Purpose Before Profit: Kate McAfoose Of Chang Robotics On the Benefits Of Running A Purpose-Driven Business
An Interview With Chad Silverstein
Establish your core values first. These will be the governing keys to your vision and to your decisions at every step, so choose the values carefully. Then declare them “out loud” as your commitment to uphold them in all situations. When you do this, everything that follows will be a fit for your mission and vision and will come to you far more smoothly.
In today’s competitive business landscape, the race for profits often takes center stage. However, there are some leaders who also prioritize a mission-driven purpose. They use their business to make a positive social impact and recognize that success isn’t only about making money. In this interview series, we are talking with some of these distinct leaders and I had the pleasure of interviewing Kate McAfoose.
Kate McAfoose, P.E., with 15 years of experience, serves as President of Chang Robotics, leveraging her expertise as both an engineer and a business executive. Some of her notable achievements include implementing a hospital robotic pilot in Jacksonville, aimed at saving time for nurses and reducing burnout, as well as spearheading the development of the world’s largest autonomous robotic system. Most recently, Kate has been honored as one of the top 40 business leaders under 40 by the Jacksonville Business Journal.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us your “Origin Story”? Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?
I grew up as the daughter of a registered nurse. I learned the importance of service to others, but also to the importance of hard work and industry, and of doing your very best. My very first job — at age 7 — was for my grandmother, who paid me $.05 for every dandelion I dug out of her yard, as long as I got the root along with it. I became a hard worker, but also a perfectionist who pays a lot of attention to detail. Now I apply these skills to an organization that is faith-centered and focused on people — both within our company and outside, to the youth groups, the missions and the other people and groups we can serve.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
I earned a degree in engineering from Syracuse University, which led to getting my professional engineering license. I love having a strong technology background. But I’ve also been blessed to gain relationships with strong mentors who’ve been very influential to me. It was through one of these relationships that I accepted the invitation to come and move to Jacksonville, Florida, and to make the transition to project management.
Through this transition I’ve learned that careers in technology can also be relationship based and highly focused on people. This has been essential to what I do with Chang Robotics. I recently had the chance to lead our team in the concept, design and installation of our first deployment of a robotic system in a healthcare facility, right here in Jacksonville. The focus of the deployment is to pilot a robotic system that will alleviate time requirements on nursing and other staff members by automating the delivery of materials directly to a patient room.
This project has been a great discovery. We’re using innovations in technology to make the highest possible impact on people — to improve their jobs, to increase their access to optimal sources of food and other vital resources, and to achieve their highest potential. This approach has also been helpful in creating the time to provide service to others.
We often learn the most from our mistakes. Can you share one that you made that turned out to be one of the most valuable lessons you’ve learned?
Early in my career, during a job interview, the person stopped in the middle of the interview and told me, “Stop trying to tell me what I want to hear and tell me the truth.” That experience taught me the importance of absolute authenticity. If the organization doesn’t like the real you, there is no point in trying to make it work. I didn’t get that job, but I’ve gotten an offer for every position I’ve interviewed for since.
As a successful leader, it’s clear that you uphold strong core values. I’m curious what are the most important principles you firmly stand by and refuse to compromise on. Can you share a few of them and explain why they hold such significance for you in your work and life?
On the whole, our organization is faith-based, with a strong belief in God. Our company holds a biblical worldview, which is the over-arching “why” for everything we do. But within that umbrella, we define our core values as follows:
- Generosity
- Diversity
- Mentorship
- Integrity
- Exceptional Accountability
- Innovative Thinking
For every project and every decision, we view the issues through the lens of these values, and when we do, the path becomes clear. This is authenticity in its purest form — we’re the same people and same organization at all times, and no matter who’s watching.
How has your company’s mission or purpose affected its overall success? Can you explain the methods or metrics you use to evaluate the impact of this purpose-driven strategy on your organization?
In addition to choosing impact-based projects, we are strongly committed to raising the entire business ecosystem along with us. This has been one of the single biggest factors in our decisions and in our success. We “tithe” 10 percent of our profit to other strong startups within our business space. Purpose-driven companies have a harder time getting financing, especially in their earliest stages. If we can help them with a portion of that early funding, they can grow stronger and can even become potential partners with us as they grow, which helps our own profitability as well as helping to make them profitable enough to invest a portion of their profits in helping other smaller organizations as well.
This means we need to focus on the highest innovations we can achieve that can bring about the biggest outcomes most quickly, to create the profits that allow us to afford the contributions we want to lead out in being able to make.
Can you share a pivotal moment when you realized that leading your purpose-driven company was actually making a significant impact? Can you share a specific example or story that deeply resonated with you personally?
The initiative to provide robotics to support the nurses in a health organization was pivotal. Through that work we realized that the nurses were needing to accomplish the equivalent of a 6K race in every one of their shifts. Our automation was able to take on the hard physical parts of their duties, which reduced their workload by a full 10 percent, making it possible for them to use that time for more direct interaction with their patients. As the daughter of a registered nurse, this resonated deeply with me — that we are making a significant difference beyond the products and services we create.
What advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs who wish to start a purpose-driven business?
I would advise you to welcome the collaboration and participation of others. Remember that perfection is the enemy of good. As a leader, it is impossible to execute everything yourself. As I’ve developed, I’ve had to learn to delegate and provide oversight instead of doing everything by myself. This is especially true of purpose-driven companies and initiatives. Your success will involve the participation of many team members and many organizational partners.
What are your “5 Things You Need to Create a Highly Successful Purpose-Driven Business?”
1. Establish your core values first. These will be the governing keys to your vision and to your decisions at every step, so choose the values carefully. Then declare them “out loud” as your commitment to uphold them in all situations. When you do this, everything that follows will be a fit for your mission and vision and will come to you far more smoothly.
2. Choose your employees and partners carefully. Be sure they share your commitments and values. This is more important than the established skills they bring to your organization. Skills can be taught, but core aptitude and character is something an individual should be able to bring to the table.
3. Foster an impeccable culture. This will be key to creating an organization that people will not want to leave. In four years of business, we’ve had only one person leave, and her reason was a good one — to fulfill a faith-based mission that was so fully in line with our own vision that we were happy for her, and we support her decision.
4. Manage personnel changes quickly. The statement about one bad apple spoiling the bushel is a true one. If you find a non-fit within your culture, make the needed shift quickly. Your team will be grateful, and you will have highest success if you recognize a wrong fit and help the person to find a better role elsewhere. We’ve only had to do this three times in our history, but we moved decisively and quickly, which proved to be essential for the ultimate good of all sides.
5. Remember that you are growing people as well as creating products. Let the organization be a growing experience for everybody involved. Your greatest future leaders may likely come from within. Their growth will help you as well as your team members, and the opportunities you’re providing will be one of the factors that will make them want to stay with your organization forever.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire 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 would invite everyone to join us in making investments in the most promising smaller startups in your industry sector. Many of us are familiar with the principle of being a “one percenter” — pledging one percent of your revenue, your product and your time and talent to charitable causes. But we’ve declared and are adhering to give a full 10 percent “tithe” of our profits to other smaller organizations in our sector, to help them succeed. We do this through the Jacksonville Venture Competition (JVC) in our own city. We’ve now hosted and run this event for two years and are making it an annual endeavor. And we make our investment into some of the promising smaller organizations that rise through that competition.
This is in addition to the personal time we allow for and that we offer to support the philanthropic and charitable causes we’re passionate about helping. We invite all to join us. Especially as a purpose-driven organization, this single step can be one of the most important parts of “walking the talk” that will help you to truly succeed.
How can our readers further follow your work or your company online
You can visit our website, ChangRobotics.ai. We work hard to make our site a resource center and a source of rich content that can inspire and motivate others, both in their businesses and organizations, but also in work-life balance and life. We also have a strong and active YouTube channel that you can follow as well.
This was great. Thanks for taking time for us to learn more about you and your business. We wish you continued success!
About the Interviewer: Chad Silverstein, a seasoned entrepreneur with over two decades of experience as the Founder and CEO of multiple companies. He launched Choice Recovery, Inc., a healthcare collection agency, while going to The Ohio State University, His team earned national recognition, twice being ranked as the #1 business to work for in Central Ohio. In 2018, Chad launched [re]start, a career development platform connecting thousands of individuals in collections with meaningful employment opportunities, He sold Choice Recovery on his 25th anniversary and in 2023, sold the majority interest in [re]start so he can focus his transition to Built to Lead as an Executive Leadership Coach. Learn more at www.chadsilverstein.com
Purpose Before Profit: Kate McAfoose Of Chang Robotics On the Benefits Of Running A Purpose-Driven… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.