Purpose Before Profit: Kelly Lyndgaard Of Unshattered On The Benefits Of Running A Purpose-Driven Business
An Interview With Chad Silverstein
Don’t make yourself the hero. And that can be difficult because you get to be the one telling the story, the one being interviewed for articles like this. But it’s always the people that are being impacted by the work of the mission who are the heroes and the people that are investing in the work to make that possible through donations and purchasing that are the heroes.
In today’s competitive business landscape, the race for profits often takes center stage. However, there are some leaders who also prioritize a mission-driven purpose. They use their business to make a positive social impact and recognize that success isn’t only about making money. In this interview series, we are talking with some of these distinct leaders and I had the pleasure of interviewing Kelly Lyndgaard.
Kelly Lyndgaard is the Founder and CEO of Unshattered, a 501c3 nonprofit social enterprise whose mission is to end the addiction relapse cycle through ethical, sustainable fashion. A physicist and engineer by training, Kelly is now a nonprofit leader and thought-leader in the arena of post-addiction employment models.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us your “Origin Story”? Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?
I used to be the type of person who thought that people who struggled with addiction just needed to get their act together and get a job. — until I met a woman in recovery whose journey of addiction began at 8 years old. As I learned more about her journey, and that of other people who had struggled with addiction, it became clear that it started much earlier in people’s lives than I could imagine. For our team at Unshattered, the average age of first use is 11 years old. I got involved with volunteering at a local recovery program and quickly discovered what I call the Day 366 problem — what happens for women after they complete a year-long residential recovery program? They often lack job skills, education, and most importantly, a safe community. Most of the time, this leads to a very quick relapse, and often that leads to an overdose and death. At the time, I was an executive with IBM, but I knew that was a problem I had to address — and I knew I had the business skills to do it. I resigned from my career and started Unshattered with the mission of ending the addiction relapse cycle.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
We were invited to the White House to share our work because we were identified as having a leading model that is creative and effective in addressing the opioid crisis. We were recognized alongside Facebook, Amazon, Walgreens, Red Cross, and more for the work that we were doing. It was incredible to have that recognition alongside some incredible companies who were putting a lot of budget behind the problem. We may be a small organization but we have a really having an incredible track record and a method of approaching the relapse cycle — in nearly 8 years of employing women in recovery, we’ve had only a single relapse for our employees. And we’ve put nearly $2M into the hands of women in recovery through employment in a healing-centered community. We are changing the game for good for these women because we are investing in their personal AND professional development and giving them opportunities to grow and thrive and contribute at their highest level of success.
We often learn the most from our mistakes. Can you share one that you made that turned out to be one of the most valuable lessons you’ve learned?
I think the hardest lesson about this work is that we are not here to do it for them. We have to allow people to make choices and invite them into healing and growth — and then be OK that they do it at their own pace. We often say that we care FOR our team, but we don’t take care OF them. The resources and support are available, but they must choose to do the work. Our mission is to give them an opportunity to change the course of their lives, and sometimes people aren’t ready for that. Early on, there was a person that I let stay too long who really wasn’t interested in growth, and that was damaging to the organization. She got in the way of many other people who wanted to grow, and I regret that I didn’t step in sooner — I didn’t yet know that I couldn’t want it more for her than she wanted it for herself. I learned a lot from that about keeping our boundaries as an organization and supporting women as they move towards thriving and recovery, but also knowing that we’re there to support their choice of being well, but we can’t do it for them.
As a successful leader, it’s clear that you uphold strong core values. I’m curious what are the most important principles you firmly stand by and refuse to compromise on. Can you share a few of them and explain why they hold such significance for you in your work and life?
Believing in what is possible for people — that no matter what somebody’s background is or what their prior choices were, they have the opportunity to heal and grow and impact the world in a positive way. I am committed to allowing those who have lived experience in our organization to set the culture, to lead the team, and to name what support they need. While I bring the business skills and the ability to raise funds and social capital because of my prior experience, they are the experts on the journey of recovery. And so we will always listen to that voice and let them lead in ways that help shape our work.
What inspired you to start a purpose-driven business rather than a traditional for-profit enterprise? Can you share a personal story or experience that led you to prioritize social impact in your business?
I attended a women’s event that changed my perspective. That night I heard the story of a woman in recovery, which turned out to completely change my life. She had been eight years old at the time, raised by a single mom who was sick a lot. At eight years old, Emily was taking care of herself, her mom, and her brother. She had a 15-year-old neighbor who thought it would be funny to get an eight-year-old high. Not too long from there, she became homeless and addicted to drugs. I had no understanding of the problem of addiction, that it truly is a problem of pain, not a problem of substance. Shortly after, I left my career because I was witnessing this journey of recovery for women and just falling in love with how women work so hard to get well. But because they lack long-term support, education, and income, the statistics on relapse are terrible — some estimate that 80% or more relapse after completing a recovery program. I was watching women that I knew were talented and capable go home and relapse and die. I knew that there was a better solution. I’m proud to say that Unshattered is proving that it’s possible to end the addiction relapse cycle. Not only possible — it’s probable when women have support, employment, and community support.
Can you help articulate a few of the benefits of leading a purpose-driven business rather than a standard “plain vanilla” business?
Working in technology, I worked with some of the smartest minds and most amazing people in the world. But working with women who have experienced addiction and recovery is incredible. They are tenacious, creative, hardworking, and tenderhearted. These women have done a level of emotional labor that I will never have to do in my life. I have so much respect for how they have fought for wellness. Watching them be honest with one another when something doesn’t feel good, they’ll say, “Oh, I don’t like the way that sounded, can we talk about that?” and work out a resolution. When an issue comes up, we deal with it. It is the most amazing community of people who lean into one another instead of trying to outcompete one another. And I say all the time, I have never worked with a more incredible group of people than the women of Unshattered.
How has your company’s mission or purpose affected its overall success? Can you explain the methods or metrics you use to evaluate the impact of this purpose-driven strategy on your organization?
Our mission is to end the addiction relapse cycle for good. It is tempting for nonprofits or social enterprises to take quick or easy wins because that is how we are often measured. It can be easy to focus on boosting statistics instead of on long-lasting impact. But the reason that Unshattered exists is because I couldn’t find any other place where somebody was really solving the problem of addiction. Paving the road between sobriety and long-term success is long, slow work. It’s not cheap. But it’s a durable investment. We are solving the problem once, and for good. Our employment model is that we give 10% of everyone’s paid hours for things like therapeutic counseling, mentoring, education, and more. We invest about $25,000 a year over the course of two years to help a woman get to the point where she is thriving, where she has social capital to succeed, where she is contributing to the community, where she understands who she is, and what she’s capable of. Compare that to the data on the cost of incarceration, involvement in the justice system, homelessness, or the medical cost of dealing with addiction. New York City data says it’s over half a million dollars a year to incarcerate someone. That’s a huge number. But if you compare that cost of $50,000 that we invest over two years to change a woman’s life for good, we think we’re making a much better investment. And we’re proving that we can change the course of a woman’s life for good. And when we do, she turns around and changes the lives of her family, friends, and peers.
Can you share a pivotal moment when you realized that leading your purpose-driven company was actually making a significant impact? Can you share a specific example or story that deeply resonated with you personally?
Every time I talk to the women of our team, I’m reminded of the ways Unshattered is impacting their lives. For example, one of the women on our team, Amanda, comes from a background of ten years of heroin addiction. She was named one of our community’s 40-Under-40 Business Leaders. She is two semesters away from completing her college degree. She just bought a house. But most importantly, she’s showing her kids what is possible when you invest in yourself and work towards a goal. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had to see what’s possible when women in recovery are given resources and support.
Have you ever faced a situation where your commitment to your purpose and creating a positive social impact clashed with the profitability in your business? Have you ever been challenged by anyone on your team or have to make a tough decision that had a significant impact on finances? If so, how did you address and reconcile this conflict?
Every dollar that somebody spends or donates to Unshattered stays right here, helping us achieve that mission of ending the addiction relapse cycle. That does not make for a very efficient business if you look at it in terms of straight economics. But if you look at it in terms of social impact, we are getting a huge return on our investment. It is challenging in this Amazon-led world where everything’s on sale all the time, and consumers are trained to wait for the next big discount or Black Friday sale. We very rarely discount our product because your investment is not just in a premium handbag — it’s truly in the life of the woman who made that product.
All of our materials are donated fabrics and leathers, which means the cost of the bag is pretty much just the labor that it costs to make it — the wages paid directly to the women artisans in recovery. Because we’re investing in the personal and professional development of our women, people who carry those bags are Ambassadors of Possibility. They believe in what can happen for a woman when you help her with the resources to bring her life. And we don’t want to discount that.
What advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs who wish to start a purpose-driven business? What are your “5 Things You Need To Know I Order To Create A Highly Successful Purpose-Driven Business.”
1 . Be tenacious. This is long, slow, and difficult work.
2 . Have a good network and support system for the days when it gets tough. It will.
3 . Don’t make yourself the hero. And that can be difficult because you get to be the one telling the story, the one being interviewed for articles like this. But it’s always the people that are being impacted by the work of the mission who are the heroes and the people that are investing in the work to make that possible through donations and purchasing that are the heroes.
4 . Don’t confuse the impact of the organization with your own worth. Just like when good things happen, I don’t get to take credit for those — I also have to remind myself that when the tough things happen, that does not diminish my identity as well.
5 . Push the envelope. Most often, when I’m thinking about how to move forward on a challenge, I look back at my old career and I think, what would I have done there? And then I think, what’s the opposite? Often that’s the exact thing I need to change the game and move forward.
I’m interested in how you instill a strong sense of connection with your team. How do you nurture a culture where everyone feels connected to your mission? Could you share an example or story that showcases how your purpose has positively influenced or motivated people on your team to contribute?
I think it’s about prioritizing healing and community. We say that we are a healing-centered workplace community. Yes, we all have to get our jobs done. Yes, we need to be efficient and responsible with the way that we spend every single dollar. But, at the end of the day, our goal is to help women thrive, and so we spend a lot of time celebrating their successes.
For example, on Friday afternoons, we close out our week with our wrap-up meeting, where we spend a few minutes reading out any customer feedback we’ve gotten from on our website and social media during the week and celebrating reviews that we may have gotten. We reflect on what we learned during the week to make sure that those lessons stick and that we’re celebrating those achievements. Then we close with an activity called “point and call” where we point at a team member and name something we saw from them that week. It might be something like, “I saw you keep working on that problem when it was hard… I saw you take care of this thing that maybe nobody else noticed… I know you have been working to be more joyful, and I saw it in you this week.” Ending our week on that affirmation of one another and calling out the very best of each other helps us walk into the weekend remembering that the world believes in us and that we’re capable.
Imagine we’re sitting down together two years from now, looking back at your company’s last 24 months. What specific accomplishments would have to happen for you to be happy with your progress?
We purchased a building that we moved into on May 1 of this year. It needs lots of renovation to become a beautiful space where we can significantly increase the number of women that we’re serving, and the scale and strength of the programs that we’re offering. We have a major project in front of us to renovate this and enable us to serve more women, impact more lives and change people’s perception of what’s possible on the other side of addiction. If I could snap my finger two years from now, we would have had some incredible fundraising to help us transform this building into a space that prepares us to scale and grow as an organization. Every dollar we currently receive through purchases and donations helps us provide employment, therapy, education, support, and coaching for these women. And as we get the building renovated, we get to do more of that. There are women on the street right now, sticking a needle in their arm with no hope. But 2 years from now, I’d love to have the space to say yes to ending the addiction relapse cycle for as many of them as I can.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
It would be for people to become Ambassadors of Possibility — to understand and share what women are capable of when they have been healed from their pain, when they’re in a safe community, and when they believe in what they’re capable of. I believe that can change the world. This group of women is the most creative, tenacious, connected, caring group of people I have ever been around. If you’re going to survive a journey of addiction, you also have that skill set, and they do in spades. When you give them the skills and confidence to point that in the right direction, there’s nothing they can’t accomplish.
How can our readers further follow your work or your company online?
You can find us at unshattered.org, our website where you can shop or donate. You can also find us on social media at @unshatteredny.
This was great. Thanks for taking time for us to learn more about you and your business. We wish you continued success!
About the Interviewer: Chad Silverstein is a seasoned entrepreneur with 25+ years of experience as a Founder and CEO. While attending Ohio State University, he launched his first company, Choice Recovery, Inc., a nationally recognized healthcare collection agency — twice ranked the #1 workplace in Ohio. In 2013, he founded [re]start, helping thousands of people find meaningful career opportunities. After selling both companies, Chad shifted his focus to his true passion — leadership. Today, he coaches founders and CEOs at Built to Lead, advises Authority Magazine’s Thought Leader Incubator, and launched and leads an online leadership development community which can be downloaded for free for iOS and Android.
