 |
 |
|
"We had just two brokers representing our business - ourselves," explains Dennis. "Daniel and I were great at marketing our dental benefits service here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and we knew we had the makings of a national, multi-million dollar company. We just didn't know how to take it there." "What we realized," Daniel chimes in, "is that we couldn't duplicate ourselves." Ironic he should put it that way. The truth is, he and Dennis, co-founders of AmeriPlan®, the Dallas-based network marketers of a comprehensive health program, have been duplicating each other extraordinarily well - ever since birth. They are identical twins. |
Twins "Most people think there are only two types of twins: identical and non-identical, or fraternal," Dennis explains. "But there is a third type, called identical mirror twins. That's what Daniel and I are." |
Daniel continues: "The way you can tell is, one is predominately left-handed, the other is right-handed; Dennis is a lefty, I'm a righty. When you look in the mirror, what happens when you raise your right hand? The person in the mirror looks exactly like you - only he raises his left hand. For me, that's Dennis in that mirror." The Bloom brothers let loose with a patter of mirror-twin lore. "When I was a baby," Says Daniel, "my finger got caught in a door; it cut off the tip of my ring finger on my right hand. Also as a baby, Dennis got the tip of his ring finger cut off in an old-fashioned ice box - the ring finger on his left hand." "That's not all," Dennis picks it up without missing a beat. "I have a tooth missing on the left side; Daniel has the same tooth missing on his right side." Daniel picks it back up again, and now it gets a little spooky. "... A few months ago, we both went in and had MRI's done. Turns out, I have a little blister on my right kidney - and Dennis has a little blister in the same spot on his left kidney." |
| He pauses for effect, and then delivers the punch line. "It's real comforting to know you have spare parts walking around. For that matter, if one of us ever committed a crime and they tried to prove it with DNA, we'd have a walking, talking, foolproof alibi." |
The Two Hands of Leadership "Of course, they are alike," says Dale, "but psychologically, they are totally different people. Daniel is business-oriented; he's the get-in-there, run-the-administration type. Dennis is just the opposite. His language is not so much business and numbers; it is working with people, motivating, speaking. When they have a goal, Dennis is the one who creates the vision; he can communicate to people what it looks like before it's even there. Daniel is the one who puts numbers to it and makes it real." It's not just that they compliment one another, says Dale: they also serve as a perfect set of mutual checks and balances. "A business started by one person alone takes on the personality of that person - and his foibles too. Dennis and Daniel balance each other. Sometimes they argue, and it's a beautiful thing to watch: they always come up with the best solution, one where both the corporation and the field benefit - because they've got both those perspectives on every single decision." |
The brothers agree. "Dennis is our CEO and Chairman of the Board; he handles all marketing for the company," explains Daniel. "I am president and COO; I handle all operations and administration. We've given ourselves these roles based upon our talents, which are like mirror images of each other, and with this division of labor, we use both our strengths best." We learned that early on," agrees Dennis," and we've always worked together like this, in everything we've done." Which, as we soon learn, is a good deal. |