DATE: Saturday, September 13, 1997          TAG: 9709130359

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY AKWELI PARKER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   81 lines

DOING WELL BY DOING GOOD AMWAY CHIEF SAYS TRADITION PAYS DIVIDENDS.

Call him a compassionate capitalist.

Dick DeVos, president of Ada, Mich.-based Amway Corp., says traditional values like honesty, virtue, integrity and compassion still work even though avarice, cynicism and self-absorption seem to get more visibility.

For proof, he says, just take a look at Amway, with its $6.8 billion in international sales. A pioneer of multilevel marketing, Amway was built and still runs on a values-based corporate culture, according to DeVos, who visited Hampton Roads this week on a 17-city promotion tour of his book ``Rediscovering American Values - The Foundations of Our Freedom for the 21st Century.''

Wait a second, Amway?

Isn't that the company hounded by the Federal Trade Commission for its pyramid-like compensation system?

The company sued by a number of disgruntled employees pressured to buy expensive tapes and merchandise?

The company that puts potential recruits in a room and bombards them with testimonials from well-dressed, charismatic characters for up to an hour before mentioning the oft-maligned company's name?

``It happens,'' concedes DeVos, ``but when we hear about it, we fix it.''

He says that any company that large - Amway boasts a 2.5 million strong sales force - is going to encounter difficulties.

``I admit, we're not a perfect company,'' says DeVos. Amway's decentralized hierarchy of independent distributors means there's a strong chance for pockets of gung-ho salespeople to get egg on the face of the entire company, he explains.

``That's not something that the company has ever supported as a methodology,'' he says of some underlings' guerrilla-style recruiting tactics.

For the most part, he says, the company's good-faith corporate culture allows business between Amway employees and its distributors to be conducted on a handshake.

Tall, lean and spiffily dressed, DeVos lives by his words of hard work and personal responsibility. With a 6:30 a.m. start of running and lifting weights, DeVos is in constant motion giving speeches, attending conventions, running Amway or watching over the family-owned Orlando Magic basketball team.

Somehow, he says, he still finds time for two or three ``DNT's'' - ``Do Not Touch'' nights reserved for family and not to be pre-empted for anything.

Both in the book and in person, the spiritually devout DeVos - he shot a segment on the Christian Broadcasting Network while in town - talks of having the ``courage'' to stand by beliefs that might just cause others to snicker.

``The pendulum has swung too far in the direction of doing what we want,'' says DeVos. ``In order to restore true freedom, the pendulum must swing back toward doing what is right, getting down to work and taking responsibility.''

DeVos says success didn't just fall in his lap because of the family business.

His entrepreneur father, Rich DeVos, tried a number of his own businesses, ``a lot of which failed,'' before starting Amway with friend Jay Van Andel in 1959.

At age 12, Dick DeVos went to work at his father's company, starting on the lawn care detail and earning 35 cents an hour. Before succeeding his father as president in 1993, Dick DeVos had to understand every aspect of the company, an assignment that meant doing everything from driving forklifts to managing company divisions.

DeVos says he didn't write his book, whose foreword is written by Gerald Ford, for the money.

The proceeds, he says, will go to an educational fund called the Compassionate Capitalist Foundation.

``I don't get a cent,'' says DeVos. ``I want those ideas to get out.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

MOTOYA NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot

Dick DeVos, head of Amway Corp., in Hampton Roads to promote his

book, says Amway was built and still runs on a values-based

culture.

AMWAY

Headquarters: Ada, Mich.

President: Dick DeVOs

1996 annual sales: $6.8 billion

Products: More than 400, including home care, personal care,

nutrition and wellness sold by 2.5 million independent distributors. KEYWORDS: PROFILE INTERVIEW

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