This past month I visited Malaysia and Singapore and experienced the joys of traveling to Amway markets once again. It was great to be on stage sharing my optimal health journey with so many new people. And I’m so impressed by the passion of the staff and leaders. They are incredibly focused on being the best they can be and building the future of our business.
I believe that when we have the opportunity to experience different geographies and cultures, we often change our perspectives about ourselves. My travels have helped me see the world differently and better understand how connected we all are. And I believe that being able to connect through health and wellness makes our bonds even stronger.
Back when I was in my 40s, I was eager to take the Nutrilite brand around the world. To do this, I felt that I needed to experience the customs and dietary practices of various cultures around the world firsthand. So I set sail on a three-year journey on a sailboat called the Firebird that would take me to 36 countries.
During my travels, I discovered that the people I met with the best nutrition were also the happiest, most prosperous, and most involved in their communities. It was this observation that confirmed my belief that taking charge of our own nutrition is critical to living full, satisfying lives, to going after our dreams, and to having enough drive to act on what’s really important to us.
Continuing in my 50s and 60s, I traveled extensively around the world, helping Amway open up international markets at a record pace, introducing Nutrilite products to 47 new markets over a 20-year period from 1986 to 2006.
My latest trip reaffirmed my belief in the power of optimal nutrition and the incredible goodwill of people all over the world who make up our Nutrilite community.
Here are some photos from the trip.
Cheers!
Enjoying the sights in beautiful Malaysia. Photo credit – Braden BeckFrancesca and I enjoyed our time on stage with Amway Managing Director, Mike Duong. Photo credit – Braden BeckEnjoying a wonderful meal with Amway Managing Director, Mike Duong. Photo credit – Braden BeckFrancesca and me telling our Nutrilite story at the Malaysia National Leadership Conference. Photo credit – Braden Beck.
My father, Nutrilite founder Carl Rehnborg, was ahead of his time, he was able to foresee outcomes before they happened. And he was always looking for ways to improve the health of the planet and our prospects as individuals – even in unconventional ways.
If you’ve read The Nutrilite Story, you might know the story of the Acaniaa ship he purchased to harvest plankton from the sea off the coast of Alaska. If you want to know more about Nutrilite history, understanding the story of the Acania is a good place to start because it embodies my father’s forward thinking-nature, the type of thinking that translates into the foundation of the Nutrilite brand.
The Acania designed by John H. Wells and built by Consolidated Shipbuilding Company in 1930. Seen here as Research vessel in Juneau, Alaska (1987)- Southeast Alaska. By Gillfoto – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75
An Eventful World Tour
In the early 1950s my father was entering the retirement phase of his life, having turned 65 in 1952. But he wasn’t slowing down by any means.
A year later, his insatiable curiosity led him to embark on a world tour with his wife Edith that took them to Europe, the Middle East and Asia. During his travels, he was analyzing the character and culture of ancient places that were brand new to him. And in doing so he couldn’t help but view things through his own particular lens – nutrition.
He visited Europe when it was still recovering from the devastation of World War II. He theorized that proper supplementation could help bridge nutritional gaps in people still recovering from the traumas of war. And throughout his travels across three different continents he saw stark reminders of poverty and malnutrition.
He returned home inspired to find ways to make the world a better place and to do what he could to help eliminate poverty and starvation. He saw that people were not only suffering from a lack of vitamins, but also from an inadequate intake of protein.
Observations while Sailing to and from China
Decades earlier he had sailed to and from China across the North Pacific, where he saw plankton blooms glowing in the dark seas at night. Memories of those passages across the ocean gave him an idea for a solution. In the fall of 1954, he decided to find a way to harvest plankton straight from the sea and use it to make a protein supplement.
Why plankton? More bang for the buck, he figured, or more protein by the pound, to be more accurate. Sure, one pound of plankton might be roughly equivalent to a pound of fish, but a lot of food value was lost between the plankton and the big fish that humans ate.
He purchased a 126 foot luxury yacht called the Acania and he refitted it for harvesting plankton. By the summer of 1956, the Acania set sail, bound for the waters off Alaska. I was able to join the crew during my summer break from Stanford University, where I had just completed my sophomore year studying chemical engineering.
How it Worked
From the Acania’s deck, we would send these big coned-shaped nets down 100 feet in water to scoop up the protein-rich plankton. We would follow the plankton on sonar. We could see the fluorescent plankton rise at night with the dwindling sun when we could get close enough to harvest it. We would bring it onboard via big pumps that sucked it out of the water and into the bowels of the boat, where it was spray-dried with relatively little treatment. Every night, we would catch 100 pounds. It produced a very high-quality material that was 85 percent protein.
The trip was a success, proving that plankton could indeed be harvested, and a healthful protein supplement easily made from it.
Unfortunately, the operation wasn’t economically viable. Harvesting plankton was simply too costly at the time to produce a supplement whose primary market would be the world’s most poverty-stricken areas.
The Acania Today
The current owners of the Acania reached out to me earlier this year to compile historical details about the vessel. The ship was built in 1929 and it’s had a storied history with multiple owners. Nutrilite owned it from 1955 to 1960 after which the boat was sold to the Stanford Research Institute.
The ship is being restored after it sank at the dock in Everett, Washington in August of 2017.
I hope to be able to visit the current owners sometime in the near future to share personal stories about my time on the Acania and to relive some of the wonderful memories I experienced as a young man helping to build the future of the Nutrilite brand.
Recent photos of the Acania undergoing restoration after being salvaged from the harbor bottom.
A Friend of the Sea
Today, Nutrilite ingredients harvested from the ocean are Friend of the Sea® certified. That includes the entire supply chain — the fisheries, the fish oil producer, and our products. Specifically, it relates to our new Omega and Advanced Omega products that have begun rolling out this year. It’s another step toward sustainability and care for the planet we call home.
Friend of the Sea® sustainable fisheries and Omega-3 certification ensures certified products minimally impact the environment. Following Friend of the Sea® requirements ensures healthy fish, supports endangered species, and encourages an abundant supply for the future.
My Father’s Legacy
My father was focused on sustainability, social responsibility, and other innovative methods to help alleviate global challenges like poverty, malnutrition, and climate change. He was doing this even before the modern environmental movement was born.
It’s the type of thinking we need more of today as we slowly realize that the future is now. And we can’t pass our problems to the next generation anymore.
Cheers!
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At the end of February, I traveled from California to Michigan to visit Amway World Headquarters where I experienced some of the incredible work that is underway to build the future of the Nutrilite brand. I spoke at an employee meeting, met with teammates, toured manufacturing facilities, and visited other departments on the Ada Campus.
Speaking at the Amway Employee Meeting with Doug DeVos.
It was a good week. And my time in Michigan reaffirmed my belief in the future and helped me see that the Nutrilite brand and Amway are on the right track.
One thing that stood out to me were the bonds that exist between employees, a thread between good people and good work. I believe a key component of a successful company is happy employees who find meaning and purpose in their jobs. Part of that magic stems from a workplace culture that prioritizes overall wellbeing and a balance between work and play.
Yes, we all need to provide for ourselves and our families, but our work life shouldn’t necessarily define us. It’s just one component of our identity.
That’s why I was pleased to interact with employees who really get it, those who have figured out how to find the balance between career success and family. Everyone is unique and different; they bring their own perspective and experience to a community that is working tirelessly to create positive impact in our world. That’s the good thread.
I met with the Nutritional Products Plant team.The eSpring team shared a sneak peek of the next generation with me.I was given a great tour of the Spaulding Manufacturing facilities.I visited the wonderful team in Archives.
It’s all about PREVENTION
You’ve heard me discuss Prevention before. But I want to reiterate its importance. This simple concept can change the trajectory of our future. We need to start now, taking care of our health, taking care of our community, and taking care of our planet. It’s the triple bottom line approach that Amway and the Nutrilite brand have adopted. You see it on our farms, in our laboratories, in our manufacturing, in our offices and in the community of ABOs spread throughout the world who believe in the power of optimal health.
The future is bright!
I’m pleased that we are following a “good thread” – that we are on a positive path to the future that can make the world a better place. It’s time to be proactive and creative.
We need to constantly search for innovative ways to protect and improve our prospects in a world where technology and things like artificial intelligence are disrupting how we think about things we’ve taken for granted for a long time.
While it feels like everything is speeding up, the goal is to slow down. If you can do that, you will find meaning and purpose in a world where it feels like everyone, and everything wants our attention all the time.
So take a walk, read a book, enjoy a healthy meal with your family and friends. Breathe!
You’ll be glad you did.
Cheers!
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Recently, I received an inspiring note from Takeshi Saito, one of our Nutrilite Experience staff members. He’s been a dedicated Nutrilite employee for many years, and he recently helped host a group of Vietnamese ABOs visiting our Buena Park, California headquarters.
Sitting next to a life-size statue of my father Carl F. Rehnborg. It’s easy to see why it’s a favorite photo stop for visitors at the Nutrilite Health Institute. The statue was inspired by his famous “Pepper Tree Talks” and his many conversations filled with visionary ideas. Buena Park, California. March 2017.
Because of his welcoming, genuine, and outgoing personality, he was able to make a connection with one of the visiting ABOs who stayed in touch with him. She sent him a message explaining how excited she was that she’d received a copy of a special book published more than 35 years ago. It was a used book she found on a popular online marketplace months ago, but she finally received it during the holidays.
The note caused me to pick up the book once again and re-read portions of it. It still strikes me how prescient my father’s writings were. How he clearly recognized the importance of sustainability and the need to take care of the planet and, therefore, our future.
Much of the writing found in his collection coincided with the groundbreaking work of Rachel Carson, who wrote the famous book Silent Spring back in 1962 which inspired the modern environmental movement. My father and Rachel Carson corresponded with each other during that time, they were both forward thinking and recognized many of the perils we were beginning to face as a world community.
There is an essay that encapsulates his thoughts about where we were going and the changes we need to adopt to keep the future bright for everyone. It was written in 1962 and it was called Preserving and Protecting Our Environment.
You can find this passage on page 148:
“For the first time in human history we will now begin to study our environment instead of taking it for granted and thinking of it as able to supply our every careless whim forever. Maybe we are already too late in getting ready to begin our study. Time will tell, but this looks like a very good time to start worrying – right now, not a few decades in the future.”
We are more than a few decades into the future. It’s here and it’s time to take meaningful action. Sometimes we just need the right inspiration.
I’m so thankful for the inspiration to revisit my father’s writings.
Cheers!
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We’re nearing the end of 2022 and I’m inspired. It’s been a year to remember, one with obstacles and change, but also opportunity. For me, it’s an exciting time because I believe that despite the challenges we’re facing in the world, we’ve begun to understand why we need to act in order to secure a healthy future.
Sunrise on the Nutrilite El Petacal farm in Ubajara, Mexico.
We’re learning that problems can’t be passed on to the next generation anymore. There is an immediate need to work toward solutions, and I believe we are beginning to make tangible progress.
If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that my dad was deeply connected to the wonders of the universe. He understood how biological systems are intertwined with humanity, and that we shouldn’t take natural resources for granted. He saw the finite nature of our existence. And he realized how the components found in plants were instrumental to our health as a species.
He clearly articulated the idea in this quote:
“We are made of nothing but what plants provide and other substances available in the air and water of the earth, and so we are inescapably in and of the earth, and in and of the universe. If we cannot get what the plants provide, we cannot live.”
Carl Rehnborg inspecting botanicals in 1953.
When I reflect on these words from my father, I think about the continued progress we need to make as a species to help prevent unhealthy outcomes and damage to the planet.
Living in the future
We need to continue to gain momentum and help people see that the best way to avoid problems occurring in the future is to act in the present and prevent them from happening in the first place.
We shouldn’t be just reacting — for instance, many of our health problems can be avoided if we do simple things every day that keep our body and mind active and engaged. Waking up each day with a positive, healthy mindset positions us to learn, grow and find solutions to community issues that can affect the health of the entire world on a much broader level.
In other words, you can act locally to make a difference globally. That’s how it starts. The impact we make each day compounds into future success.
Here’s some of the progress I’m seeing:
More power from renewable energy systems is coming online, helping us reduce pollution and power a cleaner future.
Regenerative farming practices are helping remediate the land and bring soil back to its original nutrient-rich state. And many people are embracing circular economies and they are beginning to understand the importance of concepts like biomimicry.
Diets are changing and reframing the idea of food security into nutrition security is helping people eat healthier and improve their quality of life.
People are becoming more active and seeing that regular exercise increases our health span so that we might live beyond 100 years.
Through this, Amway and Nutrilite continue to grow and build community. People are understanding how to be a product of the product and lead healthy lifestyles that others can follow.
What could be better than that?
2022 has been a good year. Here’s to a successful and healthy 2023!
Cheers!
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Welcome to my blog on healthy living with the Nutrilite™ brand.
