The Best of Business Building
GARY: Some of the old business-building techniques were valuable! This is why it’s so important for you to look at some of the older members who built decades ago in Young Living. But here’s the real precious value, and that is that when you take the knowledge from the past and incorporate it with the new technology of today—it’s win/win/win for everybody. So use it, understand it. However, we can’t build a business totally the way we did 20 years ago. If we focused that way, we’d be behind the eight ball. We’ve got to build for tomorrow, not just for today.
This is why I say to study the trends, what’s going to change, and what’s going to happen five years from now. You need to be studying and reading and understanding that the trends will dictate the outcome. Watch the trends; you want to be ahead of them. It’s like getting on a surfboard. You don’t get behind the wave; you get in front of it. Be sure that you’re in front of the wave.
Gary and Mary Young at 2016’s Grand Convention.
We’re headed into a new wave of business building and leadership. I’ve been talking about this for the last five years, and it’s very exciting when we understand the dynamics of the change in the mentality of building a business today. It’s not the old way. We need to be prepared for change in the trend of business and leadership. Looking back, we see the need to look into the future. Right, Mary?
MARY: It’s a good combination.
GARY: It’s a great combination. So here’s something that’s interesting with the switch from kings and chiefs to community fathers such as doctors, lawyers, and town merchants. From the 1880s to the 1920s, business transitioned from fathers to titans of industry like Carnegie, Morgan, and Rockefeller. From the 40s to the 70s, there was another shift from business tycoons to managers that was spurred by the work of Edward Deming and innovators like Sam Walton. All of you know of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, right?
I mention this to make my point that we have to be prepared to continually look at how we can go into the future and keep growing. Young Living is the oldest and fastest-growing essential oil company in the world today. Do we want to rest on our laurels now that we’ve reached over $1 billion in yearly sales? Not a chance. We’re just at the point where we can light the rocket. We’ve made enough mistakes that now we know how to get it right, right? Yes!
