Amway’s Rich DeVos on Motivation

As Rich DeVos, cofounder of Amway Corporation, passes his sixtieth birthday, he can look back at his life so far and say that he has accomplished everything he set out to do. Few of us can say as much. The entrepreneur/motivator is best known for the stunning success of the corporation that he and partner Jay Van Andel began in 1959. What is less well-known about DeVos is his spirited speaking style that mesmerizes audiences whenever he plants his feet behind the podium.

His life began with high expectations from a father who cautioned him to “seize the opportunity” whenever it came his way. He seized many, some of which foundered in tricky seas. Of the many false starts, the most memorable must have been his sailing expedition with Van Andel that began in December 1948 and ended in March 1949 on a shoal off the north coast of Cuba. They were rescued by an ocean liner and taken to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and spent the next five months traveling through South America and the Caribbean.

Someone once said that travel is broadening. In the case of Rich DeVos, it must have been downright enlightening, because he went on from that experience to undreamed of success, including incredible wealth, recognition and respect. Today, Rich DeVos still shares responsibility for the company he and friend Jay Van Andel founded. The company has made many acquisitions since including ownership of the Mutual Broadcasting Company, the world’s largest radio network.

In this exclusive interview with PSP, DeVos talks about what motivates him and how to motivate others.

PSP: How do you motivate somebody?

Rich DeVos: (Chuckles)…I’m chuckling because that’s a very complex question. If one could figure out how to motivate just anybody in the world, then we could change the whole world. However, when you talk about motivating those select people who want to be motivated, then it comes down to three basic things.

PSP: What are they?

Rich DeVos: Recognition, rewards, and money.

PSP: Did anyone have a major motivating influence in your life?

Rich DeVos: My parents always conveyed the attitude that you can do whatever you really want to in life. That was motivating for me.

PSP: Did they live that as an example?

Rich DeVos: Well, my father always wanted to have his own business but he never made it. However, he always filled me with the idea that I was going to do better than he had done. He always implied that there were going to be great days ahead and we should seize the opportunity when it came along.

PSP: Looking back now, when did your opportunity come along?

Rich DeVos: When Jay and I met in high school we always talked about the things we were going to do in life. We approached everything with a positive outlook. Looking back, I guess that was the big opportunity. Also there was a tremendous entrepreneurial spirit at the end of World War II and we were in a way swept up by the whole feeling in the country at that time.

PSP: So you and Jay developed a support system with each other, but you also dreamed. How much does creative dreaming have to do with success and accomplishments?

Rich DeVos: It’s very important. It fortifies your confidence. You’ve got to have a dream – to aspire to something. And then you have to set tangible, realizable goals.

PSP: Who are your heroes?

Rich DeVos: Today I still admire all the men who built big companies. They are real heroes for me – the pioneers who fought and paid a price to make something. I also admire certain presidents like Washington and Lincoln. General MacArthur to me was a stalwart character.

PSP: Is there anyone who motivates you now?

Rich DeVos: I get motivated from the people whom I work with and talk to. When I motivate someone else, it actually does as much for me as it does for the other person.

PSP: In what way is it motivating for you?

Rich DeVos: I’m motivated by a sense of being appreciated, loved – it tells me I’m important, that I make a difference in the world. The ability to have a positive impact on someone else’s life is a tremendous gift for your own life.

PSP: Is money motivating for you?

Rich DeVos: It’s a funny thing about money – once you get past a certain point, it’s no longer motivating.

PSP: What was your most motivating experience?

Rich DeVos: I think it was probably a speech I made in Chicago when I was in my early twenties.

PSP: What was motivating about it?

Rich DeVos: It made me realize that I had the ability to motivate a whole group of people. At the end of the speech everyone just stood up and kept on applauding.

PSP: What did you speak about?

Rich DeVos: The need to have a cause. It was about the Apostle Paul and how, no matter what happened to him, he never lost sight of his goal, how he kept his cause close to his heart. No matter where he was, no matter what his circumstances, he always preached. I said that you and I have to have a commitment to something, otherwise we get distracted.

PSP: Keeping your speech in mind, what advice would you give to sales managers?

Rich DeVos: The sales manager is caught somewhere between being a boss and being an inspirational leader. He or she has to show by example what is possible to do. A sales manager has to be a trainer, a manager, a counselor, and a hand holder and then has to help his or her people to be all they can be.

PSP: How do most people falter when they get distracted?

Rich DeVos: People tend to get intrigued by the grass on the other side of the fence. Every two or three years they run off to some new opportunity. They never really learn the business that they’re in. They’re busy looking for a shortcut to prosperity. They’re what I call opportunity seekers, not builders.

PSP: But didn’t you seize an opportunity in the beginning?

Rich DeVos: There’s nothing wrong with seeking opportunity, but in order to find it, you’ve got to be a builder. People who go into something new all the time spend their whole lives starting over.

PSP: How would you define leadership?

Rich DeVos: Having followers (chuckles) and being cool under fire. A leader has to be able to think while the bullets are flying. You’ve got to stay cool in business and keep going forward.

PSP: How do you do that?

Rich DeVos: I think it’s a sense of knowing who you are. You also know you’re not perfect, you accept that, accept that you don’t have all the answers, and nobody else does either. You work with what you have and get the most you can out of it, and then you move forward. If your plan works out, great. If it doesn’t, you go with something else. It’s not the end of life. You have to have the ability to accept defeat and then to move on.

PSP: What was your most demotivating experience?

Rich DeVos: I guess our fight with the Canadian Government. To be accused of wrongdoing but to know that everything you did was right, and then to have to admit to being wrong, even though you knew you hadn’t done anything wrong, that was a very demotivating thing.

PSP: How did you resolve that for yourself?

Rich DeVos: Well, we had followed expert advice, and we had been doing business in Canada for 18 years, and then all of a sudden they accused us of wrongdoing. I wonder where they were all those years. Finally, if you’re the head of the company, you have to stand up to the line and be responsible for the action of everyone in the company. That’s what I did.

PSP: And how do you look at defeats now?

Rich DeVos: I call defeats learning experiences.

PSP: What is your measure of success?

Rich DeVos: That you’re doing what you’re supposed to in life – using your given talents to their fullest. Accepting your limitations and doing the best you can.

PSP: What advice would you give to others starting out?

Rich DeVos: Get rid of the idea that you’re perfect and almighty. The minute you start thinking you’re perfect, you’re going to fall – fast.

PSP: As a businessman and a leader, what is the most important lesson you can learn only at the top?

Rich DeVos: You have to be patient and loving with people. You learn to treat people with patience. As you get older, you understand that most people are trying to do things right and the few who aren’t just never get their act together. The only problem with being at the top is isolation.

PSP: You make it sound very simple.

Rich DeVos: It is. (Chuckles again.)

PSP: Thank you.

“It’s a funny thing about money, once you get past a certain point, it’s no longer motivating.”