F O U R T H G E N E R A T I O N T H I N K I N G
Here’s a different, more practical perspective. It’s less abstract and it puts the concept of Fourth Generation Thinking into a more familiar network marketing context… with a twist!
Network marketing is like a three storey building. To reach the top (4) – and freedom – we have to climb from one floor to the next until we reach the roof.
Most people think the second level (Independence) is the roof (Freedom) and that the door (2) at the top of the stairs from the ground leads to the roof. Wrong!
The ONLY stairs in the entire building are from the first level (1) to the second level (2). After that, there are only empty stairwells. So we need to help one another to get to the next floor up using win-win, co-operative, synergistic, interdependent relationships that combine the knowledge, attitudes and skills each of us has mastered to become independent.
There are locked doors at every level that bar our access to the next level.
Most people aren’t aware that the door at the top of the stairs (2) is locked. They keep “banging their heads against it”, “spinning their wheels”, “running on the spot” or “treading water” and wondering why they’re not getting anywhere, despite being so frantically busy.
To pass through to the next level, we have to obtain the key to each door.
Most people in network marketing are unaware that each level is different to the one before, so it needs a different key. (Most people are unaware that they needs any keys at all.)
Ignorance is the prime reason why most people never even reach the second level (2), let alone the top of the building. They rarely leave the ground.
This ignorance of the processes that create freedom is why most people never achieve the desired result from starting in a network marketing business.
Keys are levers designed to turn locks.
Leverage is the key tool in our quest for freedom.
Knowledge, attitudes and skills are powerful, duplicable forms of leverage.
Relationships are the single most powerful form of leverage in network marketing.
Win-win motives, attitudes and behaviour are powerful forms of leverage because they protect and enhance our relationships.
The first level (1) of the building is dependence.
The second level (2) is independence. The process that produces it is learning (the four upward steps). The result is emulation. The key is mastery.
The third level (3) is interdependence. The process that produces is is teaching (the four steps back downward to bring more people up to fill level two so you can all work together to reach level three; they're really just the four learning steps seen from the top of the stairs – from the teacher’s perspective). The result is duplication. The key is synergy.
The process of freedom – the roof of the building (4) – is creation (visualisation). The result is personal control. The key is integrity.
The purpose of the game is to reach the helicopter on the roof… it will take you anywhere you want to go. That’s freedom!
A word of warning… beware of the elevator!
©1998 The Profit Clinic. All rights reserved. This page updated 1 October 2005.
