He was addressing thousands of people in a packed stadium. They had come from afar to hear him. Most came because they believed he might bring some inner peace and happiness into their lives.
“It is better,” the Dalai Lama told them, “to stay in the religious tradition you are already in. But,” he said, “if you DO decide after much reflection and study that the Buddhist path is the right one for you, be careful of one thing:
“It is human nature, perhaps to justify one’s decision to change, to belittle one’s previous religion.”
“This is NOT a good thing. Because that religious faith still benefits others. All religious faiths help humans. People’s cultures are different, so naturally different religious faiths are more suitable for different peoples. So do not belittle or criticize your previous religion. That must be avoided.”
Hmm. Does this advice apply when you leave one company for another?
P.S. The Dalai Lama was speaking of the goals of all known religions: compassion, love for one another, forgiveness, etc. The fact that some from extremists from every religion have used their religion to harm others does not change the goal that religions around the world have: to improve the human lot through compassion, love and forgiveness.
I would agree that this way of looking at the different religions could also be used when speaking of former MLM’s, UNLESS, the former MLM Company was found to set themselves up to reap the rewards without regard for their distributors profitability.
All MLM Companies in business for more than two years have great products. Not all companies are structured so that the majority of their MLM distributors are capable of making more than peanuts.
I will never understand why people think it’s OK to run down another religion or company, just because they left or don’t belong. What ever happened to personal responsibility? It’s alright to make your own decisions of what religion to belong to or what company to represent. Why would anyone feel the need to criticize what they at one time supported? Maybe they feel the need to justify themselves for making a poor choice or to explain why they changed their mind.
I would question the integrity of someone who asked me to join their company by slamming their previous one.
I agree.
I too am horrified when people leave, stop using products they’ve been selling, and even speak poorly of the company. (Assuming there weren’t grievous wrongdoings there, of course.)
Like so many others, I repped for a different company before this one, and I still love, use, and even sell those products when I receive an inquiry. My personal challenge was the angst I suffered from suggesting people might want to try something that was very foreign to them. My present product, capsules packed with whole fruits and vegetables, eliminates that discomfort. People either are concerned about the amount of fresh produce they or their children eat or they’re not — easy-peasy in comparison, but in no way a condemnation of my previous business choice.
Dianne
I think the Dali Lama is right on with his comment. The thing is a lot of people have a high school type attachment to their opportunity because they love the product even when the opportunity is not offering the opportunity for income and requires massive expenditure on samples and old fashioned marketing methods. There is nothing wrong with using and supporting the product but when looking for a business opportunity we need a comp plan that is condusive to making money and that means growing retail customers as well as business builders. We also need to move into Internet 2.0 as far as marketing systems are concerned and not rely on “dead” web sites that WE send our people to but nobody finds unless we send them there. We need to blog (a lot) we need people to know we understand what we are selling and act as personal care consultants not just salespeople, and we need to use lots of different out reach methods including radio, television, telephone broadcasting, article writing and what ever it takes to get our brand name out there. Many network companies do not permit their field personnel to do their own advertising because they want control and actually make a lot of money even when the field don’t from selling samples and only paying their people on wholesale sales. When you look at the big picture this is really not an even playing field but many people getting into network marketing wear rose colored glasses when it comes to their company and are forever responding to the carrot in front of their eyes that never turns into dollars and cents for their hard work. Juliette Gray http://www.itvsuccessline.com
I have to agree completely. Just because the fit is bad does not make “it” bad. It just means that “it” was not right for you!