Thirty Minute Mentors Podcast Transcript: Harry's Co-Founder Jeff Raider

I recently interviewed Jeff Raider on my podcast, Thirty Minute Mentors. Here is a transcript of our interview:

Adam: Our guest today co-founded multiple multibillion-dollar businesses. Jeff Rader is the co-founder and co-CEO of Harry's, one of the largest men's shaving brands, and is also a co-founder of Warby Parker. Jeff, thank you for joining us.

Jeff: Thanks for having me.

Adam: Jeff, you grew up in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and one of your earliest and most important influences was your mom, who was also a great entrepreneur. Can you take listeners back to your early days? What experiences and lessons were most instrumental in shaping your worldview and shaping the foundation of your success? 

Jeff: Great question. Yeah. So as you mentioned, my mom was an entrepreneur and a single mom, my parents were divorced. And so she played a really important role in raising us. And seeing her go through that journey of starting something from scratch, having great days and harder days, and just having to be so personally invested in the company that she was building made me not really want to be an entrepreneur. I was like, this just seems really hard. It's a little uncertain, it was all-consuming, seems stressful, and feels like there's got to be a better way to earn a living. And that, for me was a really pivotal moment. In my early life, she started the company when I was 11. And built it during the time from 11, to call it 18. So some pretty formative years for me. And so when I got out of college, I knew I really wanted to have a lot of impact. I studied international affairs in school, and I thought about it for a little while, I wanted to go work in the State Department or the D.C. policy community in economics or something to try to really have an impact. That was what I was excited about how can I try to make the world a better place in some way. And I lived through that experience, found my way to Bain and Company, where I worked. And the reason that I really liked working there again, is because I felt like I could have impacted my work. Bain was all about driving results in the companies that they worked with. And as someone who is starting right out of college, it was a place where I could take a lot of responsibility. And so I really love that. And it was pretty stable. It was a big company, and I could work hard, but there was a clear trajectory and path like the experience my mom had. And then I went to work in private equity. And I felt the same way like I could have a real impact, we now got to buy companies and be on their boards and participate in their growth and help drive their strategy. But again, with stability, and only when I just went to business school, and we had the idea for Warby Parker, that I realized that while starting a company is incredibly hard and stressful, and all the challenges that I saw my mom go through were challenges that I personally felt it was also so highly rewarding and amazing. Like it was the first time that I just felt so personally invested in anything that I'd done professionally. And the feeling that you get of having customers who use your product and love your product is something that's so deeply gratifying. And that was something that I probably didn't fully appreciate seeing my mom go through her journey.

Adam: Jeff, a keyword that you used multiple times is impact, and your journey of figuring out how you can use your talents to make as big an impact as possible. What advice do you have for anyone listening, trying to figure out, how can I use my talent to make as big an impact as possible? Or to anyone listening, mentoring others, or trying to help others figure out the answer to that exact same question. What advice would you share?

Jeff: Totally, it's funny. So as first heard about my mom, now maybe I can talk about my son who also happens to be alive right now. And we were actually talking last night as he was going to bed about something pretty similar. He was just talking about the things that he loved in the world. He's really into cars, loves cars, watches, YouTube videos about how people build engines, and is super into different car models in a way that I never was. He's much more interested than I am. One of the things I said was like, listen, Charlie, like his name's Charlie, Charlie, you're going to have lots of opportunities to do lots of things in life. But the things that I would probably spend most time focusing on are the things that really make you happy, and that you like when I worked in private equity. There are folks that I worked with who loved working in private equity. They woke up every day, and they were so excited to come to work and get to work with the portfolio companies that we bought or do the next M&A deal to buy the next company to help think about its future. It was what they loved, you could just tell it, and working with them was infectious, it was amazing in seeing just how happy they were, that was such a cool thing to be a part of. It was infectious for me. What I came to realize over time was like, well, that's an amazing job. It's not the thing that I loved the most. The thing that I love the most of this idea of taking on a new challenge, taking something, making something from nothing, and then seeing the people in the world get to directly use and experience that product and try to make it better for them over and over and over again. That's, for me what was really impactful on my son. Charlie might want to be an automotive engineer or something entirely different when he grows up. And if you just do the thing that you love, you're probably going to end up being pretty good at it. And through that vector, you'll figure out how you can have the most impact possible. I see that a Harry's too. We have so many amazing people on our team. And you just see people who are in the groove and doing an awesome job at their job and super happy at work, and taking on projects and learning and feeling like their work ladders into the mission of the company. They're having a huge impact on our business on our customers, etc. I mean, because they found that thing that was the right fit for them at the right moment in time. And now that might change for people too. I think there's another thing to be open-minded about. Gosh, my job at Harry's has changed high 20 times in 10 years, maybe more feel like it changes every day sometimes. And every time it changes, there are some things that I really love about my job, and there are some things that I need to learn to be better at. Sometimes it's a great fit. Sometimes as we evolve the org, it's not such a good thing, that's a natural thing to and so I think it's also important to continue to evaluate that for yourself, are you in a place that you're really happy where you feel like you're having a positive impact in the work that you're doing, where you feel like you're set up to do your best work. And if you are I think people tend to be able to accomplish really amazing things.

Adam: I think it's great advice. And it ultimately comes down to having that alignment. The alignment between doing something that you love, doing something that you're great at, and doing something that allows you to make a positive impact.

Jeff: Totally. And I think sometimes what society expects of you, or wants from you, or your parents expect from you or whoever might actually not be the thing that makes you happiest and enable you to make the most successful when you got out of business school. So many of our friends took that perfect job at a really prestigious firm at a business school. Everyone's like, whoa, that's so cool that you're able to get that job. And then two, or three or four or five years later, they were doing another job. Because they've done that job and realized, oh, well, that looks so awesome on paper. Iit's actually not the thing that's gonna make me happy. I think it's gonna make me happy as this other thing. And when they figured that out and made this switch, I think they're almost all feeling more gratified at work. And I think they've been really successful and the things that they've done because they figure that out for themselves. And so that's the one thing I'd probably say is figure out what actually you want to do and don't spend as much time thinking about what other people might tell you looks great for whatever reason. 

Adam: That is really important advice, could not agree with you more. And something else that you shared is the importance of being willing to try different things. It took you time to figure out what exactly it was for you. That was it. And even now you shared that your role is evolving. What you do day in and day out is evolving. Be open to trying different things. Totally. An earlier guest on this podcast was Neil Blumenthal, a good friend of yours. 

Jeff: Yeah, one of my best friends and a wonderful guy. I'm now going to spend the rest of this podcast trying to live up to. Big shoes to fill. Totally underwhelmed everybody from here on out. Just listen to this podcast is gonna be good. 

Adam: Listen to both. Everyone has an hour and 30 minutes here, everyone is there. For those who don't know, Neil, or haven't listened to the Interview with Neil, Neil is also a co-founder of Warby Parker, currently the co-CEO of Warby Parker. And in my conversation with Neil, we spoke about how Warby Parker went from an idea to multibillion-dollar business. And I wonder if you could talk about your experience.

Jeff: Totally, Warby Parker totally changed my life in a bunch of dimensions. One, I got to do it with three of the best people in the world. Neil, Dave, and Andy, my Warby Parker co-founders, there were still some of my closest friends. And we put our relationship with each other first. And that sounds trite. But like it's totally true. We said, hey, we're going to do this. It's going to be like getting married in some ways. We are going to know everything about each other. We have to in order to move this forward, and we have to build a partnership that is super tight together and always has each other's backs first. And I think that's something that gosh, I don't know how many years in, I’d guess like 13 years since Warby Parker launched in 15 years since we started working on it, yet still very much the case and something that I value immensely. And so that's one, two, such an amazing experience. To feel like that I personally had this pain point like I want to better glasses, I'm wearing glasses now Warby Parker glasses, of course. But at the time, I had got $500 pair of glasses. I was a student, and my prescription changed multiple times, but I hadn't changed my glasses. And for me, a spark behind Warby Parker is like, I want something better for myself. I want glasses that I'm proud to wear that say something about who I am, for a lot less money than $500. And Neil was the one who was like, you can do that. You can have amazing glasses that you love. And you can have them for like $100 that are every bit as good as the $500 ones, maybe even better if you use new, exciting, amazing materials, etc, which we can use. And the reason is that the industry has been set up in a way where there are just lots of people who are taking a bunch of profit, and we could just do it ourselves and own the whole process from design through to sales on our site or our stores. And that epiphany was amazing for us, like, buy one. And I feel like if we want that for ourselves, gosh, there's gonna be lots and lots of other people who want that. So that was the first exciting moment for me. And for me feeling like, hey, we could actually do something that was better for someone, as the spark of this could be a good business idea. And not focused on this is a big market opportunity. It was a very personal idea. And that was very similar to when we started Harry's. I was like I want razors that are really well designed that are super high quality, that are delivered at awesome prices for a brand that just meets me where I am around grooming, I'm not an expert, I'm just trying to learn and get better every day. So helped me there. And so that was really, really helpful. And I think I learned that at Warby Parker. The second thing about Warby Parker that I thought was really special was right after we launched, we were totally unprepared, we hit our first-year sales plan. In our first month, we didn't know how to process all the orders that were coming in, we were sold out of our products for a long time, we bought 9000 pairs of glasses in seven different styles and we bought 100 each, which is the minimum order quantity and then sold them out essentially, immediately all of them had to get more product in stock. And during that time, we were screwing up for some customers, we weren't able to deliver them the products that they had ordered within the timeframe that they'd ordered, etc. But we were totally focused on making sure that even though we were able to do that, that we were doing everything we could to make those people happy. We were calling them personally telling them about the beginning of the company, telling them that we were there for them, apologizing, giving them a free pair of glasses, and one of the products came back in stock, using that as a moment to reach out to people and develop this really strong direct connection with them. And then we started to hire people to do CX customer experience, whereas those are all of our first hires. And I think they saw us as founders set that tone, and then took that forward. And I think as a result, we've always as a company just been so focused on the experience that our customers have been making sure that we try to make people happy going above and beyond for people, which is something that I'm super proud of. And that combined with the idea that Warby Parker is a thing that you wear on your face. And so when you get a new pair of glasses, people ask you about it, I think that has been the magic behind Warby Parker. It looks like you had them get a new pair of glasses. Someone says hey, cool glasses, where do you get them from? And you say I just had this really good experience with Warby Parker, they went above and beyond to make sure that I was happy with these classes. And gosh, I really love them. And that interaction has been our most effective marketing channel since the very time we started. And so I feel like a tremendous amount of pride for that. And it was a huge learning. For me when we started Harry's, we had a different problem, which was people didn't really wear the razors. They were tucked away in their medicine cabinets. And people understood the purchase. They didn't need someone to reach out and talk to, they didn't need to talk to anybody. And so very late in Harry's days, we actually started proactively reaching out to customers, and saying, hey, we're here for you, we love you, how are you doing? Is there anything I can do to make your experience better? And we start doing it for people on our team. Because we felt like we wanted that connection, that same connection that I felt was so important Warby Parker, and those types of connections at Harry's ended up being super fruitful for us and thinking about and learning about the experiences our customers were having, where we're doing a good job for folks where we could continue to improve, etc. So I guess that was a huge lesson on tech as it's really about Warby Parker.

Adam: Key lesson applicable to both businesses applicable to any business, the importance of customer centricity. What are the keys to building and leading customer-centric businesses?

Jeff: I think that to start, I think it's about the tone that the leaders of the company set. Our mission at Harry's to create things people like more. And so if we think about a new product that we make, the first question that I'll ask in a meeting is how is this going to live our mission? Is this going to be really a thing that people like Martin, tell me one sentence about why I as a customer, I'm going to like this more than every other product that's out there. In I think when we get it right, we're really clear. And we can also learn a lot from our customers. And so part of its also having a dialogue to understand well, what would someone like more? And then how do we deliver it? A bunch of our customers were asking for body wash from Harry's, and are like, okay, we can make body wash, but tell us about what you wanted to hear about this body wash? Why do you want a new body wash? But are you not satisfied with your existing body wash? And I remember a customer verbatim quote from one of these conversations, saying, “I just don't want to smell like teen spirit anymore. I just don't want a body wash, it tells me it's teen spirit”. And we're like, okay, got it. You want a body wash with more sophisticated premium scents that maybe have been inspired by things in nature, we can do that. And so then we went to a premium fragrance house in France. And we develop these incredibly sophisticated scents which are called redwood and stone and shiso and fig and wild lands, and have been inspired by the different natural elements with multiple different fragrance notes and them. And we took this premium fragrance and we put it into a body wash formula. And then we also develop that really suds up in the shower, which helps you feel like you're getting clean, because the other thing we learned about body wash was that people didn't feel like they were really getting clean, when they're using the body wash was more just lathering, but they wanted more foam in sets. And so then I'm enlisted sitting in this meeting, like, okay, tell me how this product creates things people like more people like. Well, it smells so different from existing body wash, use all this premium fragrance so that it smells more sophisticated. And then we know that a shower is this moment where guys are going from asleep to awake. And it's giving them an awakening of their senses. It's giving them this really great sensorial experience while it's happening. And we think people are gonna really like it for that reason. I was like, okay, I can get behind that. I get that. And then we launched it. And I think that idea that we could deliver premium sense to people in a format like body wash, and sell at a Target for like $7, or Walmart or whatever. Like, that was, I think, really compelling for folks. And so asking the question, and then really putting yourself in the customers’ shoes, and understanding how and why in a very simple way you can do that has, at least for me been the thing that's been most helpful. The other thing that I'd say is really helpful to measure it. So one of the metrics that we care most about is Harry's net promoter score. And that metric essentially takes all the people who love the brand, and on a scale of one to 10 would say nine or 10, I'd be likely to recommend this to my friends, and then just subtracts all the people who don't love the brand, who would write that same question six to one. And then the neutrals, just like don't get added or subtracted. When we look at that score religiously and try to understand, oh, do we have a lot more promoters of the brand? And do we have to detractors, and of the people that are detractors or neutral, like what's wrong? Why don't they love us? And how can we address that and create better experiences for them? And that sometimes takes that individual anecdote of, hey, I didn't have a great experience with your product or whatever, and makes it more quantifiable. And if there's a lot of people that haven't had a great experience, gosh, we better go do something about it. And so we're very focused on that, too.

Adam: Jeff, you shared so much great stuff there that is universally applicable to anyone trying to build a customer-centric business, but applicable beyond the topic of customer-centricity, applicable to anyone trying to figure out how to lead. I want to tick through a few of the things you share.Cclarity of vision and clarity of focus. You're laser-focused on this one key metric listening, asking questions. Great leaders are great listeners. Great leaders ask great questions. Caring, everything you shared is really centered around caring about what your customers have to say. Great leaders fundamentally care. They care about people, they care about everyone. Putting yourself in the shoes of others. Don't make assumptions. Take the time to listen, take the time to learn, and do whatever you can to try to see things through the lens of others. universally applicable.

Adam: What do you believe are the key characteristics of a great leader and what can anyone do to become a better leader?

Jeff: One, I think being clear on vision, where you're going, and what role everybody plays in where you're going. I think it is really important and helpful to humility and knowing that you don't know all the answers and really wanting to learn and learning from a lot of different people, learning from your peers, learning from other companies, learning from your team. Creating an environment where everyone can share ideas, and you're open to lots and lots of different perspectives, I think is a really, really valuable trait. Follow through and do what you say. And building trust in that way is really important. Early on in Harry's days, we bought a factory in Germany, it was a nine-year-old factory and had 500 people, a very, very different company than the 30-person startup that we started many years ago. To sell razor blades at the factory made, the factory makes razor blade, some of the best razor blades in the world. And one of the things that we were really conscious of, at that moment, which was a huge leadership challenge for us, was making sure that when we made commitments, we always follow through because we can build trust that way. We said, hey, we're gonna take care of the people in the factory, we want to make sure that you are here for a long time here, the magic of the know-how that you bring to these razor blades, is really the magic of this place. And there's an amazing culture here. So we want to foster that. And we did, and we want to make it better. And we asked people like, well, what could we do to make it better? And they're like, well, we don't have really a communal cafe where we can spend time together with good food, right? Great, we can actually address that. So we said, well, we'll make investments here, we're not going to rip volume out of the factory and send it somewhere else, we're going to double down and actually expand the factory. So we did that. We did it in a way where we made commitments. And then we followed through on the commitments and we made more, and we follow through, and we painted a clear vision. And over time, I think that engendered a lot of trust, which was very helpful and continued to build the business forward. And we tried to listen to and learn and grow and take ideas from other places, being able to both, empower your people and enable them to take on more and more and more responsibility, we say, one of your goals should be to obsolete yourself because there's always more to do. So the more we can elevate our team the better, while also ensuring that they're capable of the things that you empower them of that you're giving them the right degree of coaching or support, or in some cases direction to enable them to be successful in their roles. Really, really important. In our organization. We have really talented folks who I think are amazing. And they're just different levels of maturity and their ability to get different types of things done. And so understanding where your team is, and individuals who you work with are giving them opportunities to grow. And then supporting them to be successful feels like a really important thing. And I think being really open to feedback, as part of this idea of learning and growing is really meaningful. I think one of the things I respect most about our leaders, I'm just going through our performance reviews for last year, there's a bunch of amazing things that people at Harry's do. There are always things that we're where we can grow. There are 100 things I can do to grow and improve them. And I think people what I really appreciate is that they take that as an opportunity to continue to get better because that's what we all have. If a company is growing and you're running a growing company, you have to grow with the company. And so that means taking feedback and continuing to improve along the way.

Adam: How did the idea for Harry's emerge and how and when did you know it was going to be this huge success?

Jeff: So the idea for Harry's emerged one of my co-founder Andy called me from a drugstore in late 2011. He'd walked into by razor blades, and they were really really expensive. I think he was gonna have to pay $25 for a razor blade and some shaving cream. Because I can get a package, I was like a picture of a razor blade flying over the moon. The brands out there rec shout and I'm that that'd be the best this perfect guy with six pack and a chiseled jawline. And like shaving while a girl rubs the other side of his face, you can think about the stereotypical ads, or hip perfect backhand down the line flawlessly. And he was just like, this all just seems broken. I've got a razor blade flying over the moon there, Tom, you have to be the best. This is super expensive. None of it appeals to me, I'm feeling taken advantage of there gotta be a better way here. By the way, I just want a great quality product at good value with a design that I love, that I'm proud to use every day. And I just don't feel like I'm getting that here. And so the question he asked me is, could you take a lot of what you learned at Warby Parker and deliver people great products, good experience is great value and apply it to razors and razor blades? And for me, I was like, totally, that's what I want. I want the same thing as you. And I just wasn't sure we can make the product. And so that took us on this crazy journey where we tried every single razor product in the world, found this factory in Germany that makes amazing blades, and then started to work with them ultimately in the factory. And that was really a moment for us were like, okay, we're really serious about this. We now own a factory in Germany. That was in early 2014. And we have a tremendous amount of responsibility here to make this thing really successful and impactful. After about the fact that we went and we spoke to the team, we were standing on these wooden crates overlooking the entire town. I feel like we were in speaking in English and having a translation into German, hoping that half of our message got through. But just remember this huge sense of responsibility that I felt at that moment. Wow. We now have to really continue to grow this business to make it successful because all these people here are relying on us and this vision that we are laying out for them. So I hear that was one moment. I'm not sure even 10 years in Harry has turned 10 years old. I'm not sure that we've ever totally made it. I think we're constantly making it. Part of being an entrepreneur and being on this journey, being totally immersed into businesses, you're both incredibly optimistic. I'm both incredibly optimistic about the future. I'm also super scared about what could happen. I'm constantly being like, oh, man, the music could stop soon. Couple of bad things happen to us. And all of a sudden, maybe we aren't as successful as we want to be, and what I'm always thinking, but what those risks are, and how to box those risks. And so even today, I'm not sure that we've made it. I think we're consistently trying to do better and better and better and continue on this vision. We wrote down early on when we started Harry's, that we want Harry's to be around for 100 years, we just turned 10. So we're a 10th of the way there, but we have a long way to go on this journey.

Adam: Jeff, your perspective really speaks to an important point, which is the power of staying grounded. All too often when someone enjoys incredible success. It's easy to fly a little bit too close to the sun. But if you're able to stay grounded, you can keep going and keep going and keep going and continue to perform to the best of your abilities, without getting distracted by all that other stuff.

Jeff: Yeah, I think to try to focus on the things that really matter in that case, are really, really important to you. There are certain things that really matter in our business, and it starts with our customers and how to make them happy. And so if you're totally devoted to them, they help keep you grounded, because they're giving you roadmaps of things that they want more from a view, they're telling you what they like, that you should do more of. They're giving you opportunities to improve. All those things, I think are really impactful.

Adam: You spoke about signing this factory where you were able to come across a product that you absolutely loved. But you're in a space where products are not that easy to differentiate shavers, shaving cream, and body wash. And so many entrepreneurs, so many people in business are trying to figure out, how do I differentiate my product? How do I differentiate my service? How do I communicate to the market that what I'm offering is differentiated? What advice do you have for them?

Jeff: Yeah, I think it might be a bit of a misconception to say that products in our space are not very different from each other. I learned when I was starting Harry's that shaving with a bad razor can be a physically and emotionally scarring experience. And there are some products out there that I wouldn't wish for you out of touch to your face, and some great products out there. And so I think that there is significant differentiation in the products that we make in our factory, for example, we literally change the metallurgical composition of steel, we liquefy it, and then we cool it again, to harden it to a place where we can then grind a very specific edge on the blade so that it's both very strong and its base and sharpen its tip, we then have to coat it in a way that makes the blade not so sharp. It's not uncomfortable in your first shave, and the durability and the way that we grind, makes it durable for a long time, so you can get a lot of shapes out of it. So I would say there is actually a lot of technology that people don't fully understand in our space that makes your experience with one product pretty different from your experience with others, which is why we invested Gosh, $100 million by this factory and probably have invested at least that much in continuing to expand it and improve our products. But I think it's on us to tell that story in a compelling way for folks. And that can be really hard. Because if you think about the world, you got 1000 people out there seeing 1000 things to everybody like the pace at which we consume information is so much faster today than it even was when we started Harry's and before that Warby Parker, I mean, Warby Parker was launched by GQ in print magazine, in a way that was amazing. And that was like the thing that everybody was engaging with. And today, there are just so many other sources of content that people can consume, that the challenge is to be very specific and clear-minded, and direct around what you do and how it's different and build trust that way. And so one of the things that I chat with our team a lot about is like, what are the one or two things that we have to say? How do we say them in in a simple and clear way as possible, while also maybe bringing a smile to someone's face? And then how do we say that over and over and over again, so that people understand that we're consistent with our message and that we get it? For example, in the early days of Harry's, I was again, in a focus group talking to customers or I wasn't talking, I was listening to customers talking to a focus group. And they said in order to switch to Harry's, I'd want to know why you're better than Gillette. Tell me. What's the thing? And when we ask our existing customers, why they liked Harry's, it was quality, value and style. Those are the three things that popped and then someone on our teams is like okay, how do we communicate? Here is the quality value style relative to Gillette, like what's a fun engaging, interesting way to do that. And GQ wrote an article about Harry's that said with Harry's or Dopp kit just got handsomer. Some folks that we worked with have looked at that and said, that's a fun word, handsomer. And they came up with an add a very simple line, Harry's handsomer sharper, less expensive, high quality, value style, or in that case, style, quality, handsome or sharper, less expensive. And we put that out and people like I got it, boom, it was like a fun, interesting, quick, straightforward way to talk about how Harry's is different for people out in the world. And I think that that's our challenge as a company, as brands and the world in general is, how do you stay clear and consistent in a way that's engaging for folks and puts a smile on their face. So they really do understand all of the great work that you're doing. And we definitely don't get it perfect. It's really hard. But that's certainly the thing that we talk about a lot internally and try to deliver out to the run to our customers.

Adam: Harry's and Warby Parker, two of the most prominent examples of successful social entrepreneurship. What are your best tips on the topic of social entrepreneurship?

Jeff: Yeah, build it in from day zero, that would be my first it's really hard to retrofit it later. And so one of the most amazing moments of the Warby Parker journey was prior to launching, sitting with Neil, who's my Warby Parker co-founder, and hearing him talk about working in the social entrepreneurs ship space in giving people reading glasses, and enabling them to see for the first time and changing their entire perspective. They were working as a seamstress, and was working as a seamstress and couldn't actually see the stitches and all of a sudden could see the stitches or a farmer can actually count seeds in a way that they couldn't afford these life-changing moments, not being able to see to be able to see. And we're like, wow, that's so powerful. We should do that at Warby Parker. And so we built into the business model that for every pair of glasses we sold, we give one to somebody who otherwise wouldn't be able to have one. And wow, what a gift we could create not just a pair of glasses, but this whole idea that they'd be able to see properly see, for the first time in a way that'd be really meaningful. And that was a thing that I think was really inspirational to us to our team. And something that I took with me to Harry's and so at Harry's, we were like okay, we want to build the same thing in. In terms of the needs hierarchy. Shaving probably isn't like at the top of the hierarchy, whatever. There are other things you probably need before shaving, clean water or proper sanitation, or grooming is probably somewhere further away. So that feels tricky. But once we started talking to our customers and reaching out to them proactively in the early days of Harry's as we were trying to figure this out, what I think we heard from them was the benefits of shaving are all about feeling good, feeling confident and good on the outside and then wanting to feel good on the inside. And as we'd say, hey, like we're here for you, we want to help you have we make your life better. A lot of guys just started emailing us back and just wanted someone to talk to. And through that experience, we realized that when talking to lots of our customers and then learning more about the things that are going on in guys' lives in general that mental health was a huge issue for guys. And one that a lot of people didn't talk about people and they needed resources and support to take care of themselves. And if you think about our mission, it's can we want people to look good on the outside feel good on the inside to feel good in general. And so we said, this is a place where we can have a big impact. And we can partner with organizations who are amazing at this. And so very early on, we decided to give 1% of our sales to organizations that support men's mental health. We reach over 1.2 5 million men in areas, I think we've given $12 million or something, and continue to do that. It's a huge commitment for us. And I think it's something that we feel ties to the purpose of the brands. And that's probably the second thing I'd say is you can have cares that you support. Or setup cares that you support that are great, but to the extent that they can somehow ladder to the purpose of the vision of the brand, it just makes that connection stronger. So when we talk to our customers about men's mental health are we provide resources on our website. It's a place that people go and we see extra dramatic amounts of traction back to our partners. Now during the pandemic, we put up a banner that said, gosh, we know this is a really tricky time for people and you need resources. Here's one place you could go. And lots and lots and lots of people clicked on that banner and engaged because I think it was tied to the purpose of their brand or heritage and could be a resource for them in some way. And so that's just another lesson that I've learned as we've gotten into the Warby Parker and Harry's journeys.

Adam: Jeff, what can anyone listening to this conversation do to become more successful personally and professionally?

Jeff: My stance on that is, finding something that you love, which we talked about before, is really, really, really important. If you're not super happy, then figure out what that thing is that you love and go do that. To be in a place where you can learn a lot. Learning is really important and especially for folks on our team who are earlier in their careers. Absorb as much as you can learn and challenge yourself. And then I guess three, for me, running with Harry's and Warby Parker, it's been amazing to get to surround myself with other folks who I love working with and trust implicitly and who have done such wonderful things to the business. My Warby Parker co-founders, my Harry's co-founder, Andy, our investors, visors, leadership to surround yourself with amazing people if you have the opportunity. It makes it so much more fulfilling to get to come to work every day. And I think ultimately, it's a great outcome.

Adam: Jeff, thank you for all the great advice, and thank you for being a part of Thirty Minute Mentors.

Jeff: Thank you.


Adam Mendler is an entrepreneur, writer, speaker, educator, and nationally-recognized authority on leadership. Adam is the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal-winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities, and non-profit organizations. Adam has written extensively on leadership and related topics, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. Adam teaches graduate-level courses on leadership at UCLA and is an advisor to numerous companies and leaders. A Los Angeles native, Adam is a lifelong Angels fan and an avid backgammon player.

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