Do the KIND Thing

Do the KIND Thing Plot Summary

Introduction

The rain poured down as Daniel Lubetzky stood in his tiny New York apartment, surrounded by towering boxes of Dead Sea cosmetics that threatened to topple over at any moment. It was 1994, and Mother's Day was just a week away. He had placed small ads in neighborhood newspapers, proudly announcing his new venture – gift baskets featuring skincare products made through cooperation between Arabs and Israelis. These weren't just products; they represented his vision of using business to build bridges between conflict-torn peoples. But as the phone remained silent, reality began to sink in: he had invested nearly all his savings in inventory that now blocked the light from his windows, filled his living space, and emitted overwhelming scents of essential oils. In that moment of despair, a profound philosophy was taking root – one that would eventually grow into a billion-dollar company and a movement touching millions of lives. Rather than seeing the world in binary terms of either commercial success or social impact, Lubetzky was developing what he calls the "AND philosophy" – the belief that false compromises can be overcome through creative thinking. Instead of accepting conventional wisdom that business objectives and social missions are at odds, he envisioned enterprises where both could flourish simultaneously. This perspective would become the foundation of his approach to building companies, developing products, and fostering meaningful relationships. By challenging assumptions and refusing to settle for less, he discovered that apparent contradictions – like creating snacks that are both healthy AND tasty, building a business that is both profitable AND purposeful – could be transformed into powerful opportunities for those willing to think differently.

Chapter 1: Finding Purpose: The Birth of KIND

It was the summer of 2002, and Daniel Lubetzky found himself stranded on the outskirts of Colombo, Sri Lanka, exhausted after completing an eighteen-mile training run for the New York City Marathon. Surrounded by curious local children and fishermen, he realized he had no nutritious snacks to refuel his depleted energy reserves. This wasn't a new problem – throughout his global travels establishing PeaceWorks, his company that fostered economic cooperation among neighbors in conflict regions, he repeatedly faced the same challenge: finding healthy, portable food that wasn't loaded with artificial ingredients. Back home in America, the situation wasn't much better. Working sixteen to twenty-hour days as a fledgling entrepreneur, Lubetzky had little time to cook. His options were typically limited to processed, carb-heavy snacks or traditional energy bars that "tasted like cardboard or astronaut food" and were filled with unrecognizable ingredients. Fresh fruit was healthy but messy and perishable; raw nuts were nutritious but too easy to overeat. The market was missing something essential – a convenient, healthy snack made with real ingredients you could see and pronounce. This persistent problem coincided with a period of crisis for Lubetzky's business. PeaceWorks had been importing almond-apricot-yogurt bars from Australia that were selling well, approaching a million dollars in sales. Then disaster struck – the Australian manufacturer was acquired by a conglomerate that promptly changed the formula, adding artificial sweeteners and preservatives. When Lubetzky informed his retail customers of these changes, they immediately stopped carrying the product. Overnight, his investment was lost, and his company verged on collapse, with seven team members depending on him for their salaries. From this crisis emerged a profound opportunity. Rather than scrambling to find another supplier, Lubetzky resolved to create his own line of whole nut and fruit bars that would never compromise on quality or ingredients. This was the dawn of KIND Healthy Snacks – a company founded on the principle that food should be both nutritious and delicious, convenient and wholesome. The bars would need to fulfill multiple goals simultaneously: healthful, tasty, easy to carry, visually appealing, and aligned with a social mission. The name "KIND" emerged from brainstorming sessions in 2003. It resonated perfectly with the three anchors Lubetzky envisioned: being KIND to your body (with nutritious ingredients), KIND to your taste buds (with delicious flavors), and KIND to your world (through social responsibility). This naming process occurred during one of the saddest periods in Lubetzky's life – following his father's unexpected death. The connection between the brand and his father's essence of compassion felt deeply meaningful, as his father's survival during the Holocaust had been linked to moments of kindness from unexpected sources. Purpose gives entrepreneurs extraordinary staying power in the face of adversity. For Lubetzky, the mission of building bridges between people and cultures provided the resilience to persevere through countless setbacks. When terrorist bombings threatened the peace process in the Middle East, making him question whether his work fostering Arab-Israeli cooperation was futile, his partners reminded him: "These are our lives we are talking about. This is not a game or a school project. Now more than ever we need to continue our work and deny terrorists a victory." Having this north star – this deeper reason for existence – made it possible to weather the darkest moments of entrepreneurship.

Chapter 2: Grit and Perseverance: Surviving the Early Years

When launching KIND, Daniel Lubetzky faced a seemingly impossible challenge: creating an entirely new category of products that consumers didn't even know they needed. The first hurdle was figuring out what to call this new type of bar. After years of deliberation, the team refined the category name multiple times – from "fruit and nut energy bar" to "fruit and nut bar" to "healthy snack bar" and finally to "whole nut and fruit bars" – to differentiate KIND from competitors using fruit and nut pastes rather than whole ingredients. Manufacturing these distinctive bars proved even more challenging. The team had to develop a recipe that could bind whole nuts and fruits with natural ingredients like honey, which also helped protect the nuts from oxidizing. Initially, they made small batches by hand, laying the finished product in large baking trays to dry, then cutting each bar individually – a labor-intensive process that was both expensive and inefficient. Developing an automated manufacturing process for delicate whole nuts required thousands of hours of brainstorming and trial-and-error. Even with a product ready to sell, the next hurdle was convincing retail buyers to take a chance on something unfamiliar. At one meeting with a natural foods store buyer in Colorado, Lubetzky faced confusion: "I don't know where to put your products," the buyer told him, explaining that KIND bars didn't look like they belonged in the nutritional bar section, and they certainly weren't candy bars or cereal bars. "This is not what a nutritional bar looks like," the buyer insisted. Lubetzky had to persuade him to give KIND a test placement, but not even in the primary nutritional bar section. The cash situation during these early years was dire. Despite selling the product door-to-door across the country, Lubetzky frequently couldn't pay himself his modest $24,000 annual salary. Cash flow issues worsened when accounts receivable weren't paid on time – as a small company with a non-essential product, KIND was always last in line to get paid by retailers. Meanwhile, their inventory had expiration dates, creating pressure to sell before products became worthless. For Lubetzky, this period was marked by isolation and fear. He spread his limited budget as thinly as possible, sometimes subsisting on a single falafel or shawarma sandwich for an entire day. After witnessing many defections of key team members who didn't see a future in the company, Lubetzky came to understand that entrepreneurial grit forms through a two-phase process. The first phase requires skepticism and thorough testing of an idea – questioning every aspect, researching competitors, evaluating the market need, and performing honest self-assessment about your capabilities. Only after walking through this "fire of doubt" should an entrepreneur flip the switch to the second phase: unwavering conviction. From that point forward, you must become an evangelist for your vision, drawing strength from knowing you've done your homework. While you should continue thinking critically about strategy and implementation, you cannot doubt the essence of your pursuit. The journey of entrepreneurship isn't for everyone. It delivers both higher highs and lower lows than traditional employment. Things will go wrong – sometimes horribly wrong – and you must accept those emotions while continuing to move forward. What sustains entrepreneurs through these challenges is a deep sense of purpose and conviction. As Lubetzky reflects, "Even with those setbacks and horrible failures, you will draw meaning from your efforts." It's about finding the journey that you are meant to walk, regardless of the obstacles along the way.

Chapter 3: Authenticity and Transparency: The Power of Honest Communication

The transparent wrappers that became KIND's signature packaging were born from challenging conventional wisdom. When launching their bars, industry experts insisted that highly stylized opaque foil with vibrant colors would sell better than showing the actual product. "Real ingredients can't compete with marketers' idealized renditions of food," Lubetzky was told. At the time, all major snack bar manufacturers in the United States used opaque packaging, partly because their products – often made from homogenized pastes and compounds – weren't visually appealing. Lubetzky and his team decided to question this assumption. They sensed consumers would appreciate seeing the whole, nutritionally rich ingredients inside their bars. This required developing specialized packaging technology with the right barrier properties to prevent oxidation and seal in moisture. Their packaging design also broke with convention by embracing minimalism – straight lines, no curves or circles, and minimal graphics that would let the ingredients remain the stars of the show. This commitment to transparency extended far beyond packaging. KIND intentionally used straightforward product names like "Dark Chocolate Cherry Cashew" instead of fanciful marketing names like "Black Forest Cake Supreme." While competitors might use Greek-yogurt-flavored compounds and tout their products as "made with Greek yogurt" despite containing little actual yogurt, KIND refused such sleight of hand. When suppliers suggested they ride the Greek yogurt trend by using flavored compounds, the team declined, recognizing that short-term sales gains would lead to long-term erosion of consumer trust. Authenticity also manifests in how KIND communicates with its team members. Lubetzky abhors the term "firing" and the corporate culture of swift, cold departures where employees are given a box for their belongings and escorted from the building. Instead, KIND fosters open discussions about professional growth and transitions. Team members are encouraged to speak with their managers about career options, even if that might mean eventually leaving the company. Rather than conducting surreptitious job searches, employees can openly discuss their plans and receive support during transitions. This transparency approach suffered a painful setback when a long-standing team member (called "Kevin" in the book) secretly prepared to join a competitor while downloading confidential company data. After discovering this betrayal, KIND was forced to pursue legal action, leading to months of distractions and grief. Despite this experience, Lubetzky maintains that the culture of loyalty and transparency at KIND is overwhelmingly reciprocated. He views the ability to empathize – even with someone who has wronged you – not as weakness but as strength. While defending the company's interests is essential, maintaining perspective and avoiding overreaction prevents misunderstandings and preserves relationships. The value of transparency extends to supplier relationships as well. KIND shares information that transforms traditionally arm's-length relationships into strategic partnerships. When making changes that might affect suppliers, the company consults with them in advance and phases in new practices to minimize disruption. This approach isn't purely altruistic – by treating partners fairly, KIND creates an environment where they receive equal consideration in return. The company negotiates firmly but rewards excellence, sometimes surprising service providers with unexpected bonuses when they exceed expectations.

Chapter 4: Innovation vs. Brand Discipline: Balancing Creativity with Consistency

When KIND bars gained traction in the market, they quickly carved out a unique space within the nutritional bar category. With no direct competitors selling whole nut and fruit bars, consumers seeking this product naturally gravitated to KIND. However, this period of exclusivity didn't last long. Within a few years, companies large and small began launching products that mimicked KIND's ingredients, clear wrappers, and overall aesthetic. In 2011, one particular competitor launched a fruit and nut bar claiming 60% less sugar than "leading" bars. They achieved this reduction through questionable methods: using sugar alcohols that could cause digestive discomfort, incorporating processed fillers instead of nuts, and comparing their fruit-free bars to fruit-containing competitors – hardly a fair comparison. Their flagship product promoted itself as "zero sugar" and "all natural," despite the fact that real food naturally contains some sugar. KIND faced a critical decision: Should they follow this trend and create artificially sweetened products with sugar alcohols to compete with the "zero sugar" messaging? This would mean betraying their core value of using "ingredients you can see and pronounce." Instead of compromising, the team chose innovation within their brand principles. After a year of development, they launched KIND Nuts & Spices – bars with reduced sugar achieved by removing fruit and enhancing flavor through spices. By using minimal honey and glucose as binders and reducing sugar in their dark chocolate coating, they created bars with 5 grams of sugar or less while maintaining their commitment to whole, natural ingredients. This strategic decision demonstrated the delicate balance between innovation and brand discipline. Rather than directly attacking competitors' "zero sugar" claims, KIND shifted the conversation to what their products contained (nutritionally rich nuts and spices) rather than what they lacked. This approach played to their strengths while reinforcing their brand promise. The result? KIND Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt, which debuted in this line, became the #1 best-performing bar in the entire nutritional bar category. When expanding beyond their core products, KIND faced another challenge: defining what their brand truly represented. Was it about fruit and nuts? Was it about bars? Or something broader? After much deliberation, they determined their most distinctive value proposition was using healthful ingredients that were minimally processed. This insight led them to introduce KIND Healthy Grains Clusters – a granola-like product that could be eaten as a snack or with milk or yogurt. This strategic move, while risky, sent a message that KIND transcended specific ingredients or formats – it was about nutritionally rich ingredients you could see and pronounce. The company learned valuable lessons from early failures. At PeaceWorks, Lubetzky had rapidly expanded from his successful sundried tomato spread into sixteen varieties, including an ill-conceived Asian teriyaki pepper spread that had nothing to do with Mediterranean cuisine. This inconsistency confused loyal customers and undermined trust in the brand. At KIND, he applied this hard-earned wisdom by ensuring every new product maintained or exceeded the quality standards of their original offerings. This balancing act between creativity and consistency exemplifies the AND philosophy. Rather than choosing between innovation or brand integrity, KIND pursued both simultaneously, creating products that were both novel and authentic to their core values. As Lubetzky reflects, "You can transcend your origins but you need what marketers call brand permission to succeed." Understanding what your brand truly represents – and what consumers expect from you – is essential before venturing into new territory.

Chapter 5: Empathy and Kindness: The Legacy of a Holocaust Survivor

In January 2003, Daniel Lubetzky was in his office when his colleague Doris Rivera entered, crying. She had just received a call from Lubetzky's mother with devastating news: his father had died that morning. In shock, Lubetzky began arguing with reality, frantically calling his mother and insisting there must be something they could do. When he finally accepted the truth, he was torn between grief and responsibility – to his family, to his struggling company PeaceWorks, and to OneVoice, a movement he had founded to advance Israeli-Palestinian relations. Lubetzky's father, Roman, had been born in Latvia and raised in Lithuania. When the Nazis invaded Lithuania, Roman was only nine years old. The family endured unimaginable horrors, including being herded into ghettos and eventually sent to the Dachau concentration camp. Despite these circumstances, Roman's father maintained his humanity and shared humor with fellow inmates to keep their spirits up. Roman never forgot a German soldier who risked punishment by throwing him a rotten potato that provided vital sustenance. These moments of kindness amid darkness helped him survive and shaped his worldview. After being liberated by American troops, Roman eventually settled in Mexico, where he taught himself multiple languages despite having only a third-grade education. He built a successful business and partnered with other Holocaust survivors to create a chain of duty-free stores. Throughout his life, he maintained an extraordinary capacity for kindness and optimism. He would go out of his way to make strangers smile and treated everyone with equal dignity, from bank presidents to waiters. His son observed how this approach not only enriched Roman's life but created connections that sometimes proved valuable in unexpected ways. The birth of KIND was directly influenced by this legacy. In April 2003, as Lubetzky was grieving his father's death, he and his marketing director were brainstorming names for their new fruit and nut bar. The name "KIND" resonated deeply, connecting to the company's mission to be kind to bodies, taste buds, and the world. For Lubetzky, it also honored his father's essence – the compassion that had helped him survive the Holocaust and thrive afterward. This inspiration evolved into the KIND Movement, the company's social mission to inspire kindness. Initially, KIND ambassadors performed acts of kindness for others – holding umbrellas for strangers in the rain or carrying groceries to cars. But Lubetzky realized these actions, while nice, were still self-interested brand-building. The breakthrough came when they made their community the protagonists in acts of kindness, challenging them to join the movement rather than merely receiving benefits from it. One successful initiative was the #kindawesome card program. When team members witness someone performing a kind act, they give them a card with a code that can be redeemed online for KIND bars and another #kindawesome card to pass forward. Unlike earlier efforts that felt transactional, this approach celebrates kindness after it naturally occurs, preserving its purity while creating positive associations with the brand. Similarly, KIND Causes invites community members to vote for projects that make the world kinder, with the winning cause receiving funding each month. The empathy that drives KIND's social mission also creates business value. When team members sense that managers genuinely care about their professional growth, they become more loyal and engaged. Similarly, in negotiations and partnerships, the ability to understand others' perspectives helps prevent misunderstandings and burned bridges. Even in geopolitical situations, empathy can be crucial for breaking cycles of mistrust and violence – something Lubetzky works toward through his continued involvement with OneVoice and other peace initiatives.

Chapter 6: Ownership Culture: Building a Team That Thinks Like Founders

In the spring of 2013, Daniel Lubetzky received a call he had been dreading. Jeff Hansberry, an executive from Starbucks, informed him that after years of partnership, Starbucks had decided to stop carrying KIND products. This was a significant blow – though Starbucks represented less than 5% of KIND's business, it was a strategic partner with enormous growth potential and shared values. KIND had never lost an established account of this magnitude before. After processing this news, Lubetzky faced a crucial decision: How should he share this setback with his team? Rather than downplaying it or keeping it confidential, he decided to use it as a rallying point. During a company-wide call, he didn't hide his disappointment but framed it as an opportunity to strengthen their entrepreneurial resolve. "We cannot take anything for granted," he emphasized, challenging the team to find new coffee partnerships to replace this lost business. The team responded with remarkable resourcefulness. They identified and pursued independent coffee shops and chains aligned with their brand, participated in specialty coffee trade shows, and deployed veteran team members to build relationships in this channel. They successfully placed KIND products in chains like The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and Peet's Coffee & Tea, along with numerous independent shops. Meanwhile, Lubetzky continued brainstorming ways to address Starbucks' needs and potentially rebuild the relationship – efforts that would eventually succeed when Starbucks brought KIND products back into their stores in 2014. This episode exemplifies the ownership culture Lubetzky has cultivated at KIND. Unlike traditional corporate environments where employees execute assigned tasks with limited investment in outcomes, KIND team members are encouraged to think and act like founders. This starts with financial alignment – all full-time team members receive stock options, giving them a direct economic stake in the company's success. But true ownership transcends financial incentives; it's fundamentally about attitude and mindset. Ownership manifests in resourcefulness – approaching every challenge by asking, "How can we get what we need at the lowest possible cost and on the best terms?" Rather than following rigid budgets that incentivize wasteful spending (to avoid future budget cuts), KIND team members are encouraged to think like owners who care where every dollar goes. When the company moved to new offices, instead of purchasing all new furniture (as most growing companies would), they creatively repurposed existing pieces from both their old location and what previous tenants had left behind, creating a stylish workspace at a fraction of the typical cost. The ownership mentality also breeds commitment to excellence. When quality issues emerged with KIND Healthy Grains Clusters, generating an unusually high number of customer complaints, the team didn't dismiss these as statistically insignificant. Instead, they recognized that each dissatisfied customer represented a human being they had let down. The manufacturing team spent weeks at the factory, sacrificing weekends with family to correct the issues and improve freshness – resulting in a dramatic reduction in complaints. Preserving this entrepreneurial spirit becomes more challenging as a company grows. To maintain their "start-up think," KIND encourages team members to review and reinvent systems and practices regularly, questioning every decision anew. This critical reinvention extends beyond product development to everyday operations, ensuring no obsolete practices persist through inertia. For example, when online food sales were virtually non-existent, Lubetzky persisted in developing a robust e-commerce platform despite skepticism from board members. This foresight paid off as online sales grew to nearly 10% of their business. Perhaps most importantly, the ownership culture at KIND empowers team members to lead rather than just execute. When problems arise, they don't wait for solutions from above but take initiative to address issues directly. By treating everyone as co-owners with shared responsibility for the company's future, KIND has created an environment where innovation flourishes and resilience in the face of setbacks becomes second nature.

Chapter 7: Trust and Adaptability: Learning to Let Others Lead

At the 2013 Natural Products Expo West in California, KIND had organized private presentations for their largest retail accounts to preview their new KIND Healthy Grains Bars. Daniel Lubetzky, as founder, assumed he would lead these meetings. When the Kroger team arrived – five senior executives including long-time supporters – Lubetzky prepared to begin his presentation. Instead, John Leahy, KIND's president, rose and welcomed everyone, seamlessly directing the meeting. Watching from the sidelines, Lubetzky witnessed something remarkable unfold. Each team member presented their portion with expertise and confidence – marketing executives explaining the brand strategy, nutritionists discussing health benefits, sales directors reviewing performance data. The meeting flowed like a symphony, with every instrument playing perfectly. When it concluded, Kroger authorized the entire line for all their stores and requested partnership in promotion – a stark contrast to their earlier caution when it had taken years to get KIND into their first 180 stores. This moment crystallized a profound lesson about trust and leadership evolution. KIND had grown from a core of overworked generalists doing multiple jobs to a large organization with specialists who excelled in focused areas. Lubetzky's role needed to shift accordingly – from being involved in every aspect of operations to providing vision, inspiration, and cultural guidance while empowering others to lead in their domains. This transition wasn't always easy. As a founder accustomed to controlling every detail, Lubetzky had to recognize when stepping back would benefit the company. In marketing meetings, his instinct was to dominate conversations and make all decisions. Over time, he learned to listen first and play devil's advocate rather than immediately sharing his perspective, which might discourage others from voicing different viewpoints. "Unless you create that space," he realized, "your management team cannot fill it up." Trust extends beyond internal team dynamics to relationships with investors and strategic partners. When Howard Schultz of Starbucks called Lubetzky during a critical period when KIND was considering going public, Schultz made an extraordinary commitment: "We're not going to do anything to harm your plans... At some point in the future, we may stop carrying your products, but it will not happen now, and we will not interfere with your decision to go public." The integrity shown in this conversation influenced how Lubetzky later handled Starbucks' eventual decision to remove KIND products, maintaining respect and goodwill that would ultimately lead to rekindling the partnership. Building mutual trust requires balancing egos – both your own and others'. As success grows, praise from others can inflate a leader's self-perception. Lubetzky acknowledges catching himself trying to impress new board members by dominating meetings rather than letting his team shine. Recognizing this behavior, he apologized to his team and recommitted to creating space for their leadership. Similarly, he learned to celebrate team members' contributions publicly, ensuring they receive recognition for their ideas and accomplishments. The final piece of adaptive leadership involves maintaining the right level of involvement as the company scales. While Lubetzky stepped back from many operational areas, he remained deeply engaged in marketing and new product development – areas where he felt he could add the most value. Even here, he had to find the right balance between protecting the brand's heritage and allowing his team to introduce fresh concepts. When his marketing team proposed changing "the world" to "your world" in KIND's motto, his initial reaction was skepticism. Upon reflection, he realized they were right – the change better aligned with their brand by emphasizing personal responsibility. Trust isn't about abdicating responsibility but about recognizing when others are better positioned to lead in certain areas. By adapting his leadership style as KIND grew, Lubetzky created an environment where talent could flourish while maintaining the core values and vision that had defined the company from its beginning.

Summary

The remarkable journey of KIND from a cramped New York apartment to a billion-dollar company illuminates the transformative power of the AND philosophy – the refusal to accept false compromises. Throughout this story, we see how challenging conventional wisdom and thinking creatively allowed Daniel Lubetzky to create products that were both healthy and delicious, a company that was both profitable and purposeful, and relationships that were both professional and deeply human. This approach wasn't simply optimistic thinking; it required rigorous questioning of assumptions, willingness to invest more upfront, and courage to pursue paths that initially seemed more difficult but ultimately created greater value. The tenets that guided KIND's growth offer wisdom that extends far beyond business. Purpose gives us resilience in the face of setbacks, anchoring our efforts in something larger than ourselves. Transparency builds trust with others, creating relationships based on authenticity rather than manipulation. The ownership mindset empowers us to take initiative rather than waiting for solutions from above. Perhaps most powerfully, empathy connects us to others, turning strangers into allies and transforming everyday interactions into opportunities for meaningful connection. Whether we're building companies, relationships, or communities, these principles remind us that we don't have to accept the limitations that convention imposes. By thinking with AND instead of OR, we can create paths that honor multiple values simultaneously, enriching not only our own lives but the world around us.

About Author

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Daniel Lubetzky

Daniel Lubetzky is a pioneering social entrepreneur known for integrating social objectives with sustainable market-driven forces to forge new business models that build bridges between people. He is the CEO and founder of KIND Healthy Snacks and the KIND Movement, founder of PeaceWorks and OneVoice, and cofounder of the apparel company Maiyet. Lubetzky has received numerous awards and recognitions for his humanitarian efforts and his business practices. He lives in Manhattan with his wife and four children.

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