders are no longer a part of the company and can no longer fulfill the role of champion and cheerleader for the brand? How can their successors make the role their own without losing the founder’s vision? And how do they gain and retain the trust and confidence of the field when the person most closely associated with the mission, purpose and success of a brand is no longer there to serve as inspiration?

The challenge is certainly not unique to direct selling. Many brands have found ways to successfully leverage their leader’s legacy and incorporate it into their positioning and branding.

Even though Colonel Sanders has been deceased for decades, his likeness remains the center of Kentucky Fried Chicken. And most consumers can’t think of Apple without also thinking about Steve Jobs.

This same premise is demonstrated throughout direct selling. Mary Kay, Young Living and Kyäni d i r e c t s e l l i n g n e w s . c o m 5 1

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When Mary Kay Ash is the person associated with your brand, you want to emphasize that.

— D AV I D H O L L

have endured the loss of a dynamic Founder/CEO. Each of these companies have kept the founder’s mission at the heart of the company, but moved the company forward with a vision that both honors and evolves that of the founder.

Perhaps no company in or outside the channel is more closely identified with one person as Mary Kay. The company will mark its 60th anniversary next year, and it has kept Founder Mary Kay Ash as it guiding light and touchstone since her death in 2001.

As David Holl, Mary Kay’s Chairman and CEO explained, “When Mary Kay Ash is the person associated with your brand, you want to emphasize that. Her legacy and leadership cemented her as one of the world’s most-renowned transformational leaders. Perhaps no other woman has played a more important role in the advancement of women entrepreneurs.”

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It only makes sense to keep that legacy at the center of the brand and the heart of today’s leadership at the family-owned company. Her vision was to empower women to have economic opportunities, which is just as powerful and meaningful today as it was in 1963. “We have a clear line of sight knowing we are here to support the independent sales force,” said Holl. “It’s important to remember why we are here and who we are here to support. Her legacy is something we aspire to honor and challenge ourselves to look up to every day.”

Young Living faced a similar challenge with the loss of their Founder and CEO D. Gary Young in 2018. He founded the company with his wife Mary, who has taken up the helm as CEO since his death.

The company was built on a foundation of helping others achieve their dreams through the freedom of health and well-being, and Gary’s personal story about the healing power of essential oils inspires more than 6 million distributors and customers across 155 countries around the globe.

But the dream for Young Living did not belong to Gary alone. Mary was first introduced to direct sales in 1985. The knowledge, experience and hands-on approach she learned all those years ago still influences her leadership style. As a female CEO running one of the largest direct selling companies in this industry, Mary’s keen, human-focused business instincts play an active role in elevating the mission of the organization worldwide.

“I strive to make decisions that keep the integrity of who we are and our mission intact as we expand forward into the next chapter of Young Living,” she shared. “Gary planted the seeds of our roots for the powerful foundation that we have today from which we spread our wings to carry our vision to new heights achieving the destiny that has always been ours; touching the hearts and souls of humanity as educators of nature’s living energy—essential oils.”

Perpetuating Gary’s vision remains the heart of Mary’s vision, and she continues to direct considerable time and energy into the D. Gary Young, Young Living Foundation. In just the last five years, the foundation has impacted nearly one million lives.

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When an unthinkable tragedy permanently altered the trajectory of Kyäni in the form of a plane crash in 2019 that took the lives of two of the company’s founders, the remaining leadership team immediately stepped in to provide the stability the company needed to navigate incredibly complicated waters.

After the loss of Kirk and Jim Hansen, Carl Taylor, another Founder, took the helm in the immediate aftermath with the help of a solid leadership team to help keep the company’s vision, mission, message and purpose afloat.

Current CEO Katy Holt-Larsen joined the company one year after the tragedy and found instant inspiration from those lost and those left behind.

As she explained, “It was the founders’ vision and legacy that drew me to Kyäni. When you think about the word ‘founder,’ it is derived from ‘foundation.’

The Hansens and the Taylors laid a strong foundation for the company, and everything I do to help Kyäni grow is grounded in those principles.”

The experience has shaped Larsen’s approach to leadership. “When I came on, people were undoubtedly still feeling the loss of these men, but the company itself was still moving forward. It really speaks to the vision and leadership of all of our founders that Kyäni was able to not just survive a crisis like that, but continue to thrive. Two-plus years OF TAGLINED down the road we’re makingUSAGE significant personal LOGOS and financial investments in our future, driving the The tagline "AUDIT.TAX.ADVISORY" business forward; working only super hard;the and accompanies logo enjoying in circumstances where context requires a lot of success.” clarification about what Squire can do

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Securing a Smooth Transition

While these stories of sudden leadership changes are dramatic, thankfully they are not the norm.

And every successful direct selling company will ultimately pass the baton from the Founder/CEO to the next generation of leadership.

Many factors go in to the decision of how to ensure minimal disruption when a founder plans to retire or leave the business. Health of the business; current trajectory; and future positioning all come into play. Chastain noted that this can often be an excellent time to gently and respectively signal a new direction for the brand. “As with most things, you can’t go wrong if you are kind, respectful and clear in your communication, regardess of the degree of change.”

Adams feels the smoothness of the transition depends upon the key principles and beliefs at the heart of the company. “We believe in building companies around key principles. If we hire and train based on those principles, a company can continue to thrive, regardless of who the current leader is.”

4Life’s David and Bianca Lisonbee have always had a clear vision of how important surrounding themselves with other capable leaders is to the longevity of the business. “There’s no doubt that a founder’s role is unique in terms of cultivating a corporate culture and shaping the fundamental tenets of a brand,” David shared. “However, stewardship must engender a humility that attracts leaders in all levels of management. We enjoy the support of very talented senior-level colleagues with long-term tenures. Danny Lee, 4Life President and CEO, drives each of them to grow and elaborate upon the brand, knowing that they understand our vision.”

A Position Like No Other

The role of CEO in any organization is complicated. It involves being a good leader of course. But it also requires being a good listener.

They must be truly passionate about the products, and they must be fiercely protective of the people and institution they lead.

It requires great personal charisma, unwavering vision and commitment and willingness to collaborate with their corporate office and their field. It’s not an easy job—but, according to the channel’s key players, it is ultimately a rewarding one.

“Whether it’s the products or our leadership, I never get away from people telling me how much Le-Vel changed their life,” Camper said.

So while these are positions of power and influence, the leaders are also careful to note that, at the end of the day, the company is more important than any one person—even the Founder. As Bianca Lisonbee succinctly explained, “The brand itelf is bigger than any one of us because its success includes so many of us.” DSN

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ERE’S WHAT we think you (and your field) should be reading, listening to and utilizing in order to stay engaged, informed and one step ahead.

BY CHELSEA HUGHES

APP /

Headway Headway summarizes personal development books in various formats that engage every type of learner. Not only does this highly rated app provide bite-sized bits of knowledge that can be consumed during your daily commute, but it customizes content based on your taste for growth. With Headway Business, the app also generates a unique plan for your team, providing you with an analytic dashboard to track progress. You and your team will enjoy learning the latest personal development concepts by participating in challenges, setting daily goals and collecting achievements. Digital teambuilding for the win!

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WOBI - World of Business Ideas WOBI - World of Business Ideas is a leading hub for global business content, creating transformational experiences to inspire people and organizations with actionable ideas— similar to TED, but with a specific focus on corporate management. Through executive programs, large-scale events and digital Masterclasses, WOBI produces and distributes content that helps executives improve how they manage their organizations. To get a taste of WOBI, check out their YouTube channel, which boasts a broad cross-section of content from industry and thought leaders like Richard Branson, Guy Kawasaki, Daniel Goleman and many more.

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While no single conversation is guaranteed to change the trajectory of a career, a business, a marriage or a life, any single conversation can. That’s the premise behind Fierce Conversations. As a renowned leadership and communications consultant to CEOs around the world, author Susan Scott shares her vast experience in this national bestselling book to help leaders overcome communication barriers, enrich relationships, improve understanding, handle strong emotions and connect on a deeper level. This life-changing guide will help you view communication in a whole new light.

“

F or Y ou6r F i e l d WORDS TO LIVE BY:

To share your weakness is to make yourself vulnerable; to make yourself vulnerable is to show your strength.

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As an author of 13 books, a TV show host, Psychology Today blogger and corporate trainer, Dr. Puff has been studying the science of happiness for decades. With a soothing voice and gentle bedside manner, Dr. Puff shares his wisdom in the podcast—providing an instructive road map to the sunny side of life for your busy field.

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BeReal BeReal is an up-and-coming social media app that bypasses the artifice of competing platforms. With authenticity as the goal, BeReal selects a random two-minute window each day in which you must photograph your current view and snap an unfiltered selfie—and post both. It’s a fun way to establish rapport with friends online, sharing real life instead of the carefully curated content we’ve come to expect. Gen Z loves this app, which also makes it a great way for your field to connect with a younger crowd while fostering vulnerability and trust.

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Later is a social marketing platform that allows content creators to plan and publish social media content across multiple sites at once. As a social media news source, the blog covers all the latest social trends, strategies and updates. Though social media can seem daunting, with step-bystep guides, analytical insights and content inspiration, the Later Blog has something for everyone—no matter their social media experience. This informative blog will help your field up their marketing game and help them stay relevant in an everevolving space.

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COMMUNICATING SO EVERYONE

M A X I M I Z E YO U R T I M E , E N E R GY & E F F EC T I V E N E S S W I T H T H ES E S I M P L E S T R AT EG I ES .

BY TONY JEARY

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WINS MORE

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“

Communication and delegation with those who work closest with you is an executive High‑Leverage Activity.

M

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OST EXECUTIVES have three or more direct reports and at least one personal/executive assistant as well as a number of board members and strategic partners. And we could all benefit from maximizing our time and becoming more effective.

Communication is a giant key to it all—in fact, communication and delegation with those who work closest with you is an executive High‑Leverage Activity (HLA).

Over the last twenty-five years, I’ve researched, constructed and published 27 books on communication and presentation effectiveness. My most popular title is Life Is a Series of Presentations, which is endorsed by Shark Tank. The title itself says it all.

Using this concept as a core, my team and I have developed a powerful methodology called Presentation Mastery™. Inside our methodology is a special tool called the Presentation Universe—a matrix in which you list all the presentation opportunities in your daily life, both personal and professional. For your convenience, there is a partially filled-in sample Presentation Universe matrix to help you quickly think through your daily world of presentations on pages 62-63.

THREE KEY T A K E A W AY S

1 / YOU GET MORE OF WHAT YOU APPRECIATE

When you recognize and compliment people, they want to keep doing more of what you want, freeing up your time and making you more effective.

2 / THE MORE CLARITY YOU HAVE, THE MORE EXPECTATIONS WILL BE MET

Take time to make sure you are giving precise, clear and actionable directives.

3 / SEEK FEEDBACK SO YOU GET BETTER AND SO DOES YOUR TEAM

Don’t be afraid to ask your support staff how you can better serve them.

Your success is built on their success.

Time is valuable to you, as it is to any busy executive. That’s why I preach/teach about time management every chance I get. When I’m speaking to a group and ask how many hours are in a week, only one in 20 knows the answer. There are 168 hours in a week. We have to sleep 56, and we take around 12 for maintenance—so that leaves basically 100 hours (50 for personal and 50 for professional). How we invest those hours will determine the life we build for ourselves.

Becoming a More Effective Leader

I believe communication (and often delegation) to direct reports can easily be divided into seven major buckets. Glance at the matrix and expand your thinking as you look at the recommended actions in the far-right column. Carefully read the rest of this article to glean even more details to see how you may make better use your time and impact results by upping your communication game.

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The matrix includes a place for you to rate yourself on each of the presentation opportunities.

To make you aware of how well you are doing currently in each of these communication vehicles, rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10, on your preparation (P); your delivery (D); and your follow-up (F).

For example, how well do you prepare for the huddles with your team? You would put that number under the P on number one. Let’s say you prepare better than most, so you would put a nine there. If you’re pretty effective in your delivery, you might put an eight under the D. If you’re weak on follow-up, let’s say you rate yourself a three under the F. When you average these out, your overall rating would be a 6.7.

Notice that in the last column of the matrix I’ve suggested three best practices for each communication vehicle, which gives you 21 ideas you can use as an executive to be more effective in your communication and delegation.

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#

WHAT

RATING

P

D

F

1

Huddles

6.7

9

8

3

2

Staff Meetings

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All-Hands-On Meeting

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Video Messaging

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One-On-Ones

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Strategy Meetings

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Board-Related Meetings

{

PRESENTATION UNIVERSE

NO. OF TIMES/YR

1OOs

52

}

DESCRIPTION/OPPORTUNITY

Short gathering, usually less than 15 minutes, with one or more of your direct reports

Usually with direct reports; often held on a weekly basis, but could be ad hoc

When you and your direct reports are communicating to your entire organization

When you record a message (usually not more than ten minutes long) to touch base with your direct reports and/or assistants

When you sit down in person, over the phone or on the web with your direct reports and assistants

Should be held at least once a month with your direct reports; Some just meet quarterly and some annually

BEST PRACTICES

1/ Consistency—daily huddles are a big win!

2/ Review previous assignments on to-do lists.

3/ Have someone take notes and send an immediate text or email with the results of the meeting.

1/ Define clear objectives with an aligned agenda.

2/ Develop guidelines to stay on track and avoid going too deep.

3/ Bring Vibe and/or positive energy to your team.

1/ Hold a regularly scheduled briefing for your entire organization.

2/ Record the meeting and make it available to those who can’t attend live.

3/ Follow-up with a report using short and concise bullets immediately after the meeting.

1/ Use it! It’s a blind spot for many executives. Direct reports love to be in the know.

2/ Make it short and concise, even when you’re reading your notes.

3/ Appreciate what you want more of.

1/ Realize a few short minutes, daily or weekly, ensures clear expectations.

2/ Listen. Executives often talk too much.

3/ Use a whiteboard when feasible.

1/ Meet more often. Review KPIs and hold your team members accountable in front of their peers.

2/ Use live note-taking on a screen.

3/ Enhance clarity of the vision and show the responsible parties in writing.

1/ Prepare, rehearse and ensure assigned roles.

The board meeting itself or preparation for or run-through of the board meeting

2/ Reinforce and compliment when people are doing what you have delegated so they will want to keep doing it.

3/ Let your people shine so they take more ownership and free you up more as an executive.

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ONE-ON-ONES ARE OPPORTUNITIES for you to communicate directly and more effectively with your assistants and direct reports.

Now let’s take a little deeper look at those seven buckets:

1 / Huddles with your direct reports

A huddle is a short gathering—in most cases less than fifteen minutes—with one or more of your direct reports. Huddles can be daily, weekly or even ad hoc. They can be one-on-one or in a group, and they can be in person, on the web or a combination.

Becoming exceptional at executing these 15-minute power meetings gives both you and your team a big win. They not only keep everyone on the same page as far as what tasks are delegated to whom and the status of your projects; they also provide great opportunities for brainstorming and synergizing.

2 / Staff Meetings

Staff meetings are usually held with one or more of your direct reports. In most cases, they are held on a weekly basis, but they could be ad hoc. There’s generally a protocol for creating the agenda so you can be efficient at holding the meeting. You or a team member will need to define your objectives before you prepare the agenda. And remember: your objectives trump the agenda.

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3 / All-Hands-on Meetings

You hold an all-hands-on meeting when you and often your direct reports are communicating to your entire organization (as in a state-of-the-union scenario). These meetings are often scheduled annually. I recommend holding them quarterly. In these presentation opportunities, your direct reports can be in the audience or part of the delivery.

You’ll probably want to cover things like where the organization stands currently so people feel connected; where you’re going (it’s always better to promote the clarity of your vision); and what is new or what’s coming down the pike. Inspire your team. Excite them. Share a cool, relatable video.

You could also list things you’re asking everyone in the organization to do to improve so you can all win more.

“

A blind spot I see executives make is not setting up their people and allowing them to shine. When they win, you win more.

6 / Strategy Meetings 4 / Video Messaging

You would use video messaging when you want to record a message that could be anywhere from a couple of minutes to ten minutes long to touch base with your direct reports and/or your assistants.

These can be transmitted in the form of Marco Polotype apps, selfie videos or in some cases a more formally recorded message. Video messaging is often a blind spot for executives. Direct reports love to be in the know. It’s a great tool for when people aren’t in the same time zone or can’t be in the same staff or all-hands-on meeting simultaneously. I will occasionally have one direct report record me as I’m sharing with him/her and then send it to the others. Both time efficiency and clarity are what we’re after.

5 / One-on-Ones

These are opportunities for you to communicate directly and more effectively with your assistants and direct reports. In a one-on-one meeting, you sit down with the person directly or over the phone or even via Zoom, on an as-needed basis and go over what’s been accomplished; what needs to be accomplished; what the roadblocks are; and what actions need to be taken. As you’re working together from the same side of the line of scrimmage, you can use a whiteboard when feasible to draw out your plan of action. Then you can take a picture of the board with your phone and text it to anyone else who can benefit from the information, providing a level of clarity almost as if they had attended the meeting.

A strategy meeting could (and probably should) be held with your direct reports at least once a month, so you can manage the effectiveness of your results (KPIs). Some executives have their strategy meetings quarterly or even offsite annually. With the rapid pace of changes taking place in our world, I recommend you schedule these meetings more often. Having a powerful facilitator can often make a giant difference in outcomes, especially when combined with live on-screen note-taking.

7 / Board-Related Meetings

This could be the actual board meeting itself, or it could be preparation for or even a run-through of the board meeting. The purpose is to make sure everyone is on the same page and communicating effectively. Be sure to compliment those who are efficiently carrying out the tasks you’ve delegated, so they and others will want to do more of it. A blind spot I see executives make here is not setting up their people and allowing them to shine. When they win, you win more.

I hope this article has provided you a thoughtprovoking perspective on how to be more effective with your time and delegation, specifically with your direct reports and including your executive or personal assistants. DSN

TONY JEARY—The RESULTS Guy™— is a renowned strategist, executive coach and keynote speaker who changes people’s thinking. He and his team uniquely facilitate planning sessions in his one-of-a-kind RESULTS Center to help direct selling executives learn, grow, evolve and thrive. d i r e c t s e l l i n g n e w s . c o m 6 5

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ICONIC I N S I G H T S with HEATHER CHASTAIN H E AT H E R C H A S TA I N

Jason Dorsey Talks with Heather Chastain about How Direct Selling Can Better Connect with Gen Z

BY PAUL A FELPS

To watch or listen to the entire interview, visit DirectSellingNews.com.

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JASON DORSEY

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S ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST SOUGHT-AFTER GENERATIONAL EXPERTS, JASON DORSEY is on a mission to separate generational myths from truth to help organizations solve some of their greatest strategic challenges. As President of the Center for Generational Kinetics and author of the bestseller, Zconomy: How Gen Z Will Change the Future of Business—And What to Do About It, he offers unique insights into how leaders can futureproof their businesses and create new strategies built for tomorrow’s business world.

In this episode of Iconic Insights, Jason and Heather talk about what direct selling leaders can do to become more appealing to the next generation of distributors, and he explains how a simple change in approach could make all the difference.

HEATHER CHASTAIN: We tend to think of direct selling as a channel. I know you’re familiar with the industry, but should leaders be thinking about it as a channel in terms of when it’s going to hit or their product category? Because, of course, in direct selling, we have everything from services, energy providers to health and wellness products. How should direct selling executives be thinking about where they fall in that cycle of impact?

“

What we find with younger generations is that what many of them care the most about is stability.

JASON DORSEY: So, when you think about these emerging trends crashing into direct selling, you’re exactly right. What’s interesting is, direct selling specifically tends to benchmark itself against other direct sellers. And so, even the lists of growth— d i r e c t s e l l i n g n e w s . c o m 6 9

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they’re all tied to each other, which is fine, but it can give us a very insular view of what’s going on.

What we want to do is—there’s two pieces.

One is, generationally, what can we see that’s affecting the industry before it’s going to affect the industry? And those are things like how emerging generations engage with technology. We know it’s going to affect the industry. We don’t need to wait until it does because then we’re already behind the curve.

Things like how people want to pay. The direct selling industry is way behind in payments. I mean way behind, whether it’s to distributors or whether it’s how customers pay you. There are all these things around that, that we see, generationally, are going to happen.

Then, of course, you want to look within those specific verticals. So, you said energy, for example, or maybe health and wellness. We know that there are certain ways where, let’s say health and wellness, you might get consumers driving trends in health and wellness way before they would ever get to direct selling because they’re younger.

We want to be able to see what those are. What we find in some of the work that we do is, oh, it turns out that emerging generations won’t be able to sleep really well. That’s a big thing for them. Or maybe they think differently about energy, and they want something that’s going to help them with energy that doesn’t spike up and down. Or maybe they care more about personalized nutrition.

We can come up with a bunch of things, but the

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point is, all these have already been addressed by other direct-to-consumer companies and in retail, but they’re just now getting to direct selling. And so, for me, what I’m always really focused on is, what are these generational trends or tidal waves that are coming?

And we could probably predict when, but they haven’t hit yet. So, we’ve actually got time to adapt, which I think, right now, is a very defining moment for direct selling.

At the same time, you’ve got the trends of the actual product or service that is being offered.

And so, I think, we’ve got to look at both of those and then layer on the uniqueness of direct selling versus starting from direct selling and then looking out.

HEATHER: Everybody thinks their industry is the most complicated, no matter what industry they happen to be in. But within direct selling, we have what you’re saying is this vertical piece. We also have the fundamental crossfunctional behavioral things, like payments. But then we also have this additional piece around the business opportunity that we provide because that has its own set of verticals, if you will, about how generations are viewing parttime income; how they’re viewing the channel itself. There’s some stigma with it that new generations are looking at and going, “Ugh.” JASON: Yeah, and what’s interesting is,

“

We want to make sure that we can influence the introduction of the concept, the opportunity, in a way that is high trust, that is credible, that we know will work across generations and genders.

CHECK OUT Jason’s best‑selling book for even more insights!

most of the negative connotations that you just described actually comes from older generations and is shared down to younger generations because they remember what that experience was like. They sat in some presentation or business opportunity in 1997 or whatever, and so as soon as that younger generation goes and asks their parents or somebody they look up to, that person says, “Oh, no, don’t do that.”

What we’ve got to do—and this is just true in any industry—we want to make sure that we d i r e c t s e l l i n g n e w s . c o m 7 1

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can influence the introduction of the concept, the opportunity, in a way that is high trust, that is credible, that we know will work across generations and genders.

What else do we see? “Oh, I want to start my own business.” Well, entrepreneurship, the desire to start your own business is massive.

HEATHER: It’s huge. I know. That’s the irony that we all wrestle with…we actually have what it is they want, but we’re not calling it the right thing or positioning it the right way.

JASON: Exactly. What we find with younger generations is that what many of them care the most about is actually stability, and that never comes up. So, if I can, for example, be in direct selling and then through what I generate in direct selling, I can actually have a more stable career or more stable financial situation, that’s a huge deal. Because $500 a month for a lot of people is stability. A thousand dollars is a huge amount, but we never talk about it. We don’t use the word “stability”. We use the word “opportunity”. And so, all of a sudden, you’re changing this emotional response that we’re creating with people.

You know what is massively important right now? Flexibility and scheduling. What is direct

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selling great at? Flexibility and scheduling. The problem is, people often position flexibility in the wrong way. I hear this all the time at these conferences where I speak, “Oh, you don’t have to work on Fridays. You don’t have to work on Mondays.” But what our research shows, and we do all these studies all the time, it’s not all the days you work. For many people it’s the hours. And so, if you give flexibility around hours, that is actually more important and maybe that’s a sort of thing.

There’s just a ton that we could unpack there, but the key is that we know that younger generations want to be entrepreneurs. We know they care deeply about stability. We know, particularly Gen Z, we’re seeing that they are very practical or pragmatic with their money. They want to know that they’re getting good value. They want to know what’s going into it. They want more transparency. They want things like social causes that are actually being delivered on. All of these things, direct selling generally does.

It just frequently, doesn’t do a great job of messaging it. And then we’ve got to teach distributors or the consultants or the guide how to understand it and present it themselves. And so, there’s multiple layers in direct selling that are unique because of the way the industry is built and all the rules and regulation.

But to me, I think it’s just a massive opportunity.

We’ve just got to start with executives and then

“

get it out into the field so they then understand it.

Because the worst thing you can do in any business is over promise and under deliver.

And that’s just something that I deal with, but I believe direct sellers strike so many of these values and create the future and stability that the next generation wants. We just don’t position it the right way. But if we do, people are excited—and they should be. DSN

You know what is massively important right now?

Flexibility and scheduling.

What is direct selling great at? Flexibility and scheduling.

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A Strong Foundation for Growth

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APPRECIATE THE STRENGTH and beauty of skyscrapers. The gracefulness of these buildings is rooted deep below the earth in their foundations. Building these structures begins with the search for bedrock.

There is a layer of lithified rock below the loose surface soil. One rarely sees a skyscraper’s substructure: the tallest building requires a well-planned structure and a much stronger foundation than a smaller building to withstand the test of time.

I recall the words of renowned architect Pillars Allen, who said how these buildings are driven down to rest on bedrock formed by incredible forces over time. It’s just a matter of finding the bedrock.

At DSA ENGAGE, we considered the foundation of our businesses. What is our bedrock? What are our pillars? And how high in the sky might we be able to build?

What forces might challenge our ability to serve the people in American and global communities who depend on us for quality products, supplemental income, the opportunity to build their own businesses and the chance to develop professional and social skills?

Our bedrock is a long history of success and service, created under lots of pressure.

What are the pillars on which we build our businesses so that they may reach their heights?

• Transparency in everything we do.

• Simplicity in language and compensation plans.

• Integrity in conducting our business.

• Community working together and collaborating through DSA, as family and friends.

JOSEPH N. MARIANO is the President of the U.S. Direct Selling Association and the Direct Selling Education Foundation.

In fact, DSA’s recently approved 2022 Strategic Plan brings these points to light: 1. DSA will continue to foster vibrant commercial growth; 2. DSA will continue to ensure a supportive regulatory environment; 3. DSA will enhance our industry’s reputation; and, 4. DSA will build an even stronger direct selling community— And I would add one more pillar: the Direct Selling Education Foundation.

An important part of our commitment to broadening understanding of the direct selling business model is being led by the Foundation.

Today, more than 200 DSEF Fellows work to advance a better understanding of direct selling.

As I’ve said many times, I believe these academics—our DSEF Fellows—to be the most important resource we could possibly hope to have available for this channel and our members.

In classrooms across the country, Fellows are teaching the next generation of business leaders about our channel’s validity, viability and potential and how our business model is uniquely aligned with the ongoing labor and commercial trends.

In fact, a group of Fellows and industry experts, led by Dr. Vicki Crittenden, published the book, Direct Selling: A Global Social Business Model that is now available through Harvard Business Publishing.

As we move into and beyond 2022’s second half, consider the importance of our bedrock and our pillars, for this is our foundation. We have the foundation, now let’s build something great together. DSN d i r e c t s e l l i n g n e w s . c o m 75

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Complete Merchant Solutions (CMS) is a full-service US merchant account provider representing multiple banks. CMS safely and securely supports many types of payment processing for direct selling companies.

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MOMENTUM FACTOR 4801 Spicewood Springs Road, Ste. 250, Austin, TX 78759 512.690.2134 momofactor.com Momentum Factor is a leading digital risk management firm specializing in online compliance monitoring and global online reputation management services for the direct selling industry. Our passion and mission are to protect companies from the brand and regulatory risks associated with online and social media technologies.

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Thatcher Technology Group provides Sales Force, Compensation and Incentive Management Software for the Direct Selling Industry.

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To the person of genius who started a social selling business...

Today we salute you with our payments services that can take you global... and beyond. Thank you, social selling person, wherever you are, because according to us you’ll always be our #1.

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