The Messiah Complex
WITH both of us coming from theological backgrounds, we know what it’s like to be victims of
the “Messiah complex,” which is very similar to the Management Trap, but with more emphasis on saving people. Given our backgrounds, at one time or another we wanted to save the entire world and every single person we sponsored. Each time we found a good person, especially one who appeared to need saving, we would end up dedicating much of our time managing that individual and his or her entire organization. But it doesn’t work, as Rene and I both learned over and over.
Here’s the irony. Those frontline recruits who demand the least attention are usually the ones
who become the most successful. For example, let’s consider Dennis and David Clifton, brothers from Texas. At the time, Dennis was a student in the doctoral program at the University of Texas and David was a detective with the Houston Police Department. After
only about a month in the business, Mark recruited Dennis and taught him everything he knew, and Dennis then taught David what Mark had shared with him.
Mark initially thought he had offended them somehow when their phone calls ceased to come daily. But he discovered that they didn’t need him like they did in the very beginning.
They had their serious prospects call him to confirm the authenticity of this business and to be closed, but, otherwise, they understood the simplicity of recruiting and training others, and they just did it. If there’s one primary lesson we learned during our first few years in networking, it’s that those recruits who need us the most usually succeed the least. and
those who prosper self-sufficiently deserve all the credit.
Mark recalls, “I remember it feeling like a real slap to my ego the first time Dennis Clifton went an entire month without calling for help. Yet, when I awakened from my need-to-be-
needed stupor, I was astounded to discover that the Clifton boys had passed me by. Only in MLM is it rewarding to have our downline members reach the very top level of our compensation plan before us.”
Kathy Denison and Terry Hill needed no “Messiah” either. In spite of the fact that neither had ever participated in MLM before, even as frontline distributors, they simply didn’t need Mark to save them. Except for a few telephone calls their first month or two, and some help closing
prospects in their first years, they became totally self-sufficient immediately. The new people
who whined and moaned and complained were all out of the business in a few months.
Those who have become millionaires did it primarily on their own. Mark gave them the support and the duplicable system Richard Kall taught him and they proceeded to
successfully accomplish great things. They are all winners. The last thing a winner needs is a manager or a savior.
Remember, if new recruits finish their training and go to work without calling you every day and asking you to do everything for them, don’t be offended. Be joyous! In this business
everyone has the ability to do great things, but those who lean on their uplines for everything are usually the ones who fail the most rapidly. What makes our industry so much grander
than traditional employment opportunities is the fact that we are compensated for our productivity. We aren’t like some traditional corporations, such as TWA, who, at the time of this printing, haven’t given their hardest working employees a raise in ten years, while their
CEO allegedly continues to earn $3,000 a day. If new associates want to earn more than a particular leader above them, they just need to be more productive, i.e., find more frontline
distributors and customers who will use and share the products. That’s what we love most about our business. While we can never actually lose our downlines-unless we stop
ordering products-our downline leaders can certainly pass us in earnings. And some of ours have, especially since 1992 when we chose to dedicate ourselves to enhancing this industry’s image through positive articles and media reports; lectures to universities, clubs and organizations; and books such as this. We haven’t actively pursued frontline recruiting
nearly to the extent we did our first few years because we’ve elected to use the freedom earned for other causes.
Additionally, we are upline leaders to some very sizable international organizations, all of which expect us to be present in their cities at least once a year. We travel extensively in some twenty countries. From Tokyo to Dallas, and Sydney to London, we love to spend time with our friends and associates throughout the world. And even now, while we conscientiously avoid sinking into the director’s seat, we do nevertheless feel a definite desire to spend quality time in each leader’s city. Due to our travel agenda, several key players in our downline—some who have been in the business half as long as us-have become more
prosperous. Why? Because they kept on frontline recruiting-that’s the primary way to increase income. Yet, we still have a significant number of people who deserve to earn more
but don’t because they are bogged down in the Management Trap or caught up in the Messiah complex.
To be frank, there have been times when people earning one million dollars a month, far more than us, question our sanity for choosing to try to elevate the entire industry instead of becoming gazillionaires by continuing to frontline recruit globally.
Our response to them is simple: Read Living with Passion by Peter Hirsch. We’ve found our passion. We are
irrevocably convinced that network marketing is the very best, high-integrity economic system for global solutions to some very pressing problems in such places as Third World countries. And lest you not understand what we mean by pressing problems, we’ll give you
just one example. It has now been estimated that by the year 2000 some forty million people worldwide will have died of AIDS, leaving behind some five million orphans, 90 percent of whom live in Africa and other Third World countries. As of this printing, not one agency has
yet been created to deal with this problem. There are so many enormous global problems just waiting for us out there. Many network marketers earning millions each year have joined us in projects to make the world a better place. There are indeed things more pressing than
becoming excessively wealthy and we in MLM have the money and time freedom to make a difference.
We aren’t alone in being plagued with the Messiah complex. Jo Tonita is one idealistic network marketer who, like many, shares this phenomenon.
“The biggest challenge to me was figuring out who was really going to build a business once they showed an interest. To succeed, one must have belief before evidence, that is, they
have to be able to picture themselves there and feel the emotions of it long before it actually happens. I didn’t understand that initially, so I simply worked and managed others who were unable to see the end result and then became quite frustrated when they quit. I wanted everyone to succeed, so I tended to spend too much energy and time helping in whatever manner I could. As a result, I found myself drained of energy and taking their failures personally.
“I overcame these challenges by learning how to facilitate visionary goal setting but I’m still very selective about those with whom I choose to work. I realize that my success will be
directly related to what I think about the most and where I direct my energy. It’s unnecessary to fall into a management mode when what we truly need to do as a leader is provide a duplicable strategy for our new associates, then allow them to create their own success.”
Jo and Rick Tonita are networkers who are among the top sales leaders in their company in Canada, having now been nearly twenty years with only one company. It is our hope that
many more network marketers will be able to say that with pride over the next twenty years.
When you find yourself frustrated because your associates are not successful, teach them how to visualize the end result and direct most of your energy toward those who do.
SIR LOFTY. 0240787223
THE INCOMING NETWORK MARKETING APOSTLE.
BADENYA HARRY 