Can You Keep a Secret?

by Randy Jones, host of the Media Mavens Group, and author of

As you have read in previous posts, RMITs are not believers in long-term planning. America’s big successes got where they are by incremental improvement and strong, careful execution, but they didn’t get there by deciding at the outset how they would hit a $2.5 million profit target or achieve a 72 percent market share. They followed their perfect pitch, always moving forward while remaining flexible enough to adapt to change and to take advantage of opportunities. As Dan Duncan, Houston’s RMIT, told me, “Daily incremental improvement is the surest path to great success and a great fortune.” As I found out as I was researching The Richest Man in Town, however, for all that they cautioned against too much goal-setting, many RMITs have a secret.

They may not have a ten-year plan, but RMITs often have a secret objective, a long-term goal that keeps them motivated even as the winds of change take them off the course they initially set. Dr. Thomas Frist, HCA Healthcare founder and Nashville’s RMIT, told me, “I believe everyone should have at least one silent goal. This is a goal that is known only by you. It’s a reach goal, one that is extremely hard to attain, but potentially life altering, even world changing. These kinds of world-changing goals are realized by only very few people. If you don’t reach them, you certainly won’t be judged by others—it’s your well-kept personal secret.” A silent goal—what Jim Collins, the author of Good to Great, calls a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal)—is your pole star, the guide to your final destination even as you adjust your course.

Life is in the journey, and strong execution is what keeps the ship moving forward, but every voyage has to have some ultimate destination, even if it’s known only to you. Amway (now Alticor) cofounder Richard DeVos told me that his silent goal was “to own the largest and the best privately-held consumer goods company in the world.” The secret of a secret goal is in combining big dreams—and no one dreams bigger than an RMIT—with the drive and the strong execution to make it happen. The secret is to set a goal that is so revolutionary, so forward in thought and deed that if you achieve it, you go down in history with the likes of Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison—or Bill Gates. And even if you fail to meet your secret goal, you might hit that $2.5 million target and 72 percent share along the way. That’s the kind of failure you can live with (more on failure in my next post).

Tags: author, entrepreneur, goals, randyjones, richestmanintown

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Comment by Jana Arnold on November 30, 2009 at 2:29pm: Ray, Thank you for sharing your story. It reminds us that even when we are dealing with a "reputable company" we must be sure the person is actually WITH that organization. I can't imagine how anyone could be so heartless and take advantage like that. But I guess it does happen everyday and during this recession we have to be especially careful to guard against scams.

Comment by Ray Cates on November 27, 2009 at 8:12pm: Richard Devos and Amway are very negative subjects for me and my family. Here in Ocala Florida a few years ago we attended a meeting for the disabled. I have a very disabled (brain damaged) son. The meeting was for him. It was a program called ABLE. The woman who was head honcho for the company, charity was named Lori Bennett. It met at the YMCA in Ocala, when I first started.

Lori had meetings every week, and the thing promised was that all the parents who wanted to provide for their disabled children would have to attend, and work their pants off for at least a year. So that their child would belong to this program. AND BE ABLE TO LIVE AT THE CENTER IF THEIR PARENTS DIED. She had plans, founders, products that people would buy and sell. It was supposed to be a special part of Amway. Lori claimed that land was bought and the buildings were drawn up to be built. She showed the building plans at every meeting -- in color and detailed. Something for every type of disability. During the year I was in, hundreds joined and worked the program to some extent. Families bought everything from Amway, but those we brought into the organization were taken by Lori, as part of the ABLE program.

I did almost nothing else for one year, so that my son would qualify. The products we all bought were Amway. I talked to people at AMWAY and they knew about ABLE. i talked my church into letting ABLE meet in their meeting room on Wed. nights. I stayed on the internet most of the day organizing for Lori in Texas, California and many places in Florida.

The organization was very secretative, and one day (OVER A YEAR AFTER I STARTED) Lori told me that we would not organize outside Ocala for awhile. Then she closed down her website, and cancelled her 8oo numbers and disappeared. I talked to lots of people at AMWAY. They clained that they knew nothing about this SCAM.

Many of us were left worse than we were, and Amway claims no responsibilty for the ABLE organization or ABLE PROMISES. THIS WAS A SIN AGAINST THE DISABLED CITIZENS. SHAME ON AMWAY! SHAME ON DEVOS! I AM STILL UNHAPPY ABOUT ABLE AND THE WHOLE THING.

I WAS A TURE BELIEVER, AND PUT MY NAME ALL OVER THE INTERNET WITH THIS CRAZY PLAN, THAT WAS A SCAM OF LORRI BENNETT. SHE DID HAVE A DISABLED CHILD HERSELF.
Ray Cates
2024 SE 8th Street
Ocala, Florida 34471
352-236-4406
fax: 1-352-629-1573
rcates2@cox.net