For Amway President Doug DeVos, growing up around the family business meant more than simply watching his father, company co-founder Rich DeVos, go to work each day.

For Doug and his siblings, it meant welcoming distributors to the family’s home, serving food and cleaning up afterward.  He was even recruited to do product demos.

“The business came to the family and the family came to the business,” Doug recalled.  “We got to be involved. That’s not true with a lot of family businesses.”

Doug recently talked about  growing up in Amway, what he learned from his father and how he leads Amway with Chairman Steve Van Andel today in an interview with the Sunday Morning Townsquare radio show.

He also shared the value of listening to and learning from distributors in creating the products, training and support to help them succeed.  Keeping that orientation, Doug said, ensures that Amway is relevant today and remains so for future generations. 

Listen to the interview here.

“Amway was founded on the belief that, by helping people improve their lives, they could make the world a better place.”

So begins the message from our Chairman Steve Van Andel and our President Doug DeVos in the Amway 2012 Global Corporate Social Responsibility Report released today.

The annual report highlights the many ways our company, its more than 21,000 employees and more than 3 million distributors make a difference in the lives of others.

That includes building homes in Latin America, providing water filters in Haiti, building libraries in China and adopting schools right here in the hometown of our World Headquarters.

Corporate Social Responsibility is built into everything we do: our people, our products and our performance.

 Steve and Doug credit their fathers for recognizing the potential in this business for making a difference.

“They made it their mission to be more, do more, give more. And more than a half-century later, we’re still emulating their powerful example. … We’re awed by how far we’ve come and inspired to keep becoming more, together.”

Read the full report here.

Amway World Headquarters will be closed in celebration of the U.S. Labor Day holiday on Monday, September 3, and reopen on Tuesday, September 4.

We wish our employees, distributors and their families safe travels over the holiday weekend.

The Amway Center is a prime destination,  home to the NBA Orlando Magic and host to internationally-acclaimed artists, sporting events and shows. Those who haven’t made it to Orlando may have seen the 2012 NBA All-Star Game or other Amway Center events that have been broadcast all around the world.

This exposure is inspiring to our distributors and has helped millions of  people get to know our brands and products, Amway Chief Marketing Officer Candace Matthews recently told  Direct Selling News.

“You can see the Amway name from the air, on the ground from blocks away, and throughout the complex,” Candace said in the interview with DSN. “Orlando is a global destination and the Amway Center is a major family entertainment venue, just like Disney World and Universal Studios. And when events at the Amway Center are broadcast to a global audience, they bring our name to potential customers and inspire pride in our distributors all over the world.”

To learn more about what’s coming up at this prime destination, visit www.amwaycenter.com.

Photo by Ben Tanner

To Vivian Yuan and Christy Xin, fireworks are flowers of flame floating in the night sky.

Vivian and Christy, who are on assignment from China at Amway World Headquarters, agreed to share that poetic perspective as a preview to the Amway-sponsored 4th of July Family Fireworks celebration Wednesday in Grand Rapids.

Their observations?

Meaning: In Chinese, “fireworks” translates to flowers of flame. In English, it is art works of fire.

History: Fireworks are a blend of ancient science, modern technology, infinite imagination and beautiful wishes. They originated in China over a thousand years ago, and were introduced to the Western world in the 19th century.

Moments: Fireworks are associated with breath-taking moments all over the world. Examples include the July 4th fireworks in the U.S., the fireworks of the walking gigantic footprints at the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony and fireworks over Sydney Harbour in Australia on New Year’s Eve.

Wherever these events take place, these “blooming flowers” in the sky create happiness reflected through the smiles on our faces, say Vivian and Christy.

We look forward to sharing that happiness with our friends and neighbors in West Michigan this week.

YouTube Direkt

Did you know that Amway employees and distributors have volunteered more than 2.5 million hours to make the communities where they work and live a better place?

Read about our ongoing efforts around the world in the 2011 Amway Global Corporate Citizenship Report published today, or in the Amway One By One blog.  That blog, by the way, was recently honored as the “Best Corporate Social Responsibility” blog by PR News.

It’s time to submit your green thumbprint to Amway Colombia for this year’s award competition.

Amway Colombia recognizes the best environmental journalism efforts in that country through the award, “Premio Amway de Periodismo Ambiental.” Instituted 15 years ago, the award has become one of the most prestigious and competitive in the country. Under the theme, “Act green. Leave a green fingerprint,” it recognizes journalists who write news stories that provide feasible solutions to environmental problems and explore ways to better manage our natural resources.

Past winners have examined the impacts of gold mining, coastal erosion and mountain deforestation. The award recognizes top three entries plus three honorable mentions in the professional category and the top two for students. More than COP$23,000,000 (USD$13,000) will be divided among the winners. Entries are expected to exceed 150.

We can’t wait to read all about it, when the winners are announced June 14.

Ever wonder how the stuff you use gets to you?

The staff at DC Velocity magazine did. So they recently followed the distribution process step by step at Amway — from the time one of our distributors places a customer order, to the moment the truck carrying these packages pulls away from our Michigan campus.

A video crew also tackled that question. As a result, our Midwest Regional Service Center now stars in the lead segment of “Move it!” — a web-based TV series focused on the $1.2 trillion U.S. logistics market.

The segment showcases our state-of-the-art distribution technology, including a sophisticated conveyor system designed to handle a wide range of consumer products — from lipstick and lotions to multi-purpose cleaning liquids. In addition, our B+ Carton Technology stations right size each shipping carton, by folding down the top edge of each box to match the height of the tallest product.

According to Deb Parme, vice president of North America Logistics, that attention to detail improves our customers’ experience by creating durable packaging that protects products during delivery. This efficient technology also helps minimize packaging materials needed per order.

Open for just six months, this super service center keeps our growing business on a roll.

We believe it’s important for people to have a safe, clean place to live.

Since the Amway One by One Campaign for Children partnered with Habitat for Humanity last year, distributors and employees across the Americas have worked hard to make that happen.

Here are three examples where our distributors and employees are building hope for others.

In Guatemala, Amway employees and distributors from the United States, Mexico, Barbados, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Honduras, Colombia and El Salvador built a dozen homes. They also raised half a million dollars, matching a $250,000 gift of Tim Foley, longtime Amway distributor and Amway Founders Council member. These  funds will finance construction of more than 40 homes throughout Latin America over the next five years.

In São Paulo, Brazil, Amway distributors and employees raised nearly $5,000, and used it to renovate two homes. Their next  project? Already they are evaluating how to apply their time and talents to help people affected by the devastating floods in Rio de Janeiro.

Finally, after raising $16,000,  more than 25 Amway Colombia distributors, employees and their families constructed two homes in only two days.

Visit our Amway One by One blog to learn how we’re making a difference in 2012. Make your own difference, too, at Habitat for Humanity.

As top distributors celebrated their 2011 accomplishments at a recent Amway Latin America Leadership Seminar, hundreds of distributors from Venezuela to Argentina cheered them on, both in Portuguese and Spanish.

For the first time, they were able to share the excitement only the top distributors of the region usually get to experience – without leaving their home markets. 

Amway TV broadcast the event live through a new webcast recently unveiled by the Instituto de Negocios (INA) of Amway Latin America.

Amway TV serves primarily as a training tool, allowing distributors to watch live in-language interviews with product experts and Amway staff. During the Toronto seminar, distributors were able to take part in a bigger motivational event that included presentations by Amway President Doug DeVos and Amway Latin America President Jeff Dahl.

INA Coordinator Michael Corcoran said distributors liked what they saw, as the webcasts received more than 12,000 views and 500 comments. Said one distributor, “What a beautiful moment… I’m not there but I can feel the energy that’s being lived there.”