No one is coming to save you. Don’t wait to be “inspired” just go, start, become.
Intoday’s fast-paced world, snacking has become an essential part of our daily routine. However, not all snacks are created equal, and many options available are unhealthy. Fortunately, there are companies dedicated to creating and promoting healthy snacks and treats that are not only delicious but also nutritious. As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Michael Lines, President and CEO of Wellness Natural Inc., makers of SimplyProtein.
Michael Lines brings 29 years’ experience in the natural and traditional consumer-packaged-goods industries. His areas of expertise include CEO, General Management, Global go-to-market sales, Brand strategy, Operations, Customer Marketing, and building amazing cultures and teams (his true passion).
Currently, as Founder, President & CEO of Wellness Natural Inc., makers of SimplyProtein protein-rich snack foods, Michael leads the SimplyProtein business in both North America and select international markets. Previously, Michael was General Manager, Simply Good Foods Canada Inc. including Simply Protein and Atkins. Prior senior roles also include Vice President and General Manager of Flow Water Inc., North America’s first social water brand, providing consumers with “mindful hydration,” Vice President, Global Sales & Marketing at Taste of Nature Foods Inc., and positions at Cadbury Plc, Canada Bread, Molson Canada, and Nabisco. Michael is also Chairman of Plant Based Foods of Canada and a member of the Advisory Committee of Food Health & Consumer Products of Canada.
Thank you so much for joining us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’?
Igrew up an only child and, from a young age, always had a fascination with business and athletics. I’ve lived on my own since I was 17, so I learned survival skills early and used sports and part-time jobs to keep me on a productive path. All of this was central to my developing both an entrepreneurial spirit, and an interest in nutrition.
Can you share with us the most interesting story from your career? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?
Early in my career I was very fortunate to be brought along by a current president of mine to a new company and promoted into a large role. I didn’t realize initially that it was too early and I wasn’t ready. But therein lies the gift of struggle and pressure. The role was in a complex category I’d never worked in, a team of over 250, many of which had 30+ years’ experience (I had 5), and to add to pressure, I had moved my young family. And if that wasn’t enough, in the first 90 days that I was there, we bought another company and I’d never worked on M&A. I was in this role for 5 years and gained 20 years of leadership learning. I came into the role thinking the business would be the complex part and the leadership would be the easy part.
Well, was I ever wrong. I tried to be the know-it-all and thought I needed to have all the answers. Culture was team meetings, telling everyone what they need to do, and listening to issues — that’s what leadership is right? Wrong. I received some really tough feedback that first year and embarked on what has now become a +20-year leadership growth journey. I learned that it all comes back to the team. Build a great team and a great culture, and the business results will follow. And, they did!
You are a successful leader. Which three-character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast” [Peter Drucker]. It’s so easy to focus only on the opportunity, the “number,” the “what” we need to do. Being clear on the “why” and how each opportunity or strategy fits into your vision is important. Inspiring the team to come along, own it, celebrate it. What your team is looking for from their time at work is changing dramatically. It’s not just enough to be empathetic and compassionate, you need to exercise deep listening, understand the role work plays holistically in your teams’ lives, and find your connection with them while maintaining clear accountability and expectations. Lastly, don’t try and own everything. Simple as when the team owns it, it’s so much more powerful and almost always produces a better result. Even though I learned my lesson the hard way per above, I still have to check in on this all the time. Today we really stay focused on our values and mission. We believe we are an “AND” culture, meaning we can have an awesome place to work with purpose and value AND deliver results. And we do!
Being hyper focused on the consumer while resisting at all junctures to becoming “big.” People get comfortable within a process, it’s often their security blanket, and as a result can lose the growth mindset necessary to succeed. I believe in a 70/30 principle — 70% of your plan will materialize and 30% we just don’t know and need to be open to moving off our plan. A lot of the time when our team feels we can’t do it, it’s completely our perception, and just biases grounded in discomfort and resistance to change. That said, having clear processes, agility, with role clarity is important…just don’t over-engineer, remain flexible.
“Success is a miserable teacher” [Bill Gates]. There’s no question that the best learning and growth comes from the struggles not from the wins. It’s undeniable in my view. We’re built to solve things, adapt to challenges, and pursue happiness. The pursuit is where the fun is and yeah, where the learning is too.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that might help people?
SimplyProtein is in the midst of our biggest year of innovation yet, with a series of “firsts” that I’m very proud of. Each new product connects back to our Mission: We will nourish people as if they are family, support the community like they are old friends, and take care of the planet like it was our backyard. I’m particularly excited about our first savory offering, protein-rich Restaurant-Style Tortilla Chips. This moves us into a whole new category of snacking, which opens up a lot of possibilities. And to know we’ve come up with an authentic tasting, and better-for-you option to such a classic favorite is incredibly gratifying. In addition to Tortilla, we’ve launched Baked Oat Bars, our first offering in the oat category; our first Ready-to-Drink Protein shakes; and Energy Bites, which is our first caffeinated snack.
We believe all of our products can help people make smarter, more nutritionally sound snacking choices — without having to compromise on great taste. Our intent is to make delicious, better-for-you products that people can feel good about feeding their families, while keeping our footprint on the planet as light as possible. To top off this amazing year, we’ve been recognized as a KeHE CARE Trade Partner, which signifies our company’s commitment to making the world a better place. We’re very proud to be included in this program
Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of our interview. What inspired you to focus on promoting healthy snacks and treats?
My interest in healthy snacks and treats started early — being on my own since I was 17 meant that I didn’t know a whole lot about healthy eating, and it was challenging. I started doing endurance sports, including an Ironman in 2004, and the nutrition options were so limited at that time. I needed to seek out more health-supportive food options, and it wasn’t easy. More holistic, healthy and nutritious eating was increasingly important to me, and I couldn’t help but notice the growth in the natural foods space, so many new products, some great, some not so great, plus a lot of confusing messages. As the years went on, in the various positions I held at different companies, I began to think about the kinds of innovative snack foods that were possible. Eventually, when the opportunity arose with SimplyProtein, I saw a chance to make a difference and bring some of my own dreams to life. So I assembled a group of like-minded people and we acquired the SimplyProtein brand to achieve that vision.
How do you ensure that your products remain both healthy and delicious?
It all starts with our Mission and consumer insights. Then, we put a great deal of care into every step of our product development process, including standards that we won’t waiver on, identifying the highest quality ingredients, acquiring the raw materials through trusted sources, and conducting ongoing research to ensure we’re on the right track with the flavor profiles and nutritional composition. We have a 200-person panel of loyal SimplyProtein fans we call the Fuel Lab and we run all our innovation and much more by them early in the development process. We invest a lot of time and effort to get it right. This process ties back to our company mission.
What are some things you have done to educate consumers about the nutritional benefits of your products?
The theme of our integrated marketing campaign is “Keep it Simplyfied.” We don’t have an ingredient list the length of my arm. We believe in simplifying things, it helps consumers to understand what they are consuming and make healthier choices and more often than not, it does keep it healthy(er). We use humor and real-life, relatable situations to convey that our snacks taste great while containing a balanced amount of plant-based protein, fat and carbs, and are made with minimal, high-quality ingredients.
Have you experienced any challenges in changing consumer perceptions about healthy snacks? How did you approach that?
We realize that the average consumer may be confused and overwhelmed by all the options and ingredients now available in the protein snacking space. We want our brand to help create clarity — to help people “Keep it Simplyfied” by offering a growing portfolio with products that are all nutritionally sound, made with few ingredients, that are plant-based, vegan, gluten-free…protein snacks that people can feel good about choosing for themselves and their families.
What are your ”5 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started”?
This is such a great question. What’s interesting to me is that not knowing these in the early days was in a way a gift. It presented challenges and struggles that in retrospect have helped me grow tremendously. That said, here are 5 that could be useful for some.
1. I was too focused on personal growth and changing jobs when in fact slowing down a bit would have helped.
2. 90% of the issues I had with my jobs, leaders, and cultures was me and not them. As Simon Sinek says “I’m the lowest common denominator in all my failed relationships.” I fundamentally agree with that.
3. No one is coming to save you. Don’t wait to be “inspired” just go, start, become.
4. Don’t always chase … attract. Creating the right energy, behavior, and surrounding yourself with much smarter people, while exercising deep listening, will make you desirable.
5. Do you follow your passion or do you follow what you’re good at? This is a difficult question. I recommend working on the Japanese concept of Ikigai (reason for being). It’s all about pursuing the things that give your life meaning and satisfaction.
In a constantly evolving industry, how do you stay ahead of trends to keep your offerings innovative and appealing?
We’re a small, fast-growing but mighty company that’s able to remain nimble, so we can bring products to market relatively quickly. We have assembled an outstanding team internally, and our partners share our sensibilities which enables us to react to trends in a timely way. We perpetually listen to our buyer and customer feedback, and we do our best to keep an eye on trends so we can anticipate where things are headed and react accordingly.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start 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. :-)
I’d love to work with teens as they embark on their journey into adulthood. It is a difficult time and many young adults don’t have strong mentors to guide and support them in this transition. Being able to provide access to teens to healthy food options to feed and nourish their bodies and also their minds and souls. But equally, I believe we, as a society can continue to learn from them, their challenges are not all the same as ours were growing up, and understanding this can help all of us be better humans to each other and the world around us.
What is the best way for our readers to continue to follow your work online?
Our website is SimplyProtein.com. Our Instagram is @SimplyProtein, and people can follow me on LinkedIn.
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent on this. We wish you only continued success.
About the Interviewer: Wanda Malhotra is a wellness entrepreneur, lifestyle journalist, and the CEO of Crunchy Mama Box, a mission-driven platform promoting conscious living. CMB empowers individuals with educational resources and vetted products to help them make informed choices. Passionate about social causes like environmental preservation and animal welfare, Wanda writes about clean beauty, wellness, nutrition, social impact and sustainability, simplifying wellness with curated resources. Join Wanda and the Crunchy Mama Box community in embracing a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle at CrunchyMamaBox.com.
