"Listen to consumers, and innovate with them– not for them."
We are excited to bring you an exclusive interview with Brad Liski, a co-founder of Tru Earth, a company on a mission to save the planet by battling plastic pollution.
Raised with the principles of humility, kindness, and hard work, Brad grew up with a deep respect for nature. Alongside his co-founders, he built Tru Earth to eliminate plastic containers from household cleaning products and promote eco-friendly alternatives.
Since its inception, Tru Earth has gained over 1.2 million #TruChangeMakers worldwide, confirming the growing demand for environmentally conscious solutions.
With a focus on innovation and customer-centric approaches, Brad shares insights on his company’s achievements, like introducing dishwasher detergent tablets, preventing 107 million plastic containers from reaching landfills and oceans, and donating 25 million laundry eco-strips to those in need.
In this interview, Brad also discusses the importance of strong partnerships, listening to customers, and working alongside larger industry players for the greater good.
His dedication to disrupting the status quo and fostering a more sustainable future serves as an inspiration to business leaders and entrepreneurs everywhere.
Check out more interviews with entrepreneurs here.
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Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Brad Liski: Thank you for having me! I grew up in an area of Saskatchewan called Regina, in a family that had a deep respect for the natural environment. My father was a carpenter, a trade I followed briefly and still use as a way to relax.
We grew up spending a lot of time at a cabin that was ‘off the grid’ and allowed us to enjoy nature for all that it is–and here in Vancouver, it’s pretty splendid. I was raised with the principles of: ‘be humble, be kind, get the work done’ and I live by this credo every day and instill it in my own kids.
Tru Earth was built around the critical cause to make true lasting change that helps save the planet and one way we do this is by battling plastic. There is a serious issue of plastic pollution — billions of plastic containers are filling our landfills and oceans each year — and this motivated Ryan, Kevin, and myself – Tru Earth’s Co-Founders – to build the organization around the critical cause.
Our approach is to eliminate plastic containers from household cleaning products and through innovation, ensure they do not need to be created in the first place. This shift in consumer behavior requires education and an ongoing dialogue with our customers – our #TruChangeMakers.
To date, we have over 1.2M #TruChangeMakers around the world choosing household cleaning products that are better for the environment. This confirms what we believe: consumers want an easy and effective solution to cleaning their homes that is also eco-conscious.
In the past year, what is the greatest business achievement you’d like to celebrate with your team? Please share the details of that success.
Brad Liski: In the last year, we solidified our commitment to delivering cleaning products throughout the home when we entered the kitchen with our newest addition to our portfolio – Dishwasher Detergent Tablets with built-in rinse aid.
This dishwashing solution gives families another opportunity to further eliminate plastic containers in their homes without forgoing the effectiveness they expect and deserve from their cleaning products.
Another key success from this year I’d like to mention is our progress on our two corporate responsibility KPIs: by the number of plastic containers prevented from going into circulation and by the number of laundry eco-strips donated to organizations and populations in need. So far, our team eliminated 107 million plastic containers from landfills and oceans and donated 25 million laundry eco strips.
This was a huge milestone and shows the dedication of our #TruChangeMakers. While we honor this moment, we also recognize that there is still much more that needs to be done and we look forward to increasing our donations programs as we move forward.
What advice do you wish you received when you started your business journey and what do you intend on improving in the next quarter?
Brad Liski: Throughout my career, I’ve learned the importance of being in the room with smart people.
If you are the smartest person in the room, then you should probably change rooms! There are very intelligent people in the world and listening to their experience, mistakes and training can save you a great deal of pain and money.
This next quarter, we will continue innovating new offerings for the sake of the planet. We are constantly evolving to meet our customers’ needs and provide more solutions that foster an eco-friendly lifestyle.
At Tru Earth, we believe small hinges swing big, big doors, so if we can offer an additional way for consumers to take one small step towards a more sustainable future–we are winning.
Online business keeps on surging higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for the year to come and how are you capitalizing on the tidal wave?
Brad Liski: To capitalize on this wave, we are doubling down on our ecommerce business and prioritizing customer service.
A large percentage of our sales take place online and as we experience a growing demand for our products, we also recognize the responsibility we have to provide our customers with a seamless end-to-end experience.
At Tru Earth, we believe in the power of high-quality customer service, and its correlation to successful growth. For example, we encourage our #TruChangeMakers to populate online forums with their comments, compliments, and even occasional complaints.
By taking a non-judgemental, hands-off, and positive approach, we allow our customers to talk among themselves, which not only results in user-generated content that acts as its own marketing, but allows us to take their feedback and suggestions and implement them into our offerings.
We plan to further bolster this customer-centric approach to help develop new product lines and continue cultivating an even larger community of passionate and loyal customers.
Christopher Hitchens, an American journalist, is quoted as saying that “everyone has a book in them” Have you written a book? If so, please share with us details about it. If you haven’t, what book would you like to write and how would you like it to benefit the readers?
Brad Liski: Yes, I’ve written two books. My first book is a novel titled Clear the Mind for Success: Learning Meditation for Business. This book documents the journey of a high-stress business executive who embarks on a new path through meditation.
On this path, integrity and success are discovered as a winning combination. When writing it, my hope was to provide readers with a guided introduction into the power and potential of mediation for both business and life.
My second book, The Sales Refresher, explores why salespeople, like other professions, must continually reinforce and refresh the mastery of their fundamental skills to succeed and reach their highest potential.
The book’s purpose is to help Sales Professionals continually hone their skills, find new effective techniques or shift from aggressive win-at-any-cost sales to HELP-based selling with integrity.
2020, 2021, 2022 threw a lot of curve balls into businesses on a global scale. Based on the experience gleaned in the past years, how can businesses thrive in 2023? What lessons have you learned and what advice would you share?
Brad Liski: Tru Earth was born in April 2019, so like many other businesses, the pandemic quickly threw us a curveball and forced us to pivot and evolve–quickly. Through this, Tru Earth learned a great deal of lessons that have shaped us into who we are as an organization today:
– Create partnerships internally and externally that are a win-win for both. Internally, you need to ask yourself difficult questions that stretch your thinking and push the envelope. Externally, it’s important to cultivate partnerships where you each have a vested interest in each other’s success.
– Listen to consumers, and innovate with them–not for them. Often companies focus on giving customers what they think they want, instead of what they say they want – this is why we developed dishwasher detergent tablets, it was the number one ask from our customers. Social media is a powerful tool for learning what your consumers like or dislike. Critics often provide the best feedback. Listen and use that feedback to adjust.
– As a startup, work with–not against–the big guys. Tru Earth set out to disrupt the CPG industry, and is succeeding by working with—not against–large suppliers. Recognizing that you both have something to offer to consumers is important, so, find a way to use your strengths together to accomplish a larger goal.
What does “success” in the year to come mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Brad Liski: Success in 2023 means continuing to disrupt the “indisruptable” by introducing new offerings, systems and strategies that eliminate plastic from our supply chains–starting with consumer packaged goods–and foster a more eco-friendly society for both businesses and consumers.
This requires collaborating with large CPG suppliers, educating consumers, and advocating for accountability and policies that support these efforts. It will require bold action and stretch thinking–something I stress to my leadership team often. Be bold, go faster, stretch your thinking.
As business leaders, we need to continue innovating and exploring alternative models and systems to address climate change and this includes alternatives to plastics.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Brad Liski for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Brad Liski or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
Disclaimer: The ValiantCEO Community welcomes voices from many spheres on our open platform. We publish pieces as written by outside contributors with a wide range of opinions, which don’t necessarily reflect our own. Community stories are not commissioned by our editorial team and must meet our guidelines prior to being published.
