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Sarah Wagner, Amway
Amway, one of the world’s largest direct selling companies, has a proud heritage and has offered business opportunities to millions of people worldwide. Our history is a living part of us – it defines who we are and where we are going.
Amway launched in 1959, when Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel, successful salesmen for Nutrilite, a California-based seller of vitamin and mineral supplements, sought to create a company of their own that would offer others the opportunity to succeed through their own efforts.
Today Amway operates in more than 100 countries and territories and offers more than 450 health, beauty and home products through its distributors.
Amway’s business and operations are built upon relationships, and we are continuing that core value of partnership to grow and improve the initiatives of Amway’s Global Archives and Museum.
Amway is very active in social media, and we have been able to leverage a partnership with the Public Relations group to promote our company’s heritage and share the treasures from our Archives. Public Relations approached us asking to take photographs of some of the materials we have preserved in the Archives, including sculptures, books, awards, products, historic photographs, etc. They have been posting these materials on the Amway Facebook Page, and they give credit to the Archives in their posts, adding in the posts, “A trip to our company archives yielded a timely discovery…” or “Another trip to the archives…” Social media outreach is one of our initiatives as part of our 3 year plan for the Global Archives and Museum, and this relationship has made it much more successful than if we would have pursued this individually.
Another successful relationship we have built is with our retiree group. The Amway Retirees Club is a very active group, full of past Amway employees passionate about the company and its history. These individuals are part of Amway’s history, and building this relationship has already shown to be invaluable. We were invited to be present at their Retiree Picnic in July, and just recently presented at their Halloween Party to discuss volunteer opportunities and displayed photographs and old products from the Archives. We are gathering materials for a Retiree Collection in the Archives to preserve their stories, memories, and achievements. We are also offering tours of the Archives to the retirees, inviting them to volunteer to assist with photo identification, share their oral histories, and perform general work as needed in the Archives. The response so far has been very positive, and we can’t wait to see where this partnership takes us in 2013!
I have heard the term “Synergistic Success” from a VP at Amway, and it relates well to these initiatives and partnerships we are building with the Global Archives and Museum. A key to success for any organization is to work together to achieve common goals. When a group works together towards a common goal, the result is much greater than what could have been achieved individually, resulting in Synergistic Success. This success is evident in our relationships with Public Relations and Amway Retirees, which has already taken us farther than we expected in our ambitious three-year plan. The Amway Global Archives and Museum plans to continue building upon these partnerships and develop additional beneficial partnerships, which will result in Synergistic Success and help us achieve our goals and continue preserving Amway’s legacy around the globe.
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