Yahoo Finance Everything you need to know about Prince Harry’s new job
Prince Harry has started a new job at San Francisco-based health tech start-up called BetterUp, in a move that comes a month after he and his wife Meghan finalised their split from the Royal Family.
The Duke of Sussex has snared a c-suite position at the company as ‘chief impact officer’ and says he hopes to elevate the importance of mental health through his work.
“What caught my attention about BetterUp was that the company’s mission to unlock the potential in people everywhere necessitates innovation, impact, and integrity,” Harry said in a blog post published by BetterUp.
“Their team has been delivering on that work for years. I was also impressed by the scale and opportunity for impact – the ability to change millions of people’s lives for the better, through a combination of human connection, leading technology, and behavioural science.”
The move also catapults the Silicon Valley start-up, estimated to be worth US$1.73 billion (AU$2.27 billion) to global status.
If you’ve never heard of BetterUp before, here’s a bit more about the company and what Harry will be doing.
What is BetterUp?
‘Career coaching firm’ is the most straightforward way to describe BetterUp, which was founded in 2013. But the company also sells itself on a crucial difference: it folds in new technology, such as artificial intelligence and behavioural science, into its “world-class coaching”.
The firm aims to improve people’s resilience, adaptability and effectiveness, and ultimately wants to help people live more “vibrant” lives with higher levels of purpose and passion.
It also doesn’t seem to have a hard focus on helping individuals climb the corporate ladder; rather, the focus is on personal growth.
“BetterUp isn’t just about thriving professionally. It’s about finding the kind of fulfillment that makes you want to bring your best to everything you do. We help members focus on what’s most important to them, whether it’s getting that next promotion or finding balance,” the website states.
The company lists its values as ‘courage’, ‘playfulness’, ‘empathy’, ‘craftspersonship’, ‘grit’ and ‘zest’, and says its services have led to 130 per cent increase in job performance, 97 per cent increase in ‘goal attainment’, but also 181 per cent improvement in focus, 149 per cent increase in resilience and 90 per cent reduction in stress.
In the blog post, Harry said he was a firm believer in unlocking potential within all people through “mental fitness”.
“Being attuned with your mind, and having a support structure around you, are critical to finding your own version of peak performance,” he said.
“What I’ve learned in my own life is the power of transforming pain into purpose.”
Drawing on his decade-long experience in the military, Harry said he realised building mental resilience was as necessary as physical resilience.
What will Prince Harry’s new job involve?
There will be four roles to his c-suite position as ‘chief impact officer’, he said: driving advocacy awareness for mental health; guiding BetterUp’s social mission and impact; influencing BetterUp’s vision; and expanding the firm’s global community of leaders, coaches and clients.
After meeting BetterUp CEO and co-founder Alexi Robichaux, Harry said it became clear they shared the same goal of “helping others realise their full potential”.
“As our conversations continued, it became even more clear that we hold a similar philosophy on mental health: that we must proactively take care of our minds.”
Who is BetterUp CEO Alexi Robichaux?
Before he co-founded BetterUp, Robichaux spent more than two years as product manager then head of product at California-based software firm SocialCast, which was later acquired by US cloud computing giant VMware.
Before that, he was partner and CEO at a management consulting firm during 2009 and 2010, and prior to that was a business insight officer at Walt Disney.
During his time at VMware, Robichaux “witnessed the changing relationship between employees and employers that’ll be key to future human flourishing and innovation”.
BetterUp appears to be an extension of his volunteer work as chairman of Youth Leadership America (YLA), another organisation that he co-founded in 2003.
YLA fosters leadership development and civic engagement in high school students, and has worked with blue chip companies like Google and Disney to develop and mentor young leaders.
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