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"To honor Helen for her support of our children's cancer program, we established an annual lectureship - the Helen DeVos Distinguished Lectureship in Pediatric Oncology - that has become nationally recognized and applauded. Each August, that event attracts a major leader in the field of children's cancer research to speak at a formal dinner.

"One year, when our children's hospital was still fairly new, a world-renowned children's brain-tumor surgeon from New York was the guest speaker. He was chatting with Rich and Helen over dinner. I was just within earshot when he said, 'Mr. DeVos, you've got quite a facility here. Just wait - in a few more years you'll be able to attract the best and brightest young physicians from around the country to practice here.'

"Without missing a beat, Rich proudly replied, 'Just take a good look around these tables tonight! A lot of the best and brightest are already here!'

"Rich's spontaneous words of pride and confidence were like a huge pat on the back for me. I was deeply touched and encouraged. To this day, I have never told Rich that I heard his words that night or how much they meant to me - so when you read this, Rich, thanks from the bottom of my heart!"

Another person whose life has been profoundly affected by Rich's cheerleading is Alticor pilot Rick Fiddler. Rick told me a fascinating story. "On September 14, 1983," he said, "I was a young pilot in my late twenties, flying a Sikorsky S76 helicopter from Chicago to Grand Rapids with four Amway executives aboard. We had a problem with the tail rotor and ended up crashing into Lake Michigan. It was near sunset, and we were floating in life jackets in fifty-four-degree water. After about an hour, the Coast Guard picked us up and took us to the Chicago station.

"While all this was going on, Rich was in his Florida home getting ready for dinner when he got a call informing him of the crash. Rich called the Coast Guard to find out about us and insisted on staying on the line until we were safe. When we got to the station in Chicago, someone told me, 'There's a phone call for you - the man has been on hold for an hour, waiting for you.' "I took the call, and it was Rich. He said he had been praying for us, and he was relieved that we were safe. The next day he flew back to Michigan. I was at the hangar when a call came in saying, 'Mr. DeVos wants a helicopter ride. Pick him up in front of the company headquarters.' I was still shaky from the crash, but I climbed into the company's other helicopter and took off. When I got to the headquarters, Rich was waiting for me. I let him in and said, 'Where do you want to go?' He said, 'I don't care. Let's just go for a ride.'

"He just wanted to show me - and show everyone else - that he had confidence in me. At that moment, he had a lot more confidence in me than I had in myself! But by taking that ride right away, he sent a message of encouragement, loud and clear. Later, he had me get up and tell the whole story in front of a meeting of Amway independent business owners, and he praised me for ditching the helicopter on Lake Michigan without any loss of life. Whenever I hear Rich DeVos talking about being a 'cheerleader,' I think about how he cheered and encouraged me, and got me right back into the air."

Bill Boer is Rich's senior business advisor. "It was a few days before Christmas," he recalls, "and I was driving to inspect some property we had recently purchased for the DeVos family. My cell phone rang, and it was Rich. I assumed he was calling to ask me about the property and the development plans, so I immediately began filling him in on all the details about the property. He listened for a few minutes, then he said, 'Well, that's all very nice, Bill, but I was really just calling to say, 'Merry Christmas.' He paused, then added, 'I love you, Bill.' I was at a loss for words. Never in my life had anyone I worked for told me, 'I love you.'"

Are you a life enricher and a cheerleader like Rich DeVos? If not, then you can become one. Cheerleading is a skill we can all acquire and cultivate.

Imagine how much more successful your organization would be if you would become the head cheerleader. Imagine how much happier your family would be, how much stronger and healthier your family dynamics would become, if you decided that - starting right now, today - you would become the chief life enricher for your spouse and kids.

And what about your own spiritual and emotional needs? Do you have cheerleaders and life enrichers in your own life? Do you have people around you who encourage you and root for you and motivate you to be the best you can possibly be? We all have enough well poisoners and lawn mowers in our lives. We have all too few life enrichers.

Where do you find cheerleaders and life enrichers for your own life? You'll find them in your church, at the office, in your neighborhood, at your university or on your team. The best way to find a life enricher is to be a life enricher. Positive, encouraging, cheerleading people tend to gravitate toward other positive people. If you go out of your way to encourage other people, then they will seek you out and encourage you.

The word "encourage" is derived from the French cour, meaning "heart." Life enrichers are big-hearted people who devote themselves to strengthening the hearts of others. I believe one of the reasons Rich DeVos is such a great encourager is that he has such a big heart for people - and for God. He is totally dedicated to living out his faith. His Bible tells him, "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing" (1 Thessalonians 5:11, NIV). If you call yourself a Christian but you are not an encourager, then you are not practicing your faith!

If you want to be like Rich, then have a heart! Be an encourager!

© 2004. All rights reserved. Reprinted from How To Be Like Rich DeVos by Pat Williams. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the written permission of the publisher.

Tags: Business Life

About the Author

PAT WILLIAMS is the senior vice president of the Orlando Magic, a renowned speaker, and the author of How to Be like Mike, The Magic of Teamwork, and Go for the Magic.