--- title: "Corey Lindley of doTERRA: How Disrupting Traditional Direct Selling and Prioritizing Pure Ingredients Built a Global Wellness Empire" url: "https://authoritymag.co/articles/corey-lindley-of-doterra-how-disrupting-traditional-direct-selling-and-prioritizing-pure-ingredi" publisher: "Authority Magazine" author: "Cynthia Corsetti" authorUrl: "https://authoritymag.co/authors/cynthia-corsetti" interviewee: "Corey Lindley" company: "doTERRA" category: "Business" datePublished: "2023-09-13T14:48:53.600Z" dateModified: "2026-11-12T17:06:42.849Z" tags: "Business" --- # Corey Lindley of doTERRA: How Disrupting Traditional Direct Selling and Prioritizing Pure Ingredients Built a Global Wellness Empire *The direct selling veteran and doTERRA executive shares how leaning into authentic product promotion, unwavering dependability, and radical product purity drive sustainable industry disruption.* > Being curious or being disruptive doesn't mean abandoning those things that have helped you succeed, but it does mean questioning the status quo. --- In*an age where industries evolve at lightning speed, there exists a special breed of C-suite executives who are not just navigating the changes, but driving them. These are the pioneers who think outside the box, championing novel strategies that shatter the status quo and set new industry standards. Their approach fosters innovation, spurs growth, and leads to disruptive change that redefines their sectors. In this interview series, we are talking to disruptive C-suite executives to share their experiences, insights, and the secrets behind the innovative approaches they are taking to disrupt their industries. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Corey Lindley.* *For over three decades, Corey Lindley has been passionately engaged in the world of direct selling, with the majority of those years serving in C-suite level positions. Corey has been with*[doTERRA](https://doterra.com/)*since its earliest days and, alongside the other Founding Executives, played a key role in helping it become the world’s largest essential oil company. Along with his vast professional experience, he holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master’s in business administration. Corey loves spending quality time with his wife,******Janis, and their eight children and their families.* --- **Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion about disruption, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?** I’ve spent more than 30 years in the world of direct selling, but there is more to the story. After 17 years, I left the industry for a charitable endeavor and didn’t plan to return to direct selling. I was frustrated with the churn in the industry, where only 5–10% of those who initially enrolled stayed as a regular customer a year or two later. It was tough to see good people feel they had failed after putting in a lot of money and effort to try and make it all work. However, a three-year sabbatical focused on serving people from all sectors of society helped me understand that if direct selling were done right, whereby anyone had an opportunity to succeed with a product that had real consumer demand, then it was an amazing business model. When I learned about doTERRA and our products, which are in great demand in the world, and a business model that doesn’t require significant personal purchases that would lead to more debt, I knew that this was the opportunity I was looking for. **What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?** I have thousands of stories. Our products help people in their wellness journey. Just recently, I was in Norway meeting with some of our Wellness Advocate sale leaders and heard of multiple stories of who began by just purchasing our essential oils and found great success with our products providing significant benefits to their families. One lady had struggles coping with severe emotional issues that she could barely function daily, yet through using doTERRA products, she found great support and has been able to lead a normal life. There are tens of thousands of stories like this. Another story was where a successful lady from Venezuela didn’t think she needed essential oils in her life but then found challenges with her child and his erratic sleep patterns. Through using essential oils, her son has been able to have a restful night’s sleep, which has really blessed her life. This is a reason why we were intentional about the direct selling model. We knew we would have so many people positively impacted by our oils and they would want to champion the benefits of these oils with their friends, family, and close circles of influence. We have empowered tens of thousands of families across the world through our sales model and will always support local. **You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?** Dependability: I get things done. One of the things that I pride myself on is following up with our leaders who raise a specific concern with me. I was in Romania and heard of a concern that customers were having because our IT system didn’t have enough spaces for their very long home delivery addresses. That night, from my hotel room, I contacted our IT department and within a day or two, the challenge was fixed. This leader was very happy that the company’s CEO cared about her specific problem and got it fixed. Passion: I think that at the C-level it is critical to have great passion for your company’s vision, purpose and mission. As we source essential oils around the world, our mission is to triple the impact that we have on small scale growers and harvesters in areas like Kenya, Bulgaria, India, Brazil, etc. We currently impact 3 million lives for the better each year and our goal is to increase that to 10 million by 2030. I grew up on a farm and have a great love and appreciation of farmers and all they do in the world. I am passionate about helping farmers succeed in life, love their chosen profession, and be able to provide for their families. Loyalty: I am extremely loyal to my team and those leaders that have given their hearts to the company. I respect them, listen to them, and realize that their challenges are my challenges. If an executive or leader struggles to succeed I take that on myself as my problem to help them even more. **Leadership often entails making difficult decisions or hard choices between two apparently good paths. Can you share a story with us about a hard decision or choice you had to make as a leader? I’m curious to understand how these challenges have shaped your leadership.** In the early days of our company, we developed a shampoo and conditioner that used the best ingredients of the day and included essential oils. As years passed, we came to realize that some of the ingredients used in the shampoo were not at the standards that we implement today. A simple reformulation was not the answer, as the challenging ingredients were key to the performance of the product. However, despite objections from many customers who loved the product, we discontinued it even though it sold well. We are a company that is focused on pure and natural products, and staying true to this focus is not something we will compromise on, even if hundreds of people complain on social media! **Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Let’s begin with a basic definition so that all of us are on the same page. In the context of a business, what exactly is “Disruption”?** Disruption to me means to be curious and always explore new ways and ideas. Being curious has become one of the six core values of our company. Being curious or being disruptive doesn’t mean abandoning those things that have helped you succeed, but it does mean questioning the status quo. It is an absolute necessity and a key part of strategic growth. **What lessons have you learned from challenging conventional wisdom, and how have those lessons shaped your leadership style?** An example in the world of direct selling is the influencer model, where people with tens of thousands of followers on social media are paid to promote a specific brand. Many direct-selling companies have jumped on this model, somewhat abandoning what has helped them be successful in the first place — their sales leaders. At doTERRA we prefer to have authentic product promotion on social media, but are disrupting things to some degree by providing an influencer or affiliate model but not abandoning our leaders in the process. We really disrupt things on the product development front, where we take something like collagen that many people sell, and make it uniquely ours by enhancing its effectiveness with the inclusion of essential oils and even unique, natural longevity ingredients. It is a unique offering in the market that has generated $100+ million in the first year of launch. Finally, the way that we really disrupt the world is by bringing science to the world of essential oils and disrupting health care. It is a difficult thing to do, but we continue to engage in scientific research that is changing the way healthcare works in our world. For example, we are engaged in sleep studies that prove the effectiveness of our Lavender oil and other sleep products that enhance sleep patterns. * **What lessons have you learned from challenging conventional wisdom, and how have those lessons shaped your leadership style?** Conventional wisdom would suggest that in a downturn, you lay off staff and while layoffs are important at times, I have learned that it is better to be careful in the hiring process so that layoffs can be avoided in the future. To me, this is being loyal to our employees. **Disruptive ideas often meet resistance. Could you describe a time when you faced significant pushback for a disruptive idea? How did you navigate the opposition, and what advice would you give to others in a similar situation?** There was a time when a new technology concept was not being well received by our executive team, yet I knew that it would help our business. I had to slow things down a bit, build consensus with one key executive, and then bring the team together again, adjusting our strategy as needed, but getting the technology to the market to help our leaders. **Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “Five Innovative Approaches We Are Using To Disrupt Our Industry”?** 1.Scientific Research on Essential Oils: Our research commitment to a product like Lavender, proving its effectiveness on quality of sleep when ingested*, is starting to and will continue to disrupt healthcare. 2. Staying Current on Technology: AI is changing our world. At doTERRA, we interact with millions of customers directly each month. We know their buying patterns. As we focus on the needs of each customer and cater to them rather than marketing to everyone the same, we will strengthen our very strong retention of customers. 3. Double Down on Pure and Natural: In a world where synthetic ingredients are less expensive, it is hard to stay very focused on pure and natural. But we can continue to disrupt the essential oil and wellness products world by publishing testing on our products and asking our competitors to do the same. We have done this with essential oils, and plan to do this with other products in the future. 4. Be Willing to Adapt to Societal Changes: Conventions and events are a big part of the direct selling world, as educating and training sellers and customers is vitally important. Finding the right mix of in-person versus virtual training and events is a significant change that all direct-selling companies are experiencing. 5. Cause-driven is Not a Campaign: So many companies find a cause they want to promote and then market to that cause. Very few companies are doing what doTERRA does in building our cause of empowering millions of growers in their way of life, a key part of our entire business processes. We spend an additional 2+% of our global revenue on empowering growers and their communities that provide us with amazing essential oils. **Looking back at your career, in what ways has being disruptive defined or redefined your path? What surprises have you encountered along the way?** Disruption is key to long-term success. The opposite of disruption is accepting the status quo; anyone who does that won’t succeed. As I have focused on key principles rather than standard processes, I have found success. I started my career in finance, so I’ll focus on a finance principle as an example. I’ve long disliked the typical company budgeting and related incentive processes. I’ve tried to adapt these processes to be more flexible and accountable, tying incentives to meaningful results so that key employees are incented for loyalty, ingenuity, and success. I’ve learned that it truly works to empower the right people with the right incentives, but it is a disaster to incent the wrong people with the wrong incentives. **Beyond professional accomplishments, how has embracing disruption affected you on a personal level?** Having a growth mindset is critical in life. I have tried to continue to learn and grow throughout my life. I have an amazing wife who helps me know where I can improve and I appreciate her support of me in this way. Also, an example of disruption in my personal life is a change I made four years ago in taking personal responsibility for my health. Through dedicated and consistent exercise and food choices, I have lost 30 pounds, feel 10 years younger, and enjoy an active lifestyle. None of that happened without a significant disruption to my lifestyle, including my diet, sleep pattern, and regular consistent exercise — all of which our products have been key in that change. **In your role as a C-suite leader, driving innovation and embracing disruption, what thoughts or concerns keep you awake at night? How do these reflections guide your decisions and leadership?** The one thing I worry about the most is if I am doing enough to empower our Executive Team. It is much easier to make decisions than it is to help others make good decisions. **You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)** The movement I would start would be for every company to measure and track the good that they are contributing to society, in addition to focusing on revenue and profits, companies should be tracked by the good that they are doing in the world. We do this internally, and it is part of our culture. Everyone knows that when they buy a bottle of oil, they are helping a small-scale farmer in another area of the world. This change is how we can help the world heal and everyone feel like they are contributing to help society become a better place. **How can our readers further follow your work online?** LinkedIn at [Corey B. Lindley](https://www.linkedin.com/in/corey-b-lindley-50b3625/) or [Facebook Corey B. Lindley — doTERRA CEO & Founding Executive](https://www.facebook.com/CoreyLindleydoTERRA/) **Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!** --- A*bout the Interviewer: Cynthia Corsetti is an esteemed executive coach with over two decades in corporate leadership and 11 years in executive coaching. Author of the upcoming book, “Dark Drivers,” she guides high-performing professionals and Fortune 500 firms to recognize and manage underlying influences affecting their leadership. Beyond individual coaching, Cynthia offers a 6-month executive transition program and partners with organizations to nurture the next wave of leadership excellence.* --- Source: https://authoritymag.co/articles/corey-lindley-of-doterra-how-disrupting-traditional-direct-selling-and-prioritizing-pure-ingredi (Authority Magazine, Business). Interviewee answers are first-person statements of the guest. Index of all pages: https://authoritymag.co/llms.txt