Health Tech: Daniel Kaufman On How HoMedics’ Technology Can Make An Important Impact On Our Overall Wellness

An Interview With Dave Philistin

There are so many incredible ways to make products more sustainable today. Looking into how you can be more sustainable end to end through your supply chain is something that everyone should be focused on. I am proud of what we are doing as a company, especially at our House of Marley brand, to push toward building products with the environment in mind.

In recent years, Big Tech has gotten a bad rep. But of course many tech companies are doing important work making monumental positive changes to society, health, and the environment. To highlight these, we started a new interview series about “Technology Making An Important Positive Social Impact”. We are interviewing leaders of tech companies who are creating or have created a tech product that is helping to make a positive change in people’s lives or the environment. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Daniel Kaufman.

Daniel Kaufman, Head of Corporate Strategy at FKA Brands, parent company of HoMedics, is an experienced brand marketer, leader, and curious innovator. He loves what’s current, but is truly driven by what’s next. A product junkie at his core, obsessed with new technologies and the push for a more connected future inspires him to always try and think bigger.

Democratizing well-being is a mission for him and one of his family of brands HoMedics.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory and how you grew up?

I grew up in West Bloomfield, Michigan. As the oldest of 5 siblings and 22 grandchildren I was always asked to be a positive role model and to be the leader of the next generation. From an early age, my parents instilled in us all the importance of philanthropy and helping your fellow man. When graduating from University of Michigan, I was torn between starting my own business or joining the family business. It ultimately was an easy decision for me because both my heart and my head pointed me in the same direction; HoMedics. I recognized that helping to provide people with truly impactful health & wellness solutions spoke to me at my core. Having had 2 ACL reconstructive knee surgeries and herniated discs issues I understood living with pain all too well and I wanted to join the fight that HoMedics had been fighting for, at the time, over 25 years: keep people on top of their game, 24/7, drug-free.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

Entering the business as the owner’s son came with great benefits but also came with burdens, many which were self-made. Thinking that I needed to have all the answers on day one was a huge hindrance to my early growth. I held back asking for help or asking questions concerned that they could be regarded as dumb or that it may be something I should have known. One of the greatest changes for me was when I realized that some of the smartest people around me were the ones who always asked the most questions. They had no concern of what they were or were not supposed to know. This was a game changer for me and shifted my mindset allowing myself to truly grow and learn vs. being worried about people’s perception.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

My grandfather, Fred Ferber, is one of the people that has greatly helped me along the way. A lifetime of lessons that he, even today, still instills in me. What is interesting is that most of them are not specifically related to business but primarily things about human psychology, responsibility of leaders, work/life balance, importance of family, and how to treat people. Without his lessons, I would not have the frame of mind in which I see the world today. I believe that framing is a huge asset in how I work through problems, progress our company initiatives and lead.

One story I love is that my grandfather in his 65 years in business has only been sued once. In that situation, he actually drove to court in the same car with the person who was suing him. The underlying message of that story is that my grandfather never made enemies, and that is one of the many important lessons I have learned from him both in business and life.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Perfection is only in heaven, and no one is in a rush to get there.”

Based on my previous answer, you may have guessed…this quote is from my grandfather. It has always resonated with me that to expect perfection of yourself or others, is a sure way to have all involved be perpetually let down. For people to think outside of the box, take risks and strive to achieve difficult goals there will always have to be the acceptance of imperfection. Expecting perfection can lead to insecurity which is an unhealthy mindset for yourself or those within your organization as it leads to being too safe.

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

Empathy: Being able to feel and see the world through other people’s eyes is critical to me being able to make proper decisions.

I had someone who early in her time working with us was struggling to fit in and we feared we would need to let her go. Instead of biting the bullet quickly, I wanted to understand where things were going wrong as we had felt so confident in her abilities and her culture fit during the interview process. After a 1–1 session together, I put myself in her shoes to recognize what was holding her back from being successful within our organization. This completely changed her trajectory, turning her into a top company performer.

Trust/Empowerment: Without hiring and empowering people to do their jobs, you will never be able to scale your business.

As a leader, knowing when to offload responsibility is critical. If you are unable to trust your team to handle certain tasks, you will end up being more of a problem then the solution. It is often difficult to let go but when you don’t the quality of your work suffers and you could become a bottleneck to your team. This was something that was not easy for me to learn but once you do, it can be a game changer to the confidence of your team and efficiency of the output.

Curious: Curiosity breeds the mind’s need to think and learn.

Being curious has consistently led me down so many paths that I never intended on going. This consistently leads to meeting new people, coming up with new ideas and seeing the world in new ways. Staying fresh and not stuck in a one mindset is important.

In fact, curiosity is what helps us continue to grow as a company because we get to venture into new categories while bringing fresh products to our customers like we just did with our latest mindfulness device called drift.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about the tech tools that you are helping to create that can make a positive impact on our wellness. To begin, which particular problems are you aiming to solve?

We are looking to bring wellness into our consumers’ homes in simple and effective ways while fitting seamlessly into their lives. With drift specifically, we want to make it easy to bring mindfulness into your environment. drift is a first-of-its-kind, portable wellness device. Set it anywhere in your home and watch as the metal sphere rolls silently through sand. Follow along or choose from the hundreds of mesmerizing patterns, colors and speed options from the app to create mindful moments throughout the day.

How do you think your technology can address this?

People are so wound up and stressed we needed to find a simple way to give them some time to pause and reset. Good news is, they are immediately mesmerized by drift. Throughout development we would have our team in the office begging to allow the prototypes to be placed next to them during their workday because of how it made them feel. The types of products HoMedics develops — the more you use them, the more impactful they become. We were aiming to create something that could seamlessly fit into your environment but be powerful enough to create simple habits that pulled mindfulness into your every day. This strong instant connection people had with this product made us excited about its potential to be a mainstay in our consumers’ lives in a way that can be truly impactful.

Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?

At HoMedics we have always spoken about the harmonization of mind, body and soul. We believe that your health and wellness journey is equal parts mind and body. While previously our strength has been in addressing the body as worldwide leaders in massage products, we have also now committed ourselves to bringing unique solutions to market that address mental wellness. In today’s world, many are so busy they struggle to carve out time in their days to focus on their mental wellness. drift’s beautiful design not only seamlessly fits into a thoughtfully designed home, but it also allows for consumers to naturally integrate those mindful moments into their days without having to leave their home or think of creative ways to do so.

How do you think this might change the world?

Not to be too cliché but ideas are like a snowball rolling down a hill…If we can get to a place where people’s surroundings allow them to be more centered, mindful and ultimately happier in their lives…that sounds like a game changer to me.

Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?

We aren’t implanting chips into brains or cameras into your homes so I am happy to say no I do not see potential drawbacks. Actually, we believe that as the metaverse becomes more real with VR and AR becoming more mainstream there are incredible opportunities to expand this type of technology. We have an exciting roadmap of what could be in the near future.

Here is the main question for our discussion. Based on your experience and success, can you please share “Four things you need to know to successfully create technology that can make a positive social impact”? (Please share a story or an example, for each.)

• You need to know what the intent is for your consumer. Are you creating addictive behavior? Is your product encouraging or an accomplice to an unhealthy lifestyle?
• Is it convenient? Convenience is king…we as a society ultimately gravitate to what is easiest not what is best. If you are looking to create technology that is actually used, accessibility and ease of use are key.
• There are so many incredible ways to make products more sustainable today. Looking into how you can be more sustainable end to end through your supply chain is something that everyone should be focused on. I am proud of what we are doing as a company, especially at our House of Marley brand, to push toward building products with the environment in mind.
• Passionate people who live the lifestyle they are trying to sell create the best results. Authenticity in today’s world is a must.

If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?

First, it’s about finding something you are passionate about because without that initial passion you will not have the will to be successful in what you are doing. After that passion is found, I would recommend thinking deeply about how you can tie in having elements of social good. Doing this will bring a deeper level of fulfillment to whatever you are working on while also helping the world.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

I’m a huge Elon Musk fan. It is incredible to think about what he has accomplished and so much of it is from having a completely different frame of mind. How he thinks about innovation is not an “add a feature” type of mindset but fundamentally doing something completely different. Attacking the problem from a totally different angle. I love his quote “all user input is error” from a product standpoint I think that fundamentally this is the right approach to building products for the future.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

For now, the best way is to follow HoMedics is through our email and social accounts. I am so excited about our future and cannot wait for our consumers to see the new innovative products that we will be bringing to market. We believe we can change the world and eradicate unneeded pain from our consumers’ lives.

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational, and we wish you continued success in your important work.