Seth Goldman on the Four "Teas" to Success in Building Impact Enterprises | Insights from Social Impact Week 2024

During the Fall 2024 Social Impact Week keynote, Seth Goldman '95, co-founder of Honest Tea and Eat the Change, shared his extensive experience building successful businesses centered on social and environmental impact. Introduced by his co-founder Barry Nalebuff, renowned business theorist and SOM professor, Goldman offered a perspective on what matters in building leadership teams and impact-driven ventures. His journey, from launching Honest Tea, to its sale to Coca-Cola and its eventual decision to discontinue the successful line of products, highlighted the complexities and challenges in scaling impact within large corporations. This led to a "what if" moment, imagining rebuilding a business from scratch but with years of experience, relationships, and market understanding. This vision materialized in Eat the Change, a company focused on the idea that what we eat matters to our body and the environment, featuring products like Mushroom Jerky and Carrot Chews, and now Just Ice tea. The success of Eat the Change, projected to exceed Honest Tea's 10th-year sales within its second year, underscores the viability of this approach. Goldman emphasized that impact extends beyond economic metrics to the effects on customers, the people who built the brand, and suppliers, ensuring that concepts like organic and fair trade remain viable.

Goldman distilled the keys to his success into "Four Teas":

1. Talented and Passionate Team: Having a team, ideally with shared history and understanding, where members are empowered and deeply passionate about the mission.
2. Tenacious (Challenger Mindset): Recognizing that nothing is easily achieved and you must actively fight for what you believe you deserve. As Leonard Bernstein put it, you need "A plan and not too much time," operating with "not quite enough time" to drive action.
3. Trust: Building strong relationships and ensuring that people know what you stand for and how you act. An example shared was a distributor trying their product at a trade show and recognizing the brand's reputation, leading to support. Trust allows partners to take a chance on you, accelerating growth.
4. Treating people and partners right: While you can't predict outcomes, doing things with the right intention makes a difference and builds a legacy you won't regret, reinforcing standing up for your beliefs.

Beyond these core principles, Goldman is involved in various impact ventures, including being chair at Beyond Meat and PLNT Burger, and chair of Mission Locked at Tony's Chocolonely. He shared how his values show up in his personal life, emphasizing the pursuit of sustainability and the understanding that we live with contradictions while striving to uphold a healthy and sustainable life. Fair trade is non-negotiable, even if it means higher costs. He also highlighted the complexity of supply chains and the ongoing need to innovate around impact and mission, citing Tony's Chocolonely's efforts to address child labor.

Addressing challenges, Goldman noted that sometimes even beloved products, like the innovative Carrot Chew, may not succeed due to financial realities like struggling margins, making the decision to discontinue them an "easy financial decision" despite the passion. His general advice included embracing what gives you joy, prioritizing family over transient jobs or money, and keeping things fun and laughing. He encouraged not putting off building an impact enterprise, describing it as invigorating and fun. Regarding impact in less obvious contexts, he suggested starting with the product itself or with related programs, like Subaru's national parks program. He also offered a perspective on change arenas, finding the marketplace more enduring than the public sector, where policies can be easily unwound, while market traction creates lasting demand.