Direct Selling Field CEO Or Ivory Tower CEO?

As an active leader in Direct Selling / MLM / Network Marketing it would be nice to have access to the CEO of your company, introducing new (prospect) field leaders to the management and closing the sign up process together.

You want to see your CEO at conventions or regionals to meet and greet with new distributors and prospects. You want your CEO participate in industry events, showing his active support for our great profession. You want him maintain an active Facebook profile.

What happens is that over time, the CEO can become out of touch with the experiences and problems of those that actually get the work done — the active distributors who interact directly with the people who pay the bills — the customers.

In Direct Selling there are 2 kind of CEO’s: Field CEO‘s easy to access, and the Ivory Tower CEO‘s who concentrate on managing the company from behind their desk and hiding behind the staff or his/her personal assistance. Often those CEO’s have no experience as field leaders. You see ivory tower CEO’s in mature, slow growing companies. They watch the shop.

Appoint a CEO from outside the industry and chances he/she messes up are significant.

For an active leading distributor an ivory tower CEO is of less use. It is the same as a distributor going into Management Mode. Instead of signing up new distributors a Distributor in Management Mode is telling his team what to do. That did not work in the last decades and will not work ever…. You have to lead and grow by example as a distributor and as CEO.

Due to the pressures of leadership, and the time demands, there is a tendency for Direct Selling CEO’s to spend most of their time with corporate managers in the office, focusing on the big issues, or the strategic issues. Those thing are important, of course. However the money, momentum and shareholders value is in the field….

Strong Direct Selling CEO’s can delegate most operational issue’s to their managers and should be in the field at least 2 days a week.

The ivory tower syndrome process is a natural and common process that can affect most busy CEO’s, unless the executive pays conscious attention, and allocates time, to stay in touch with those who made the company: active distributors and customers…

Below list are the Field CEO’s in fast growing Direct Selling Companies, alphabetical ordered, if we missed a great field CEO please comment in the facebook section 🙂