Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
A serial social entrepreneur
To entrepreneur Daniel Lubetzky, founder of Kind snacks, kindness is more than just being nice.
“If somebody is nice, they’re not going to bully. But if they’re kind, they’re going to stand up to the bully,” he said. “Kindness requires the strength of action.”
It’s a lesson Lubetzky learned from his father, a Latvian Jew who survived the Holocaust and was deeply touched by small acts of kindness, like the care shown by the Japanese-American soldiers who liberated him.
Lubetzky launched Kind in 2004, honoring his father with the name. The health-conscious brand transformed the snack category; Lubetzky sold it to Mars in 2020 for an estimated $5 billion.
Lubetzky, who was born in Mexico, is investing in new brands like Somos Foods, which aims to bring authentic Mexican recipes to U.S. groceries. He’s also active in nonprofits like Starts with Us, which tries to overcome U.S. political and cultural division.
Lubetzky discussed his career with The Associated Press.
How do you describe yourself?
I think of myself as a serial social entrepreneur, meaning someone that loves noticing opportunities for how to create stuff that doesn’t already exist that will be both economically sustainable and socially impactful. First and foremost, this is a business. But there’s an added reason for being. It’s not just to make money. It’s also to try to have a positive impact in society, however small that may be.
What makes a successful entrepreneur?
You have to have the creative vision to identify a problem and come up with a creative idea for how to solve it. And then the execution, wherewithal, guts and chutzpah to just go out and do it. And that’s a very hard combination. If you have the first but not the second, you can be an inventor. If you have the second, you could be a good business manager. If you have both, you can be an entrepreneur.
You tend to tackle really intractable issues, like the culture wars or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Why?
The way we’re educated, we’re taught to process and to become factory line workers and to become professionals. But we’re not encouraged to dream about what’s possible and to recognize our power to do things that people thought were not possible. What’s happening in our country today affects every single person of us, and it’s going to require every single one of us to be part of the solution.
You’ve worked with a lot of entrepreneurs. What is your advice to them?
I do recommend they think about how they see the world from their vantage point, what’s missing, whether it’s a social element that they want to fix or a business opportunity or product or service. And then you need to target that and say, “Can I do it better?” It’s an incredible ride, but it’s a roller coaster ride. You need to have a temperament where you’re not going to easily give up.