In a bold step, Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington has stepped down from her position as editor-in-chief at the media site she founded 10 years ago to start a new business focused on wellness.
The new company, Thrive Global, is launching on 30 November and will provide science-based training, seminars, e-courses, coaching and ongoing support on wellbeing and productivity for companies and individuals around the world. Its lofty mission includes changing how people work and live and eliminating the idea that burning out is the necessary price for achieving success.
“All the latest science is conclusive that, in fact, not only is there no trade-off between living a well-rounded life and high performance, but performance is actually improved when we prioritise our health and wellbeing,” says Huffington. “It’s time to move from knowing what to do to actually doing it.”
The company has already been piloting its training and workshops with Accenture, a tech consultancy with a workforce of 375,000.
Thrive Global is collaborating with thought leaders including organisational psychologist Adam Grant and Wharton People Analytics to measure the impact of its services on employee retention, wellbeing and productivity, as well as organisational culture.
Other key partnerships are with sports medicine and training institute Altus for physical training; transcendental meditation teacher Bob Roth and the David Lynch Foundation (see SB15/1 p36) for meditation coaching; Sense by Hello for sleep education; and Thrive Market for food and nutrition.
Huffington and her sister Agapi Stassinopoulos have become regulars on the health and wellness speaking circuit in recent years, appearing at IHRSA and the Global Wellness Summit, respectively.
Huffington has also written two books about wellness.
“Since publishing Thrive and then The Sleep Revolution, I’ve dreamed of taking the next big step to help transform the way we work and live,” says Huffington. “Change is desperately needed if another generation is to avoid the burnout that all too often comes with success today. That’s why I’m filled with excitement at the prospect of devoting the rest of my life to accelerating the culture shift away from merely surviving and succeeding to thriving.”
