How Kind World Collective Is Championing Purpose-Driven Recruiting To Build A Better World

The data over the last ten years is powerful, clear, and irrefutable: business can and should be leveraged as a powerful force for good. There’s also a growing movement of people seeking more depth and meaning in their professional lives. They want to play a critical role in helping purpose-led companies succeed, in turn, creating a kinder, cleaner, and more connected world for all. And so, this is the moment when Kind World Collective was born to help both mission-driven companies to match with purpose-driven talent and individuals to find an inspirational place to work and pursue their passion and “North star”.

I caught up with Tauna Dean, the positive, warm and inspiring Founder and Principal Recruiter at Kind World Collective to chat about what led her to start of this purpose-driving recruiting and consulting and how the company helps clients like Nordstrom, Unless and the Portland Trailblazers to create this kinder, cleaner and more connected world.

“Steve Jobs said, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward.” At this moment, I can finally see how all of the dots have serendipitously and wonderfully connected,” Dean said.

Dean launched her career in Social Work as a Case Manager for a Women’s Crisis Center where part of her role entailed helping survivors of domestic violence build financial independence by securing employment. Although she didn’t work in that role for very long, it was one of the most formative experiences of her personal and professional life. From there, she made the somewhat unexpected leap to the world of Corporate Recruiting – which took her on a 15-year adventure with adidas, from North America to Germany, ultimately building the brand’s first in-house Executive Search function.

After over a decade of leading Talent Acquisition for adidas, she yearned to get back to her roots in social impact and community work. In 2016, she was fortunate to land the opportunity to build another new function for adidas called Social Purpose. “My team was responsible for uncovering and galvanizing the collective energy of our 70,000-employee base to actively live our core belief: through sport we have the power to change lives. We focused on equity and access to sport as well as creating safe, sustainable, plastic free spaces to play,” Dean recollected.

The culmination of these experiences solidified her belief in the ever-growing movement of people seeking more depth, meaning, and purpose in their employment. Simultaneously, she had a front row seat to the evolution of brands, from start-ups to large global companies, who were waking up to the virtues of using business as a force for good. “These two seismic shifts in the overall business climate - and the opportunity to connect the dots between one’s purpose and one’s profession - was ultimately the catalyst for Kind World Collective,” Dean added.

We talked about what was missing in the recruitment space and how Kind World has addressed that. Dean explained, “There are thousands of incredible recruiting firms in the world, but there are only a handful of agencies that specifically focus on partnering with purpose-driven brands, whether that be in social impact, sustainability, ESG, DEIB, or beyond. On the candidate side, Kind World Collective represents the cultural architects, the climate activists, the athletes for change, the community builders, the guardians of our oceans and lands and all the brave new leaders who believe in being kind to our planet, kind to each other, and kind to ourselves.”

Kind World is also empathic to the unique needs of their mission-driven clients. She said, “On the client side, we are uniquely positioned to understand the exact needs of impact-focused businesses because not only are we experts in recruiting, we’ve also personally held some of the roles we’re recruiting for, which provides an insightful and empathetic lens for evaluating talent.” With that, Kind World is addressing this exciting and promising market opportunity by intentionally building a vast and diverse network of purpose-led talent, and, by actively partnering with companies whose purpose, mission, vision, and values offer an aspirational space for these individuals to do their best work.

I asked Dean if she saw many leaders and employees hungry for purpose in their work. Dean responded, “Definitely. We speak with people every week who are working towards building a career, and a life, of impact. Some of them have been in this space for 30+ years and others are just getting started. What’s abundantly clear from extensive research over the years, is that having a sense of purpose in your work is one of the biggest predictors of overall job satisfaction.”

She saw that more people are seeking to integrate “a North star” into the work they do every day, regardless of the industry or field they reside in. This emerging trend signals a sense of hope, optimism, and measurable change for the future of our people and our planet. “At Kind World Collective, we believe the intentional act of helping companies and employees find one another and thrive at the intersection of their “shared purpose” will be a major contributor to this positive trajectory,” she added.

We discussed how to match purpose-led leaders with mission driven companies. Although it may seem obvious, it always starts with listening. The last several months have been volatile and disorienting for many people affected by company-wide layoffs and reorganizations. “When a candidate comes to us seeking guidance, we welcome their stories, their vulnerabilities, and their hopes for a meaningful next chapter. We also customize our approach depending on the person’s maturation along “the purpose-journey”. Sometimes we’re uncovering a person’s “Ikigai” (the Japanese word for life purpose), or we’re delving into the Inner Development Goals framework, or we’re applying Justin Dillon’s challenge to “find your riot” from his wonderful book, a Selfish Plan to Change the World,” Dean elaborated. The human-centric application of these strategies shapes a recruiting process that’s compassionate, comprehensive, and fully aligned to helping candidates find the right mission-driven organization - whether it be a start-up, B-Corp, internal CSR/ESG/DEIB team, nonprofit/foundation, creative agencies for change, or other purpose-driven organizations.

I asked Dean for any advice she had for people who were looking to find more meaning in their work as they navigate their career. She instantly answered: “Let me start by saying that we believe this process is very personal, iterative, and ever-evolving. Knowing this, a great way to get started is to set aside 20 minutes in a comfortable place that you can be without distraction. Grab a pen and paper and write down the activities that you do make you feel good. They can be personal or professional. Don’t hold back, write it ALL down. Then, ask yourself this question: If you could make a positive impact by solving one problem in the world, what would it be? Write it down.” By evaluating and comparing both answers, you’re starting to explore the intersection between what you love and where you might contribute to the world. At this point, you will have taken the first step to understanding a new path towards purpose. “You’re essentially leveraging your talents, doing work that lights you up, and creatively and intentionally shaping the world for future generations,” she finally added.