Online reputation is if not already, becoming a big deal. So a lot of organizations are looking to protect their image from bad press or even untrue information portrayed about them. With some of the IT associations I belong to this is starting to become a bigger and bigger concern and more and more talked about. Social Media is playing a huge role in the creation or destruction of reputations and managing these reputations is vital for many organizations.
Todd Woodward recently joined Amway as Vice President, Global Amway Brand and Public Relations and has some pretty high credentials from past employers. University of Notre Dame, Weber Shandwick Worldwide, Harley Davidson and the National Milk Processor Board. I’m glad to see someone like Todd take over this position as I’m sure he will take Amway’s reputation and only increase it as it already is.
Just doing some searching on Amway or even World Wide Dreambuilders has changed since I first started. There are many companies that help repair reputations and remove old or negative publicity and it seems like Amway is making strides there. I don’t blame them as people that hide behind anonymous or alias’s really don’t lend much credibility to be honest. Why hide? If you believe 100% in what you talk about then you should be able to use a real name, at least that’s my opinion.
Today’s blog post on the Amway Insider was a good one that talked about online reputation management and some thoughts from Todd about Direct Selling Companies and Amway. This comment really resonated with me because I really do believe this to be true at least with our business. “Direct selling is the most human of businesses. . . we believe that helping humans – not companies – to be successful is a world-changing approach. Translating that online is critical to improving our reputation”. While some may think it’s crazy to think a business like ours helps “humans”, it’s the people who are crazy enough to think that that actually make it happen. We help others become successful before we become successful and that’s very fulfilling. If you can serve others before you serve yourself you will become successful. Don’t believe me? Ask people like Warren Buffet, John Maxwell, or anyone that is very successful, they got there because they served others first and that’s exactly what we do.
Just today I had two different counsel sessions with different members of our team. They had various questions, some business related some non-business related and I didn’t get paid for those two hours. I could have used that time to do something else however I served on them because they needed me, they needed to talk to me about whatever was on their mind or heart. That’s just one way of how you serve others and do exactly what Todd was talking about, “helping humans”. I love that quote.
Click the link above to read the blog entry to see some other quotes from Todd on what is going to be hugely impactful for Amway in the coming future.