Letters

Readers react to articles from the June issue of Inc., including Norm Brodsky's "Multilevel Mischief" and Jerry Useem's "Harvard Business School's 'Woman Problem'."

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We were deluged by opinions--strongly pro and strongly con--regarding columnist Norm Brodsky's riff on multilevel marketing in the June issue. An article on sexual harassment at the Harvard Business School elicited its own pile of mail, as did a story about mentors.

The multilevel playing field

Norm Brodsky's Street Smarts column " Multilevel Mischief" focused on the columnist's friend, Eliot, who'd gotten involved with what looked to him like a promising business opportunity through a multilevel marketing (MLM) company. Brodsky felt his friend had been taken advantage of, and he used the experience to illustrate his own distaste for MLM organizations. We have seldom had such a volume of passionate response from readers. These two letters were typical:

You were much too kind and generous with your evaluation of the MLM "problem." The actual facts are really much more insidious than what you portrayed. I'm a 25-year veteran of MLM and have reached the very top promotion level of three MLMs. I'm currently at the top of a fairly new MLM that caught my attention a year ago because it is an Internet deal. I'm also part of that "NFL Club" that many join unwittingly--the "No Friends Left" Club. I beat up all my family and friends for a very long time, and those dumb enough to get involved lost whatever they put into the businesses. I am just now trying to rebuild those contacts by not bringing them my new deal and by not even mentioning MLM to anyone. In all my years I have retained only one friend that I made while involved in networking or MLM. But I was one of the best at what I do--for what it's worth.

Donald Leske
Webmaster
PCSInternet
Tacoma, Wash.

Unlike Leske, this MLM supporter took issue with Brodsky:

Brodsky's article is biased by his own negative beliefs and ignorance about the network-marketing industry. Much of what was said is in fact true, but a little bit of truth wrapped up in a bundle of amateur conclusions would be a joke if it were not so pathetic. Brodsky's friend should have done more due diligence about the company he chose to become involved with, because there is a difference among MLM companies. He should have ensured that the company was a member of the Direct Selling Association, which is the watchdog of our industry. As for Brodsky, his column should be called "Street Dumbs."

Dennis O'Block
Owner
Workforce Technologies
Kent, Wash.

Role modeling

" The Mentors," by Edward O. Welles, detailed the lessons one entrepreneur learned from his famous mentor, Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. Some readers loved the portrait of Walton, but this reader took issue with the style of Kent Sutherland, the entrepreneur Welles profiled:

You missed the mark. Your portrayal of Sutherland as an inspirational example of learning from a good mentor was way off base. I read about a man who has had the good fortune to be taken under Sam Walton's wing and learn about business. But Sutherland failed to learn about ethics, dignity, and respect for the people he does business with. I'm referring to his comments like "I try to catch people in distressed situations" and--my favorite one--asking neighbors, "You're not gonna fight me on this, are you?" when he was seeking a zoning change on land adjoining theirs. Sutherland is nothing more than a one-man "wheeler-dealer" show. I hope that the next time you visit the issue of mentoring, you select someone of higher moral character.

Jody Whitmyer
President
Whitmyer Biomechanix Inc.
Tallahassee, Fla.

Women's issues

Jerry Useem's On the Road, " Harvard Business School's 'Woman Problem,'" energized many readers. Useem's sources alleged that Harvard Business School sustains a hostile environment for women. One group of women from HBS disagreed with this portrayal of their school:

We do not wish to trivialize nor condone offensive behavior by any individual toward another. We would instead like to offer a different view, that of Section D [a subunit of HBS's class of 1999]. During orientation the faculty and administration frankly described past incidents of destructive section behavior and impressed upon us the importance of developing section norms that enhance rather than impede learning. We took that advice to heart and created a mission statement that declared our "commitment to principles of respect, dedication, honesty, trust, integrity, and mutual learning." It is a commitment we feel we as a section have honored. The women of our section have contributed equally to section cohesion, and the men have done everything to create a productive yet supportive environment for women. We regret that not every woman at HBS has had the same wonderful experience, but just as we would not generalize our experiences to other sections, we would ask that our school not be judged solely by the actions of a few.

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