Josh and Brent, co-founders of Beekman 1802, have discovered the G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Time) key to success — success in community, in business, and in life: Kindness. Inspired by their goat farm in rural New York, they found a deep wisdom in this community. From turning their hobby of making goat milk soap at their kitchen table to a skincare company named Ulta’s Brand of the Year, they’ve made every decision through the lens of spreading kindness.

In the beginning, kindness was a non-negotiable simply because they were living a life true to their core values. But with time, they saw the incredible effects kindness had on their company’s success. Now, they want to spread the message of kindness and prove to businesses everywhere that it’s the missing ingredient in their recipe for success.

In this keynote, audiences will learn:
– How the power of kindness will skyrocket profits and create a culture that attracts top talent
– How to create a kindness curriculum and embed kindness into your company’s DNA
– The physiologic effects of kindness on a person’s mental health and wellbeing
– How to infuse kindness into your business to cause the greatest disruption of all

Josh and Brent have built a business around kindness. They used this core value to scale their company and become Ulta’s Brand of the Year. While putting kindness at the forefront has helped them reach great success in business, Dr. Brent Ridge says there’s more to kindness than just business success.

Brent uses his background as a physician to help companies, teams, and individuals understand the incredible health benefits of kindness. He spent years counseling patients on their diet and fitness to help them achieve greater health and wellness, but he believes we are missing a big piece of the puzzle. He sees how entire communities are shifting their values because of things like social media and poor work-life balance and he believes we need to view wellness in a more holistic way.

Kindness is the antidote to the disconnection and loneliness we see people of our modern time suffering from. He turns to scientific studies and research to show the physiologic effects of kindness on the individual’s health. Acts of kindness can reduce cortisol and increase dopamine and serotonin — all physiologic effects that are as important as the benefits from diet and exercise.

Brent is reshaping our view on mental health and kindness as it relates to us in our home and work life.

Beekman 1802 was born from creative resourcefulness. After both Josh and Brent were laid off from their big city jobs in New York, they decided a change of pace was necessary. They bought a farm in rural New York and looked for a new definition of success. When they came across a herd of goats looking for a home, they took them in with no expectations.

However, they realized these goats may help them in redefining success. They looked around at what they had and decided they could turn their surplus of goat’s milk into something bigger. Beekman 1802 started at their kitchen table, making soap out of something that would otherwise have been wasted. From there, it grew into a profound skincare line because of Josh and Brent’s creative problem-solving and innovation

Josh and Brent created a top skincare brand out of a goat farm. Their goat milk soaps were originally intended for themselves and their community. Their willingness to give to their neighbors, friends, and family turned them into entrepreneurs, and from there they built an incredibly successful business rooted in the same value that started them off: kindness.

They believe taking a home-grown hobby to a full-scale business requires a certain type of leader — a kind leader. From their past experience working as Vice President for Martha Stewart Omnimedia and authoring bestselling books, Josh and Brent knew kindness and leadership don’t always go hand-in-hand. In fact, they rarely do. So, they were determined to create a different kind of company with very different values.

Every decision made at Beekman 1802 is founded in kindness. They’ve used Brent’s background in science to create a kindness calculator that helps them weigh every decision and find the kindest outcome. As they scale and begin to transition from CEOs to more of figurehead roles they are instilling kindness throughout their company and fortifying it through kindness curriculum and training for all employees from c-suits to temps.

Before Beekman 1802 ever existed, co-founder Dr. Brent Ridge was a medical professional who dedicated his life to helping others. He studied medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Harvard University, Columbia University, and Mount Sinai. He was responsible for establishing the Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mount Sinai. Throughout his training, research, and fellowships his major focus has been on creating a better quality of life for everyone. This surfaced in his concentration on the genetics of aging, geriatric medicine, and how he viewed patient care. His most recent studies hone in on the impact of kindness on our mental and physiological health.

As a physician, Ridge sees a disparity in medical professionals’ goal to help people and the actual patient care that people receive. With helping others as his driving force, Ridge is out to revolutionize the patient experience by bringing kindness to the forefront within the medical industry. His belief that creating a kinder medical workforce will revolutionize patients’ health is rooted in his studies and research on the physiological impact of kindness. Quantifying and calculating kindness in a way never done before, Ridge can guide your team to help them create a better experience for their patients that will improve the overall health and wellbeing of patients.