Kindness (and Nature) Still Rule for Justin Freeman

Our column “Brands With Soul” comes alive on September 30th at Street Fight LIVE 2025, when a panel that includes Justin Freeman, Managing Director at the KINDR Foundation, takes the stage.

As the search for retention of (human) talent becomes more important in the MULO (multi-location) ecosystem, company culture and leadership behaviors can make all the different in building the best team. Can profits and kindness co-exist? Read on and learn more about Justin Freeman!

What led you to KINDR?

“I loved KINDR from day one. Much of my work over the years has centered on building cultural sustainability within organizations. When employees have a clear sense of belonging, care and purpose where they work, turnover and absenteeism drop, productivity, innovation and collaboration increase, and customers win, as they are on the receiving end of service from people who reach them with genuine joy and care. KINDR’s focus on intentional kindness is a powerful lever that we can pull in our efforts towards cultural sustainability. The work we do truly creates win-win-win scenarios for staff, customers, and organizations.”

What cultural shifts have you seen within companies over the past five years?

“Not to bring up everybody’s favorite subject again, but the COVID pandemic really represented an inflection point for so many organizations. Acute stress and resource degradation are ‘cultural truth tellers’; that is, they expose our underlying strengths and hidden weaknesses.

We may do excellent work at visioning and formulating our values, and our companies may live up to those values quite well when times are good, but in the most challenging of circumstances, we see challenges that we otherwise previously were able to ignore. Similarly, for many employees, COVID provided a mirroring exercise, allowing them to pause and reflect on their priorities and how their daily work experience aligned with those priorities.

These two elements, the company cultural stress of Covid and the opportunity for individual employee reflection, have led to a workforce that, generally, is more aware of what they want from work, what they expect from culture, and the empowerment to press for those things, or leave when those needs are not met. This trend (which, I believe, is here to stay for this generation of employees) is starting to capture the attention of the C-suite and general management. Agile companies are thus leaning in with curiosity and action to reinforce their workplace cultures and build environments where employees love to stay, serve, and thrive.”

How do you define a “brand with soul?”

“Branding is ‘chocolate bars versus Easter bunnies.’I remember as a child receiving chocolate Easter bunnies in our baskets. When you’re 6 years old, there’s not much cooler in this world than an enormous animal-shaped chocolate. I remember the first time I ate one of those bunnies. I loved the chocolate, but I was shocked and disappointed that, when I bit into it, it was completely hollow! What a letdown! That’s the experience our customers can have with our brands, if we’re not careful.

We build a beautiful branding apparatus that includes brand standards, place-making, and cutting-edge design, and thoughtful product alignment. However, suppose we fall short in aligning our company culture in a way that fosters thriving, sustainable experiences for our team members. In that case, our customers may find their interactions with our brand to be a bit hollow and soulless. It looks great on the outside, but once you really experience it, there’s not much there. Brands with soul are solid through and through, like a chocolate bar. What you see on the outside lives up to what’s on the inside. There’s no illusion there. The brand values and expression are consistently delightful and consistent from the inside to the outside.”

What are you looking forward to most about Street Fight LIVE?

“I’m a constant learner. At every event, regardless of whether I’m on the stage or in the crowd, I’ve got my ears and eyes open. Street Fight LIVE is such an excellent opportunity to get so many thoughtful, curious industry leaders together in the same room to talk about how we communicate and connect with consumers across multi-location footprints.

As someone who sees the world largely through an organizational culture lens, I’m excited to see how leaders are wrestling with the opportunities we face in this ‘Phygital’ world. How do we leverage the increasingly integrated digital tools and platforms available to us to amplify and reinforce cultural sustainability in a way that drives engaging and moving customer experiences? I love that we get to explore that space together, and understand that, no matter our wealth of digital tools, at the end of the day, our most human experiences are always as we are…analog.”

What do you do outside of work?

“I love civic engagement and serve on a number of boards. When I’m not thinking about work or board service, my wife and I very much enjoy exploring the outdoors. We’re fortunate to call the Pacific Northwest home, where we have a bounty of waterfalls, forests, mountains, and coastline within a few hours’ drive. Getting out and enjoying that environment is always a thrill, be it through skiing, river paddleboarding, trail running, hiking, or just sitting out in a dark area at night and watching the stars. Nature is a great equalizer and reset button for a full professional life!”

We invite you to join us and meet Justin Freeman (as well as leaders from companies like FAT Brands, Neighborly, TikTok and Yext)  at  Street Fight LIVE 2025 , September 30th in Los Angeles.