Fourth Generation Systems

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uring the ongoing research project that identified the concept of Fourth Generation Thinking and Systems, and the connection between them, we decided to investigate whether any existing business models qualified as genuine, Fourth Generation systems. As we explored the different business models, including small business, sub-contracting, franchising and home businesses, the realisation set in that there were no specific business models we could find that met the strict Fourth Generation criteria. They all fell foul of the First Generation master-servant relationship at some point, usually as they expanded to the point where additional help had to be found.

At one stage we thought that negotiated employment contracts, where workers became independent contractors to a company, might qualify. In principle they did. The theory was entirely Fourth Generation – as long as it was a true Win-Win arrangement in both theory and practice. But it rarely happened in practice. Both sides tended to try to take advantage of the other side... a classic case of First Generation conditioning (attitudes and behaviour) sabotaging a Fourth Generation concept and reducing it to a First Generation mockery.

Then we made an unexpected breakthrough, just as we were about to abandon our search.

We decided to investigate network marketing as a business model, only to discover that it is, in fact, the ONLY structured business model that qualifies as a true Fourth Generation business system.

We also discovered that it's not the network marketing companies that are Fourth Generation business systems, because they all have employees, which automatically makes them FIRST Generation businesses. The REAL Fourth Generation aspects of network marketing are...

The distributor networks, and
the relationship between the distributor network and the company it represents.

But, once again, the people running the MLM companies and distributor networks were so conditioned by their experience with familiar, FIRST Generation systems that every example we investigated turned out to be a classic counterfeit – on the surface, a Fourth Generation system, but fatally sabotaged by FIRST Generation mindsets, attitudes, policies and practices.

There's a fundamental truth involved in all this that we ignore at our peril...

Fourth Generation systems cannot work successfully using FIRST Generation principles and practices, despite any short-term illusion of success.

It's as pointless as trying to launch a space shuttle by having the crew flap their arms!

Click here for powerful examples of the futility of trying to operate unfamiliar, Fourth Generation systems using familiar, First Generation attitudes and behaviour. (It's a real eye-opener! The new page has a return link to this one.)

The GOOD news

We finally decided that the best solution was for us to invent the future rather than wait for it to happen. So we began consulting to managements of network marketing companies in an attempt to re-educate them. At the same time we began re-educating distributors from MLM companies in the principles and practices of Fourth Generation Thinking. That work is now beginning to bear fruit, and the differences are impressive, for everyone concerned. You can see examples of this project in action here...

The key measurement criteria for any Fourth Generation business system in network marketing are the documents governing the relationship between company and distributors...

Since Fourth Generation systems are all about the nature of the relationships involved, these documents form the basis for evaluation.

Discover the TRUE importance of personal relationships in MLM

We've created web sites to help people evaluate MLM opportunities to see if they qualify for Fourth Generation status.

We've published white papers and special reports, appraisal kits and tools, as well as books and tapes and live training seminars and workshops.

www.profitclinic.net/bookstore