Arianna Huffington

Written By BPOTeam Raysoft

Author, Syndicated Columnist, Businesswoman

Arianna-Huffington.jpg

“How do you support your employees to tap into their own resilience to improve their own physical immunity, reduce their levels of stress, fear, and anxiety? Because if you don't provide help with those elements, they're not going to be their most productive. And we are seeing in the new data that people are working longer, but being less productive.”

Summary

In this episode of Leadership Matters, Alan and his good friend Arianna Huffington talk about the behaviors of good leaders, including the prioritization of their mental and physical health. 

In this interview that she attributes much of her outlook on life to her Greek upbringing. She is the founder of the Huffington Post and left her role in the company to start Thrive Global after a health scare. She and Alan discuss the importance of leader and employee health for productivity and business longevity.

Mentions & Resources in this Episode

Guest Bio

Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington (born 1950) is a co-founder of The Huffington Post, the founder and CEO of Thrive Global, and the author of fifteen books. She has been named to Time Magazine's list of the world’s 100 most influential people and the Forbes Most Powerful Women list.

Cambridge where she earned a B.A. in economics. At 21, she became President of the University’s debating society, The Cambridge Union. Huffington serves on numerous boards, including Uber, Onex, and Global Citizen.

Her previous two books, Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder and The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time, both became instant international bestsellers.

Follow Ariana on Twitter and her website.

Clips from this Episode

Episode Transcription

Alan Fleischmann 

You are listening to Leadership Matters on Sirius XM Radio. I'm your host, Alan Fleischmann. I'm here with Arianna Huffington, my good friend, and we'll be talking about leadership, her journey, her counsel, her thoughts about what it's like to live and thrive in culture and in society, and really what her advice is for all of us. But more importantly, this is an opportunity to get to know a leader directly and her story. Arianna is the founder of the Huffington Post and the founder and CEO of Thrive Global, a platform dedicated to health, wellness, and changing the way we live and work. Arianna is the author of 15 books most recently Thrive in the Sleep Revolution and has been named to Time magazine's list of the world's 100 Most Influential People and the Forbes Most Powerful Women list, as well as Oprah Winfrey Super Soul 100 List of Visionaries and Influential Leaders. Originally from Greece, Arianna moved to England when she was 16 years old and graduated from Cambridge University with a master's in Economics. At 21, she became the president of the famed debating society, the Cambridge Union, the third woman and first non-British woman to do so. She serves on numerous boards, including, it used to be Uber, I don't think anymore. Onyx Corporation, Global Citizen, the Berggruen Institute, and the Center for Public Integrity. She was also on the JUST Capital board with me. I serve on the board with her. She's also one of the founders of JUST Capital. Ariana is also a One Young World counselor, speaking to delegates at the summit in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2013 and in Dublin, Ireland in 2014. About her third metric for success and the value of youth leadership. I'm so pleased to have you here today, virtually. We're not in the same studio, but my friend, I'm so glad to be with you and to have this conversation with you. You know, if there's one person I know in the world, who shows resilience and always sees around the corner, truly, and I get to work with leaders and CEOs every day, it's really you, Arianna. You have this ability through both the balance of perseverance and strength to also balance that with optimism. It's a pragmatic optimism which very few people have. You grew up in Greece. You studied in England. Did those cultures have any impact on how you lead and how you see the world, that optimism and pragmatism?

Arianna Huffington 

Well, Alan, first of all, thank you so much, it's great to be with you. I've really loved our friendship through the years. And I feel this is an amazing time to acknowledge both how hard and painful it is for millions of people here and around the world. But also how it can be a crucible. A time of very intense trial. Out of which we can build a better world than the one we're leaving behind. So it really is holding both realities at the same time. And that, to me, is why these times require.

Alan Fleischmann 

Do you feel like you draw on your Greek heritage? When I think of all the books—and I've read many of your books. I don't know if I've ever confessed I even read some of your original books way back when. I'm always inspired by the fact that there's a rigor to the intellect side of you and a vulnerability of the emotional side of you and you share both. Does that come from being Greek? With a bit of the passion and the love of history?

Arianna Huffington

I think definitely for Greeks kind of philosophy and looking at how do you live your life with more reflection is built into the DNA. And the Greeks adopt about what is a good life and I feel that this pandemic has forced us all to pause and ask ourselves these questions. And in a way, these hurried frenzy lives pre-pandemic we never had.

Alan Fleischmann 

And I guess right now, everyone wants to know what it's like to have a life that actually is one that has balance and frankly, has love it and purpose and passion. And I guess right now, a lot of those things are being challenges during this pandemic as well. And I guess we can talk a little bit maybe at the beginning about Thrive Global and how you got to this a little bit. When you look through your journey, mentioned some of the highlights, but there's so many more. And you've written so many books, and you've been out there advocating for so many things that are important. What are those milestones that you would love to mention that kind of are those foundational building blocks that got you to Thrive Global? And I then want to then talk about Thrive Global because I think that's important. What you're doing is pioneer work. And honestly, it's built on a lot of personal things as well that you've seen work.

Arianna Huffington

Well, I say that the most foundational element that got me here was actually, as often is the case, a very tough moment when I actually collapsed from exhaustion, burnout, and sleep deprivation, two years into building the Huffington Post. The divorced mother of two teenage daughters. You know what it's like having teenage daughters and I found myself breaking my cheekbone and going from an echocardiogram to a brain MRI to find out what was wrong with me. And at the end of this whole journey, being told that actually what I was suffering from was burnout. And that, as my doctor said, there's nothing the medical profession can do for you, you have to change the way you live and work. And that started me on my journey of finding out how much of an epidemic actually burnout was, even back then in 2007. Last spring, and the World Health Organization, acknowledged burnout as a medical workplace syndrome. So I started covering these issues at the Huffington Post. And by 2016, I decided I didn't want just to cover them and raise awareness. I also wanted to help people take action, to move from knowing what to do to actually doing it. And then so at Thrive, our priority is this behavior change platform we have built, which helps people take science-based micro-steps to improve different aspects of their health whether it’s around sleeping, or movement, or nutrition, our mental health habits. And in an integrated way approaching the whole human, rather than just a point solution around meditation or sleep or movement.

Alan Fleischmann 

What I love about it is that you build a platform, which I guess the best of what you did in Huffington Post around thought leadership, and then you've actually taken all this research and experience expertise, and you're bringing it actually, not only to people who are on the website or on your platform but also to businesses. You're culturally from top-down and bottom-up. What I understand when I think about the boards I work with and the C suite that I get to work with. And the employees I get to work with, the things around the watercooler are really about the things you're addressing. And in many cases, that has everything to do with building a culture and building a healthy environment. You're getting in there, right? You're kind of walking into these corridors of business and saying, Let me tell you what we know and I can help you transform. There are scientific things, there are cultural things, there are important best practices that can actually change the way we live and the way we work.

Arianna Huffington

Well, absolutely. Right now, we've gone beyond using culture as a sort of phrase. Culture eats strategy for lunch, and all those phrases we all grew up on. To recognizing that culture, and at the heart of which are people, actually has a huge impact on business metrics. And the work we're doing with corporations, multinationals like Accenture and Salesforce and JP Morgan and Bank of America and Walmart, is really based on what now has become more and more of a priority that the health and wellness of your employees is really intimately tied to the bottom line. And we're looking now as we as companies are planning their return to offices, schedules and they're focusing on How do you improve safety? How do you empower social distancing masks, etc? That they also need to address what is it that stops their employees from being productive? And that's where we come in. How do you support your employees to tap into their own resilience to improve their own physical immunity, reduce their levels of stress, fear, and anxiety? Because if you don't provide help with those elements, they're not going to be their most productive. And we are seeing in the new data that people are working longer, but being less productive.

Alan Fleischmann 

And you actually, during the whole COVID pandemic, you also announced, launched a big initiative, right, these are working from home in the new normal with SAP, which is a big deal, I imagine. Kind of underscoring what you've been doing before, but really giving people what you call Qualtrics?

Arianna Huffington

Qualtrics that SAP bought for $7 billion. Yeah, they launched working from home pals, to capture the experiences that were more stressful. And then we worked with them to provide micro-steps for solutions because that's our whole emphasis in every area. And then we launched another initiative around leadership, because we've worked with many leaders of these companies, and they're feeling particularly overwhelmed at the moment. And so giving them a new playbook of leadership. We've just completed a seven-day journey with the top HR leaders at Walmart, and it's really amazing to see the impact this has because when the leaders show up at their wisest and most compassionate and creative, it affects everybody else in the business.

Alan Fleischmann 

That's great. You know, you've held several leadership positions in every sector. What were some of the biggest, most significant leadership decisions that you've had to make? And was there a single tough decision that really stands out, that really kind of defines your leadership style and where you went on your journey?

Arianna Huffington

Oh, I think probably the toughest and most important decision I made is leaving, and The Huffington Post because it was like my third baby, I loved it. I still love it. It was a big global media success. And something compelled me to leave and start again, with a new startup, because that's where my passion was. And I feel very often, as we look at our lives, very often, many of us stay too long in something where we are successful because we kind of identify ourselves with that success and I know that a lot of my friends who've taken that risk to move on have actually found a lot of joy and creativity in the new chapter.

Alan Fleischmann 

It's exhilarating to take a risk and then and then prosper from it, thrive from it. And it makes you feel very alive. Those who don't do it atrophy often, but don't realize why it's happening. It's but it does take some courage to do so. You balance a lot. And you've obviously had good role models, I imagine. You have been a role model to so many. I know that as well. Who are your mentors? Who are the people that you've along the way have helped you? Who you go to for advice or help you along the way. I do know, by knowing your sister and you that your mother played an enormously positive role in your life. So I know there's that personal element of love and leadership, but besides your mom, I'd love to hear a little bit about who are the mentors that you've had on your journey too.

Arianna Huffington

Right now, I'm learning from a lot of people who've taught me different things. Ray Dalio has been a great friend, mentor, and investor in Thrive. And we are working with Bridgewater now the company he founded and their new CEO, Dave McCormick that you know well. On their culture, on their resilience, but also learning a lot from what they have built. And, in fact, they have assigned Dan Berry who was Ray’s right-hand person for many years in a one-year externship with us to help us as we are growing. And I’m learning a lot from many of the HR leaders we're working with. It's kind of an interesting time and when HR leaders are truly becoming the most important executive in a company as the CEO.

Alan Fleischmann 

In fact, they're very much involved with corporate communications internally. All the elements of you care most about it. You said earlier culture, but what you care most about really do fall out of their roles. That's changed dramatically in the last few years.

Arianna Huffington

Yes. Every day at Verizon, Hans, the CEO, stands next to or sits next to Chris Davis, CHRO, at all hands with the employees. In the past, they have been more used in moments of crisis, or milestone moments to have the CFO next to the CEO. But now, basically, companies are recognizing if they don't get health and wellness and the resilience of their employees, the bottom line of the business is affected.

Alan Fleischmann 

Now do we risk losing a lot of this progress in this area? I do worry about it—we've talked to talk about stakeholder capitalism. And there was such a movement started this last few years. You were a part of it. And how do you express what the most important priorities for a company or firm should be? And employees are ranked at the number one thing you have to really take care of. I worry about, as we're looking to the future and beyond this pandemic, and that will be beyond soon enough, that just because people will be so needing to focus on fiscal and financial and reporting that they might lose a little bit of this progress? I hope not. I hope that this generation that has called for it won't let that go by the wayside. But I'm sure you're feeling that the indispensability what you do is even more important today than before.

Arianna Huffington

Oh, yes. And also, what we're finding is that we are kind of recognizing that the way we talked about growing inequalities without really doing enough about it, is catching up with us now. Because the virus is disproportionately affecting communities of color, and communities where people have been left behind. And now that we see how interconnected we are, I think stakeholder capitalism, inclusive capitalism, all the fancy names we gave it is, I think, going to be much more at the forefront unless we continue to ignore the alarming signs.

Alan Fleischmann 

And the alarming signs if left on its own, create enormous challenges to us to kind of be the community that we aspire to be. We can't be what we say we want to be if we're not going to be taking care of our more vulnerable populations. And we see that now probably more than ever, but I do worry about it. I think it takes a lot of leaders to take risks. I am thrilled by companies that you and I call just. For the JUST Capital companies who were saying no to layoffs, in some cases, or they're saying that they're going to worry less about profit during this period. We're going to invest in community help. You know, there are extraordinary signs of leaders that you do highlight in your work. And obviously, you do inspire in your work as well. But I'm sure there's a challenge you want to make to others about that courage and the importance to get it right because people are tired.

Arianna Huffington

Well, I think it's kind of even bigger than that. I am writing a piece at the moment about a trip I took a few years ago to Pompeii. And it was kind of really interesting what happens to civilization is when they ignore warning signs. Because before Vesuvius exploded it then buried Pompeii under 60 feet of ash, they had plenty of signs. They had dogs running away and springs no longer flowing and white smoke belching from Vesuvius, but at the time we have writings that say these signs are not particularly alarming. So I feel in the same way we've been ignoring or minimizing a lot of alarming signs. Growing inequalities was one of them. And the skyrocketing increase of chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension. And the dramatic increase in the mental health crisis, depression and anxiety. We're seeing that all these are now disproportionately affecting the severity of those the virus strikes. You know, 94% of people like admitted in New York hospitals for the virus had pre-existing conditions. 94%. So we can no longer ignore these conditions, we can no longer assume we'll handle them at a later date. We have to handle them now. And these are really behavior changes that are needed.

Alan Fleischmann 

If you are giving advice, a lot of our listenership are leaders. And certainly, you can define leaders by those who actually have the responsibility and have people who work with them and are inspired by them as well. So they're Junior leaders as well. What bits of advice would you share on a personal level? And then what bits of advice would you want to share a little bit at the office even were all zooming right now and working from home? I know you talked about sleep, you talked about the importance of getting healthy, for your mental and emotional well-being,  not just for your physical well-being. Are there certain basic things you'd want to give advice to right now? And I've read your books, you share them in your books, and certainly, people should buy your books. But what would you suggest some of the things you want to share?

Arianna Huffington

I think the most important thing is in our new leadership playbook that we teach we call it, basically, put your own oxygen mask on first. Because especially in times of crisis, when leaders have to be creative, innovative look around corners, see the icebergs before they hit the Titanic, they can just power through exhaustion, power through burnout. Sure. In terms of maintenance, you can still do your job but these are not times of maintenance. And the first things that are sacrificed through exhaustion are creativity, empathy, and innovation. The very traits that they need right now. So prioritizing their own well-being, which is not a lengthy process. It's a mindset shift. I was talking to Ellyn Shook, the CHRO of Accenture and just by her making that mindset shift of going for a walk every day how long does that take? Not long at all. She noticed the difference in her decisions that leaders are valued depending on the quality of the decisions. And that's the first thing that’s sacrificed.

Alan Fleischmann 

Now, it's very true when you think about even in my own life when I often will say to a client or to a colleague if we can make it at this time, that's great. But if we can’t, I'll just accommodate. And then they've been the one hour that I had when I plan to take a walk or to do something or you know, or to catch up on some reading and things. So I got to get a little bit better at that myself. How's that? I will.

Arianna Huffington

I’ll be your accountability buddy.

Alan Fleischmann 

I love that.

Arianna Huffington

Let me know what else is on your mind.

Alan Fleischmann 

Well, no, I just think this has been great. Arianna, you are such an inspiration because of the fact that you—as I said at the very beginning of this interview, you are someone who redefines things. You don't let life define you, you define your journey. And that's hard. You also are someone who doesn't do it just for yourself. You do it for others as well. That's even harder sometimes. So when you think about who are the great leaders, I would argue, are the people who find their own purpose and redefine them and don't ever just get static and then realize that their purpose has to do with others as well. So the way you share your knowledge and the way you build a business that is built on sharing that knowledge is really amazing. It also reminds me of something that I've wanted to do for a long time is to take you on the road a little bit to have you meet some of these CEOs and heads of Human Resources who really should be talking to you and just talking to Thrive Global and do the kind of stuff that you're doing at Bridgewater and other places as well, which I will commit to that too.

Arianna Huffington

Wonderful. I look forward to a dialogue with you Alan. Thank you. Love to your family.

Alan Fleischmann 

I will too. Love to your whole family, to your beautiful daughters and to your beautiful sister. Thanks so much. Bye.

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