Health Tech: Luke Wendlandt Of Cadre On How Their Technology Can Make An Important Impact On Our Overall Wellness

An Interview With David Leichner

Keep the big things the big things. What are your North stars? Never veer from those. If you stay hyper-focused on the right things, that process will bleed into your business, so you always deliver a clear, results-driven product.

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 Luke Wendlandt.

Luke Wendlandt is a father of four, husband, entrepreneurial visionary, and Minnesota native. He has an MBA in Marketing and a double master’s degree in organizational development and business administration from St. Scholastica. He began his professional career at Thomson Reuters then transitioned to well-known mission driven organization, Hazelden Betty Ford foundation, which served as the springboard for his now wellness-driven career. After experiencing the pandemic through the behavioral health space lens, he knew he wanted to be an even bigger part of the mental wellness solution that has affected so many, thus Cadre was born. Through his mission to provide timeless tools for lasting change in an authentic, inspiring and educational way, he hopes to change the way individuals and employees connect with this all-inclusive digital wellness hub.

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 was born and raised in a mid to upper-class family in rural Minnesota. I had the best childhood ever! I had loving parents, so many friends, loved my small town, and was crazy about sports, especially tennis. My parents were raised on a farm, so I know the value and importance of hard work. I witnessed it with my own eyes and got to watch my dad help out on the farm on the weekends with extended family while owning and operating his own construction business. I don’t think he will ever retire; working is simply in his blood. My mother is happily retired as a 40+ year Registered Nurse at the local hospital. She worked several different RN positions in her time there and cared deeply for her patients and her fellow colleagues. A true mission driven and loyal employee. I have one older brother who works with my father at the family construction business. He is happily married with a family of his own.

I was raised to understand the value of hard work, treat ALL people with dignity and respect, and distinguish between right and wrong. Although I made plenty of mistakes growing up, my parents instilled in me the ability to pick yourself back up and find the good in any situation, it’s always there.

Growing up, we made it a point to spend quality family time together on our excursions throughout Minnesota and beyond. I am grateful for those experiences to witness new culture, cities, countries, and the travel highs and lows that come with such ventures at a young age. It’s helpful as my family is now at the point to try some of our own family memorable experiences. My greatest accomplishment is my loving family; Emily (wife), Landon(14), Drew(9), Ada(8), and Cameron (5) and of course our energetic boxers Layla and Luna. My family is my why and my purpose in life, and especially critical in ultimately making business decisions and allowing grace and balance for shared success, both personally and professionally. I’ve learned so much from my immediate and extended family. I am grateful.

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

I’ve been a big fan of the sentiment, “If you don’t have a seat at the table, make one”. My business successes always start with building opportunities that most entrepreneurs aren’t willing to do. For example, we signed our first Employment Assistance Program without even having a tangible app. We had designs, sketches, the basic framework for our concept, but at the end of the day, this group chose to invest in “us”. When we discussed this opportunity with this crew, we immediately flew down the next day to Florida to discuss our concept. Then, when the timing was right, the decision-maker was in Chicago, and we set up a last-minute flight to Chicago to meet with the leadership of the business to present Cadre. Seventy-five percent of the conversation was about daring greatly, being vulnerable, overcoming obstacles, and building relationships. Your business will never be “ready” to sell, you need to build the excitement and display your passion for the world to see. Passion for your work is infectious and inspiring. Never forget that.

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 wife. My wife has been on this entrepreneurial journey with me since day one. She has experienced the highs and lows that transpire with building businesses. She has had the quintessential front row seat for my failures and mistakes. She is my sounding board for all the things that come your way as a leader in the startup phases, where little decisions can have such a big impact. She is also my litmus test on any emotional intelligence questions that I have for how to connect, build relationships, develop rapport and enter conflict. I would not be the leader I am today without her.

More often than not, there are lots more lows than highs when you are first starting out. She told me once, “Is it your goal to be liked or respected?” I have never forgotten that bit of feedback from my wife. Being liked is easy, being respected is hard. In order to lead the right way, you need to be okay with the fact that not everyone will like you. Early on in my entrepreneurial journey, that was hard for me. Today, I can sleep easy at night knowing that I am always making the best business decisions for Cadre, fully aware that someone may not like my decision(s), but I am able to process that and move on, immediately. It’s almost like the old adage in football that a cornerback has to have short memory, I’d say the same for leaders, you need to have a short memory and move on to the next initiative, priority, goals, meetings, 1:1’s. Live in the moment and do your very best knowing you will make mistakes and have failures, but that’s where the growth happens.

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

When I was 15 years old, I made what I thought at the time, was a colossal mistake at school. I’ll never forget confiding in a good family friend who served as one of my most profound role models at the time. I remember feeling shame around it while I told him, but he stopped me and said, “You made a mistake, but it’s water under the bridge”. What I thought was a damning moment in a most challenging time for me, was forgiven with his simple yet incredibly poignant advice to essentially just let it go. To have someone tell me that it was water under the bridge, gave me permission to continue to go out and try, to make mistakes, and to fail. I’ve carried that advice into my adult life and let it serve as my reminder that you can always fail; you just have to pick yourself back up again. It’s not about the mistake, it’s how you respond to it. There’s so much power in that kind of realization at an early age, and it’s been such a helpful tool for navigating both the personal and professional challenges I’ve experienced throughout my life.

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?

I’ll start with Grit.

I’m sure a lot of people reading this have heard of Angela Duckworth and her book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. One of my favorites. I believe grit is the differentiator between businesses that survive, businesses that stay stagnant, and businesses that thrive. The development of organizations that I’ve been a part of have all been cultivated with that key characteristic woven into their DNA, which is why they’ve sustained their success. I truly believe if you can maintain your grit, even while experiencing losses, quitting is off the table. Those who fight like it can be taken away from them at any moment will far outrun those who seek comfort in the process. In business and in life, grit is a non-negotiable component of continued success.

Secondly, Growth Mindset.

I have a mantra I like to repeat daily: I can, I will, I must. I’m a firm believer that when your cans turn to musts, whatever you seek to achieve becomes limitless. Not everyone in business has the ability to see the end of the story and work backwards from there. I feel fortunate that I don’t see roadblocks, and in fact nothing makes me more excited than having to solve for X so we can accomplish Y. I’m a firm believer that bottomless visualization for growth coupled with grit allows you to become an unstoppable force.

Lastly, Attitude.

You can hire for skill, you can coach, you can train. You can go through the technical motions with people, but attitude is everything. I always ask myself, are they looking for every way to say yes? I surround myself with individuals with incredible attitudes. I look for features in my team that are a part of my personal value system. I don’t have a problem with conflict, but I have firm boundaries around negativity. Positivity will drive your company to levels of success that you never thought possible. People who can smile through the challenges, have what it takes to be successful.

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 trying to solve the problem of how to create harmony in ALL wellness areas for employees at ALL organizations. Ultimately, work/life balance is a difficult proposition, and our platform aims to identify protocols and standards to have individuals live their best lives inside and outside their professional existence. We want to assist people in becoming their very best selves at work by giving them content that provides support and invokes change. We’re trying to solve the riddle of burnout, the great resignation, quiet quitting, and an uninspired and unengaged workforce. We want to help companies not only attract amazing talent but retain talent in a world where competition exists not only for employees but for the employers as well. By helping companies promote a healthy professional culture through wellness offerings, the ripple effect will be revolutionary. It’s undeniable that mental health challenges are on the rise and overall wellness is rapidly declining in our post-pandemic world. Cadre was created to change that narrative.

How do you think your technology can address this?

We live in a McDonald’s world…we need it, and we need it now. Imagine going through a tough moment maybe with your significant other, partner, husband/wife, and the moment you need this conversation/dialogue/coaching is NOW. Traditionally, the road to finally having this conversation with a third party might allow for this type of exchange 3–5, heaven forbid 10 plus days to discuss. At that point, it’s too late. We need to handle these situations in real time with the right people to get you back on track. Our platform can allow an individual to do just that. Whether it is our prerecorded video content, continuous live stream schedule, or access to on-demand coaching within 24 hours, we can help those individuals successfully access the right information at the right time. We look forward to giving our customers what they need, precisely when THEY need it.

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

I found myself in a mental health crisis roughly 15 years ago, and a platform like this would have allowed me to become educated, informed, and connect to other individuals with real life experiences that might be like mine. Through this connection, I would have been able to alleviate some of the shame and stigma surrounding the panic attacks and debilitating anxiety that plagued my life for years. I would have also been a much more engaged, less stressed, and more productive employee. We can shift employees like myself that are going through these acute and non-acute conditions from struggling to thriving. Cadre has been developed to give individuals the tools they need, precisely when they need them, right in the palm of their hand. I am confident the Cadre platform will transform the wellness industry and make employees/employers that partner with Cadre the preeminent cultures of not only inclusion, but the best places to work. Providing healthy balance to each member of organizations, regardless of position, simply because they are human beings, and we all have problems. Let’s help each other solve for them.

How do you think this might change the world?

Burnout, stress, mental health challenges, quiet quitting, employee productivity, lack of engagement, side hustles, and even lack of applications for roles. This is real. This is our reality of the world we live in today. Cadre can help employers address some of these major obstacles with our educational, inspirational, motivational, and most importantly, individualized and customer-centric approach to wellness. Our entire team, yes, not only coaches, but tech, marketing, social media, go through a rigorous process and our vetted on our mission, vision, values and how each Cadre contributor, collaborator, creator, coach, employee, partner are aligned to support this in both their own personal and professional life, but ultimately the employees/employers and the customers we are privileged to work with every day. We take great pride in knowing and understanding the magnitude for the line of work we believe we are destined to do. We didn’t choose the work; our lives and our experiences drove us together to form Cadre. Cadre has the opportunity to change the world if our entire team lives, eats, and breathes the dynamic vision and intended pathways for all companies to follow. Simply put, for the world to see Cadre’s best, we need to be our best. This focus can then internally vibrate to each subscribing member, employee, business that works with Cadre. You will see firsthand the passion, energy, commitment, and inspirational stories and experiences our team has to connect with audiences of all race, ethnicity, demographics, and creed. Cadre will change the world to bring out each human being’s best in all areas of wellness.

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?

I read a stat that in 2007 the average screen time of a human being during the time they’re awake, was 17%. In 2022, the projected average screen time is 83%. Studies also show that the average American spends over 7 hours looking at a screen per day. That blows my mind. As a tech startup in the app space, of course the unintended consequence of what we’re doing is undeniably, more screen time. We understand this, but we want to rewrite the script to cultivate a healthy relationship with technology and time spent staring at screens. Think about your life and those around you. You go to work, you see people multitasking on multiple forms of social media, you go to events, and you still see people with their devices out. It’s crazy to think that 8 out of 10 hours are spent on screens, and some people might be spending even more than the average. It’s inevitable that the more technology progresses, the more time humans will spend on screens. We need to be a driving leader in appropriate, healthy, and inspirational screen time. The goal is to create a space for safe scrolling that serves consumers in a thought provoking and healing way. I consider Cadre a top thought leader when it comes to providing inspiring, timeless and authentic content. We are on a mission to be a change agent in the content space and deliver educational information that might ultimately provide life changing results. It’s my belief that conscious consumption is possible, and we want to show the world we’re making it possible.

Here is the main question for our discussion. Based on your experience and success, can you please share “Five things you need to know to successfully create technology that can make a positive social impact”?

Keep the big things the big things. What are your North stars? Never veer from those. If you stay hyper-focused on the right things, that process will bleed into your business, so you always deliver a clear, results-driven product.

Focus on the customer. We are a customer-centric company. If that means delaying strategies, desired launch dates, and big goals to make sure we get it right for our consumers, that’s what we’ll do. The customer is the number one priority.

Don’t divert from your mission. In this space where hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested for ROI, the most important thing for our business (as we hold true to our core values) is that we hold control over every decision that we make under our roof. We aren’t taking any outside investment dollars unlike so many out there, which gives us all the decision-making power and the ability to deliver on our promise of authenticity OUR way, on our timeline. Privacy will always be protected, and our customers will always know what to expect from us.

Be careful about partnerships and collaborative arrangements. We have strategically partnered with one large system with almost a million members that echoes our exact mission, vision and values; a match made in heaven. We’re also focused on mid-sized companies that share that same sentiment. It’s about our human experiences together before we even talk about the business relationship. Our goal is always to make sure we’re fully aligned with potential partners and their employees that they hold near and dear to their hearts. We have several beta-test groups that we’ve been privileged to work with before going to market, and the best part about that is the real-time, side-by-side growth we get to experience together. There’s nothing better than that.

Scaling. How can a company scale from one, to one thousand, to one hundred thousand to one million plus! It needs to be able to scale. We understand that this is a global problem. We have missed as a company if we’re not serving the masses. We’ve built our business for scale so we can serve millions of people. Each decision we make is critical to the overall social impact of all human beings regardless of who they are and what they’re going through. For your technology to do its job it must be able to find its way into the hands and hearts of the world.

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?

We live in a world where connectivity has become superficial, and I believe that needs to change. Some of my fondest memories have taken place growing up on the tennis bus. Playing cards, having deep dive conversations. Stopping at Davanni’s Pizza and joking around with friends. If you look around today and see groups of people, everyone’s looking at their phones and you don’t see the same kind of connectivity that I used to have. When you take steps toward bettering human connection and create tools to bring the world closer together, you’re creating a lasting legacy to connect people on a deeper level. I want to encourage our youth to work every day toward this kind of healthy connectivity to be a part of impactful change.

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. :-)

Jesse Itzler. He’s a hero of mine. I believe he is what is right in this world. He’s a father of four, built successful businesses and exudes passion that inspires the world to build your own life resume and ring the towel out every day. I watched a speech of his at Veecon and teared up not only with his emotional story and journey, but also fully understanding that I have so much more to give to this world.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Two-fold, by either downloading the platform and seeing my livestreams on the App, or by reading a couple blogs that show the vulnerable and authentic nature of my character. Feel free to check us out anytime at Cadre.io or @wecadre on all our social handles.

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

About The Interviewer: David Leichner is a veteran of the Israeli high-tech industry with significant experience in the areas of cyber and security, enterprise software and communications. At Cybellum, a leading provider of Product Security Lifecycle Management, David is responsible for creating and executing the marketing strategy and managing the global marketing team that forms the foundation for Cybellum’s product and market penetration. Prior to Cybellum, David was CMO at SQream and VP Sales and Marketing at endpoint protection vendor, Cynet. David is the Chairman of the Friends of Israel and Member of the Board of Trustees of the Jerusalem Technology College. He holds a BA in Information Systems Management and an MBA in International Business from the City University of New York.