Not just employees or Independent Business Owners, either.
-Scott Andrews, CEO of ARRiiVE Business Solutions.
-Lori Deschene, founder of Tiny Buddha and inspirational blogger.
-Karl Staib, founder of Work Happy Now!
-Sue Stebbins, CEO and founder of Successwaves International, L.L.C.
-And Stacey Weckstein, founder of the Mom Renewal Project.
What about Yasmin Davidds, best-selling author, consultant and empowerment specialist.
What’s the common denominator among these nationally-known authors, life coaches, motivational speakers, and bloggers?
One word: Positivity.
These experts not only understand the power of positivity, they’re walking the talk every day of their lives – through their books, blogs, live presentations, and one-on-one coaching.
So, they all jumped at the opportunity when Amway Global invited these leading positivity advocates to take an in-depth look at our company, our people, and our Power of Positivecampaign through a day-long immersion last week here at our headquarters in Ada, Michigan.
We took them behind the scenes at Amway Global. Talked up the tremendous pride we share in our history, innovation, and corporate culture. Participated in one-on-one meetings and group events. Shared our commitment to world-class research, quality products, and environmental stewardship.
And, we highlighted details about the Amway Global Positivity Project, which invites everyone to tell us about the good things happening in their lives, by updating their status on our Twitter and Facebook pages.
Then, we invited these positivity pros to join us in the Positivity Project – and motivate their own audiences and readers to celebrate positivity as a very real way to improve their lives and communities.
Did we accomplish our mission? I’ll let our new advocates tell you in their own words, from our Twitter site and from interviews with them.
Work Happy Now founder Karl Stalb: Visited Amway's "Sprouts" garden for Boys & Girls Clubs – kids totally into planting vegetables, strawberries, perennials! Amazingly groovy!
Small business coach Karl Stalb told us, “Positive thinking helped me get to where I am now, and it’s helped me get others to improve their lives as well.”
The Positivity Project is an exciting movement-in-progress. We’re extremely proud to have these celebrated authors, life coaches, and motivational speakers carrying on the message of living a positive life to their audiences throughout the country.
Small business coach Karl Stalb told us, “Positive thinking helped me get to where I am now, and it’s helped me get others to improve their lives as well.”
The Positivity Project is an exciting movement-in-progress. We’re extremely proud to have these celebrated authors, life coaches, and motivational speakers carrying on the message of living a positive life to their audiences throughout the country.
Amway Global was a proud sponsor of the “POPS on Independence” performance on July 2, 2010, by the Philadelphia Pops, conducted by Peter Nero, in front of Independence Hall. I was privileged to participate in the event. Here’s a video, as well as a few excerpts from my speech on that very special day.
In 1959 when Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel started Amway, life in America was much the same as it is today: The economy was weak, we were experiencing foreign threats, people were feeling uncertain, and anxiety was in the air.
But there’s something about the American spirit that lifted us up then, and continues to lift us up today.
At Amway Global, freedom isn’t just a word, but a guiding principle that drives us forward – giving us the hope and the belief that tomorrow will be better than today.
That’s the power of positivity.
This country was founded on that kind of unwavering optimism. And around the world, our business is driven by this positive outlook.
When we talk about positivity, we’re also talking about free enterprise – or, as we put it today, economic freedom. It’s about empowering ourselves to reach for our dreams.
Every one of us – young and old, rich and poor – should have the freedom to achieve their goals, big and small. After all, what’s more American than that?
The power of positivity: That’s what the Amway Global opportunity is all about
Imagine a gigantic, global-reaching event as spectacular as the Olympic Games – except rather than spotlighting sports achievements, this event celebrates the world’s best economic, scientific, technological, and cultural advancements.
You’ve just described World Expo 2010, which opened May 1 in Shanghai, China.
The expo brings together more than 192 nations and hundreds of internationally-recognized companies in a 42-million-square-foot global celebration of the power of human thought, innovation, and inspiration.
And Amway has a prime spot at this incredible event. In fact, Amway is so well-respected throughout Asia that Expo organizers gave us a prominent position inside the U.S. Pavilion, right between Dow Chemical and Disney.
No wonder. We’ve been global leaders in innovation and opportunity for more than 50 years. And the Expo couldn’t be better aligned with who we are, as people and as a company.
For starters, there’s the U.S. Pavilion theme, Rising to the Challenge, and the Pavilion’s four core concepts: Sustainability, teamwork, health, and the spirit of striving for success.
Sound familiar? It almost reads like a blueprint of our own business practices here at Amway Global.
And, like the U.S. Olympic athletes who share the podium with equally talented competitors from around the world, it’s an amazing feeling to see Amway spotlighted on such a huge international stage. Talk about putting us on the map with the big players!
Of course, most of us won’t be among the estimated 70 million people expected to visit the Expo before it closes in October. But you can show your friends what all the excitement is about, by taking a virtual video visit to the U.S. Pavilion. Check out Amway at Act 3, Hall D!
The Amway Global Positive Sprouts garden project in Buena Park, Calif. on June 26 had special meaning for NUTRILITE® President Dr. Sam Rehnborg. I’ll let him tell you why.
When my dad, NUTRILITE founder Carl Rehnborg, first started enjoying success from sales of NUTRILITE products, he and his wife (my mom), Edith, looked around the neighboring Buena Park area to see where they could make a meaningful contribution.
They started a club for kids to go after school and on weekends, to play and participate in wholesome activities. Eventually, that club became the Boys and Girls Club of Buena Park. My parents donated the building for the first club as well as its present location.
Fast forward many years. Today, we’re still very much involved with the Club here in our hometown. My daughter, Lisa, is president of the Board of Directors of the Boys and Girls Club here, and I’m on the endowment board. When Lisa told me about the Positive Sprouts project, I couldn’t have been more excited. Here was the culmination of my dad’s work – about to take place at the very club he founded.
With Positive Sprouts, we’re giving kids a great lesson on the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables – it’s also a fun lesson, as they grow their own vegetables for salsa, pizza, and much more. Judging from the questions they asked as they planted, kids really wanted to understand where their food comes from, especially when they can see it growing right before their eyes.
There’s also a correlation between Positive Sprouts and our own organic farming practices here at NUTRILITE. With their own garden, the kids are learning some of the same practices my dad used on the original NUTRILITE farms – still very much in use today on our farms in the U.S., Mexico, and Brazil.
Finally, as more and more of us recognize the health benefits of colorful fruits and veggies in our diets, Positive Sprouts is literally planting the seeds of lifelong healthy-eating habits for these kids.
What a terrific legacy to my dad – and a tribute to the power of giving back to the community!
In honor of Independence Day, it is my pleasure to introduce to you Dr. Frank Luntz. Dr. Luntz is a highly respected man that understands and supports the American work ethic. He is best know for using his outstanding communication and leadership skills to help companies navigate through tough economic times and connect more closely with its customers. Thank you to Dr. Luntz for joining us in this day of celebration and sharing his insights with us today. Have a happy and safe holiday!
Most of you who recognize my name would expect a political posting. Allow me this one opportunity to offer something a lot more personal.
After Thanksgiving, my favorite day of the year is Independence Day. I often wonder what it would have been like to have sat at the back of Independence Hall in those hot, muggy Philadelphia afternoons and listened as Adams, Jefferson and Franklin debated, argued, cajoled, and eventually persuaded their colleagues to declare their freedom from tyranny and their commitment to a new way of governing – and a new way of life.
How grateful I am that they refused to compromise on the principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that they would eventually codify a decade later. How thankful I am that almost exactly a century later my great grandparents would decide that the benefits of freedom in America were of greater value than the comforts and security of their native homelands in Europe.
I understand the patriotic, entrepreneurial spirit within the Amway family because it is so deeply ingrained in my family. My father’s grandfather owned the local general store in a small town in Connecticut, and his son, the man I’m named after, organized the July 4th parade and festivities for the entire community. My mother’s father owned a small drugstore not far from where I was born, carrying products that made daily life just a little bit easier for his patrons. I appreciate how hard they worked to provide a better life for their family, and how important it was to give something back to their community.
I also appreciate the family-focus of Amway. Every July 4th, my father would wake me up to help him put up a 10 foot long American flag on our garage. It was so important to him to involve his son in the activity because he wanted to bestow in me his own appreciation for all of life’s liberties. He succeeded. Every home I have ever owned has a flag flying 365 days a year. He bought me my first flag, and it gave him such great joy to watch his son raise it above his first house. Today, I buy flags for all my friends. For me, a home is not a home until the Stars and Stripes flies above it.
On this weekend it is appropriate to remind ourselves of our national motto, “E Pluribus Unum” – out of many, one – that appears on the Great Seal of the United States. The flag represents the unity of 50 states, 300 million people, and an ideal that has withstood the test of time. It was Ben Franklin, an advocate of that motto, who so famously said at the inception of this great American experiment in freedom: “Gentlemen, we must all hang together, or we will certainly all hang separately.”
Yet even with literally limitless opportunity at our fingertips (put down your blackberry and think about this for a moment)), we still live in times of great anxiety and anger. Our differences are magnified beyond all recognition, and our commonalities are ignored or minimized. With all this negativity swirling around us, it’s no surprise that 44% of Americans think their kids will have a worse quality of life than them, or that 57% believe their children will inherit a weaker America.
But I have one word to say to the professional pessimists. Enough. Enough with your talk. Enough with your cynicism. This is a great country – the best the world has ever known. There is so much more that unites us than divides us. Our best days are still ahead. Companies like Amway have survived and thrived not because they were sidetracked by occasional problems but because they focused on lasting solutions.
So listen up America: stop complaining and start doing. Stop blaming and start achieving. That’s what our Founding Fathers taught us – and it’s a lesson we need to relearn today.
So on this great 4th of July weekend, I hope you will pause and reflect on the first Americans whose wisdom and respect for the individual created this great country 224 years ago. Let us appreciate our ancestors who had the courage to leave everything behind and come to America in search of something better — not for themselves but for their children. Let us celebrate all the joys and benefits of freedom and family and all the blessings that our great country bestows on its peoples.
And dad, today it is your flag that flies proudly on my home.
Frank Luntz is the author of two New York Times best selling books on life in America, and he appears regularly on the Fox News Channel.
Add Peter Nero and the Philly Pops® in the “POPs on Independence Presented by Amway Global” concert on Friday, July 2 at 8:30 p.m., and you’re talking about a memorable start to the Fourth of July weekend. The concert is sponsored by Amway Global and presented by the National Constitution Center, a Philadelphia museum whose focus is the U.S. Constitution.
The concert presents a thrilling opportunity to celebrate our collective spirit of independence, economic freedom and optimism in the City of Brotherly Love. At Amway Global, we take special pride in celebrating our freedom, as we continue to champion the American dream through the Amway business opportunity.
Stirring patriotic anthems, rousing marches, and holiday favorites will be featured throughout the concert, along with a reading of the Declaration of Independence, all against the fitting backdrop of Independence Hall.
No matter where you celebrate the Fourth of July, take time to say thanks for the freedoms we enjoy here in America!
The kids came in droves. More kids, in fact, than we’d ever seen at an Amway Global Positive Sprouts gardening project. And despite the iffy weather, more than 100 kids, Amway Global employees and Independent Business Owners (IBOs) were ready to work, too. Even the neighbors showed up at the Steil Boys and Girls Club in Grand Rapids, Mich., willing to lend a hand and a few gardening tools as needed.
Directing this organized chaos last Saturday was Linda VanZee – Amway Global IT employee by day and Master Gardener at home. Every Positive Sprouts garden project is guided by a Master Gardener, and Linda says she had so much fun at the Grand Rapids event, she wants to help with future projects.
With Linda’s able assistance, we planted a strawberry patch and a few corn plants, along with raised gardens of goodies for salads, pizza, and salsa – the foods kids love. What better way to get kids thinking about nutrition and gardening?
At the end of the day, we had built more than simply a garden. We had renewed our connection with the earth, and with the fruits and vegetables we had planted. We had made the Grand Rapids Boys and Girls Club a positive place for kids, complete with picket fence and picnic table. And we all had a wonderfully positive impact on the kids and on their neighborhood.
And we haven’t stopped there. As part of a three-year commitment from Amway Global and the Green Education Foundation, every Boys and Girls Clubs in the U.S. will provide kids with simple, fun lessons on nutrition and healthy eating. That’s in addition to the gardens we’re planting at seven clubs around the country.
We just had Positive Sprouts event on June 26 in Buena Park, Calif., and will have another June 29 in San Diego. If you and your family want to help out, contact us at boysandgirlsclubs@amwayglobal.com. My 7-year-old son, Michael says it’s the most fun ever – and he should know. He helped plant the Grand Rapids garden right alongside the Club kids!
Be sure to check out pictures of the Grand Rapids garden project, along with stories from local TV and the local newspaper.
The night was cool, the team was hot, and 4,000 fans cheered their favorite women’s soccer team – FC Gold Pride and its star player, Marta – to victory against the Boston Breakers. It was the first game played in the Pride’s brand-new Pioneer Stadium on the campus of California State University in Hayworth, Calif.
And when Amway Global Vice President and Managing Director Steve Lieberman and I officially kicked off the game in the center of the field, the crowd got on its feet for the FC Gold Pride’s team sponsor!
Everybody had a great time at Saturday’s game, including the many soccer fans who stopped by the Amway Global tent to spin the wheel and get prizes ranging from official soccer balls to T-shirts. The NUTRILITE® Vanilla Pretzel Energy Bars giveaways were definite crowd pleasers.
In another tent, we kicked off the Marta Power of 10 initiative. It’s a social media-driven campaign helping girls and young women to discover their passion, just as their hero Marta has done. Taking its cue from Marta’s #10 jersey, Power of 10 promotes achievement, inspiring girls to dream big and reach their full potential.
At the tent, girls used Apple® iPads® for the first time in their lives, and signed up for our Power of 10 Facebook page. We now have 180 new friends!
Next stop for the FC Gold Pride: Sunday, June 27, at Pioneer Stadium against FC Sky Blue of New Jersey. Hope you can join us!
Any time you have 35 teams of walkers representing Amway Global for the Easter Seals Walk With Me event at John Ball Park Zoo in Grand Rapids, with a total of 500 employees, Independent Business Owners (IBOs), and their families – well, that’s cause for celebration!
Getting all those people to the same place Wednesday night didn’t just happen by coincidence. We had a big group of very dedicated team captains who sometimes used strong-arm tactics to get others to join us. (I heard about one noteworthy captain who literally stood in her co-workers’ cubicles and asked them point-blank why they hadn’t signed up yet.)
For me, the best moment of the evening came at the start of the walk as a high school cheerleading team lead a throng of men, women, and children from companies and organizations across West Michigan – all clad in white T-shirts.
I’m proud to say that of the top 10 fundraising teams, eight were from Amway Global departments – from the top team in Amway Global Customer Support, to the “Strolling Stones” team from Integrated Marketing Services which spearheaded our corporate-wide involvement.
In addition, most of the top 10 fundraising team captains were also Amway Global employees. It just goes to show what happens when a number of people get behind a cause like Easter Seals, which helps children with disabilities address life’s challenges and achieve personal goals. In fact, Amway Global will hit the $30 million milestone of fundraising for Easter Seals in 2010, our 27th year of involvement.
How about you and your family? There’s sure to be local Walk With Me events in your area of the country. Find out why Amway Global employees, IBOs, and scores of others across the country support this amazing cause.
If you ask most kids, they’d tell you they hate vegetables. All vegetables. And fruits aren’t exactly on their “Top 10” list either.
But what if they could plant a garden? More specifically, a pizza garden? Or a salsa garden? You just might get them to eat more fresh fruits and veggies!
That’s the idea behind the Amway Global Positive Sprouts gardening program with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America – to give city kids a fun way to learn about the importance of fruits and vegetables, and to help supply their families with more fresh foods through gardening.
With the help of IBOs and Amway employees, 40-50 young Club members in Denver recently put their spades and shovels to work right at the Boys and Girls Club there. As we planted a community garden brimming with fresh vegetables, we were also sowing the seeds of new nutrition knowledge and understanding in these young minds.
The next garden openings, after Philadelphia and Denver, are Seattle (June 12), Grand Rapids (June 19), San Diego (June 29 – note change of date), and Buena Park, Calif. (June 26). A date has yet to be determined for the opening of the seventh garden in Orlando.
In addition to the gardens in these key cities, Boys and Girls Clubs across the country – with help from Amway and the Green Education Foundation – will provide simple, fun lessons on nutrition, aimed at three age groups: 6-8, 9-12, and teens.
If you’re interested in volunteering at a garden opening in your area, please contact us at boysandgirlsclubs@amwayglobal.com.
Be sure to check out pictures of the Denver garden project.
