When Daniel Lubetzky founded KIND Snacks in 2004 he wanted to create a profitable company that sold good-for-you snack bars made with whole foods and no preservatives. He also wanted to help build a more compassionate world.
He’s been successful on both fronts. The company has sold more than a billion snack bars and clusters while the KIND Movement has inspired kind acts that have touched more than a million people.
Today, the movement donates $10,000 every month to a community cause, like the Women’s Debate Institute in Baltimore, which is dedicated to closing the gender gap in competitive debating; a New York program that rescues leftover food from restaurants and catering companies and redistributes it to people in need; and Sweet Cases, a California-based project that wants to provide duffel bags or suitcases to kids in foster care so they don’t need to carry their belongings, such as a treasured stuffed animal, in plastic trash bags when they move from home to home.
Now Daniel is sharing his principles in a new book, Do the Kind Thing: Think Boundlessly, Work Purposefully, Live Passionately. Whether you’re founding a company or working for one, Daniel offers ways to find meaning in your work.
We asked Daniel if he could give Live Happy readers a snack-sized summary of his advice. Here’s what he told us.
- You need to know what gives you purpose before you can translate it into business practice. Your purpose could be to make others happy. To take care of others. To keep this planet clean. It could be a big global problem, or one that affects your community. You may not have identified what force within drives you. This is why introspection is key.
- Talking with yourself often and deeply is not always an easy task but there are no shortcuts to understanding what makes you tick. You must take the time to ask yourself questions.
- Your answer most likely will not come overnight. And it may evolve as you gain other experiences. But that is why it is so important that you consciously invest the time to listen to your inner self along the way. Knowing what makes you happy is the first step to actually being happy.
Shelley Levitt is a freelance journalist based in Los Angeles, and editor-at-large for Live Happy magazine.
