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August – October 2016

Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington consistently appears in Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Women list. In 2007, she fainted from exhaustion,

a “painful wake-up call” that transformed her approach to work and wellbeing.

| Mary Appleton

Give sleep the respect it deserves

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON:

Arianna Huffingtonco-founder, president, and editor-in-chief, The Huffington Post Media Group

Arianna is also author of 15 books. She has been named in Time Magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people and the Forbes Most Powerful Women list.

huffingtonpost.com

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August – October 2016

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LEADERSHIP

The Big Interview - Arianna Huffington

LEADERSHIP

The Big Interview - Arianna Huffington

A turning point for the site, and for online media, came in 2012 when HuffPost contributor, David Wood, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting, making HuffPost the first commercially run US digital media enterprise to achieve this recognition. It sparked fierce debate in the wider media, which questioned the legitimacy of the site as a credible news outlet.

The woman behind the brand, Arianna Huffington, argued the accolade not only celebrated Wood’s “exemplary journalism” but her website’s “commitment to original reporting that affects both the national conversation and the lives of real people.”

Today, HuffPost publishes new content every day on subjects from politics to wellness, across 16 international editions. Huffington’s clear vision is to “build the leading global open platform and publisher, using every available tool and platform to inform, inspire, entertain and empower”.

Born in Greece in 1950, Huffington moved to the UK in 1966. She became a bestselling author at 23 with The Female Woman, and in 1994, entered the US spotlight as wife of Republican Michael Huffington during his unsuccessful Senate bid. In 2011, AOL acquired The Huffington Post for US$315m, with Huffington becoming editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post Media Group.

Despite unprecedented success, Huffington experienced her own turning point in 2007, when she fainted from sleep-deprivation and exhaustion, hit her head on a desk, and broke her cheekbone. This “painful wake-up

now, that relationship is in crisis. At the same time, our Golden Age of sleep science is revealing all the ways in which sleep plays a vital role in decision making, emotional intelligence, cognitive function and creativity. Not only is there no trade-off between living a well-rounded life and high performance, performance is actually improved when we include time for renewal.

Glamourising sleep deprivation is deeply embedded in our culture. Everywhere you turn, it’s celebrated, from “you snooze, you lose” to “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” But perhaps those who equate sleep with laziness or lack of dedication can be convinced otherwise by looking at the world of sport.

To professional athletes, sleep is not about spirituality, work-life balance, or even health and wellbeing; it’s about using every available tool to increase the chances of winning.

Take the Golden State Warriors’ Andre Iguodala. Early in his basketball career, he’d stay up late watching TV and wake early to hit the gym. When he turned 30, he told the Warriors’ director of performance he wanted to see a sleep specialist and started taking his relationship with sleep seriously. He banished electronic devices from his bedroom, started

call”, as she terms it, prompted her to focus on her own wellbeing and incited a desire to create boundaries and routines – starting by making sure she gets enough sleep…

How did your wake-up call influence your attitude to wellbeing?For years, I bought into our collective delusion that burnout is the price we pay for success.

When I had my wake-up call, I’d just returned home after taking my daughter Christina, then a junior in high school, on a tour of prospective colleges. We’d agreed that, during the days, I would not be on my BlackBerry. But each night we’d eat dinner late and get back to the hotel exhausted. Christina would go to sleep while I acted the sneaky teenager and stayed up late.

I’d respond to all the ‘urgent’ emails and attempt to squeeze a day’s work into what should have been sleep time. This would go on until about 3am, when I could no longer keep my eyes open. After three or four hours’ sleep, I’d be up for the day shift.

Work was more important than sleep to my 2007 self. Because, hey, I’m running a start-up; one that’s got my name on it. Clearly I’m indispensable, so I must work all night, responding to 100 emails, then writing a blog post, while being the perfect mother during the day. This way of living seemed to serve me well — until it didn’t.

From then on, I knew I had to make sleep a priority, starting with creating a mindful bedtime routine. I now treat my transition to sleep as a sacrosanct ritual.

Can sleep enhance performance?We share a common need for sleep and though this has been a constant throughout human history, our relationship with sleep has gone through ups and downs. Right

tracking his sleep and went to bed earlier. As he put it, “sleep good, feel good, play good”.

The results? His playing time increased by 12% and his three-point shot percentage more than doubled. His points per minute went up 29%, his free-throw percentage increased by 8.9%, and his turnovers went down 37%. He was named the most valuable player (MVP) for the 2015 NBA finals. Afterwards, he Instagrammed a picture of himself cradling the MVP award — while sleeping!

How has sleep improved your own performance?Once I started giving sleep the respect it deserves, my life improved in almost every way. Now, 95% of the time I get eight hours of sleep a night – and instead of waking up feeling I have to trudge through activities, I am joyful about the day’s possibilities. I’m better able to recognise red flags and rebound from setbacks. It’s like being dialled into a different channel with less static.

Did you expect The Huffington Post to grow into what it is today?Bringing together people from different parts of my life and facilitating interesting

Launched in 2005 as an online news platform, The Huffington Post was initially known for blogging and real-time news aggregation, providing a liberal outlook on the political landscape. The site now has 200 million unique monthly visitors and 100,000 contributors from politicians to celebrities and policy experts. The Duchess of Cambridge even featured as a guest editor earlier this year.

Our relationship with sleep is in crisis

Arianna Huffington’s bedtime ritual

First, I turn off my electronic devices and escort them out of my bedroom. Then, I take a hot bath

with Epsom Salts and a candle nearby. I don’t sleep in my workout

clothes as I used to (think of the mixed message that sends to our brains) but have pyjamas, nightdresses, even T-shirts dedicated to sleep. Sometimes I have a cup of camomile or lavender tea. I love

reading real, physical books – especially poetry and novels that have nothing to do with work.

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LEADERSHIP

Transparency

LEADERSHIP

The Big Interview – Arianna Huffington

conversations is in my Greek DNA. From the start, the point of The Huffington Post was to take the conversations found at water coolers and around dinner tables and open them up online.

What’s the secret to creating ‘followship’ among your people?In a climate of change, we’re constantly adapting and iterating, but stay true to our values of community and engagement. People want to work at HuffPost to tell the important and entertaining stories of our time while helping people tell their stories.

How has traditional media evolved in the past decade? A big part of the evolution is a rapidly expanding universe of platforms where people engage with news. The possibilities for meaningful connection have rapidly expanded too. The online world is a global conversation, with millions of people pulling up a seat at the table every day.

Are there any drawbacks?The ubiquity of technology and its addictive nature means we carry our work with us. Our

relationship with our devices is still in that honeymoon phase where we can’t get enough of each other. A 2015 survey showed that 71% of Americans sleep with, or next to, their smartphones.

So how are you responding?We use all the tools at our disposal to tell the most important and entertaining stories, and apply timeless skills of storytelling to our expanding universe of platforms. But we’re also relentlessly presenting to our readers multiple ways to disconnect from all platforms and to reconnect with loved ones — and themselves.

What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned?I’ve learned a great deal about failure and resilience. My mother used to tell

me “failure is not the opposite of success, it’s a stepping stone to success.” I believe we’re not put on Earth to accumulate victories and avoid failures, but to be sand-papered down until what’s left is who we truly are.

When we launched HuffPost , one reviewer said the movie equivalent of the site was “Gigli, Ishtar and Heaven’s Gate rolled into one”. A year later, when that same reviewer asked about blogging for HuffPost, I happily said yes; holding grudges is one of the most draining things you can do.

What would be your parting advice on achieving balance? Remember what we’re told on airplanes: “secure your own mask before helping others, even your child”. The better we are at taking care of ourselves, the more effective we’ll be in taking care of others.

FOOD: Grilled fish, fresh fruit, and over-steamed vegetables (that everybody else makes a face at).

BOOK: I love books that use the power of stories

to make us see the world differently. In the 1840s, long before he became prime minister, Benjamin Disraeli wanted to wake people to the plight of the British working class. His novel, Sybil, raised awareness, provoking

outrage, and leading to social reforms. Disraeli knew one of the most effective ways to touch people is through narrative – putting flesh and blood on data.

APP:  Headspace. Former Buddhist monk Andy Puddicombe created it to make mindfulness meditation easily available. We’ve made the app available free to all HuffPost employees.

WAY TO RELAX: A nap! I use my office

couch as our nap rooms at The Huffington Post are in high demand. I used to close the curtains of the glass wall in my office that looks out over the newsroom, but leaving them open sends a clear message that there’s no stigma attached to napping.

PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE BEEN GIVEN: “Don’t miss the moment” was one of my mother’s favourite sayings; it embodied the philosophy of her life.

transparency

ThepowerofIn an age of connectivity and openness, it’s no surprise that people want clarity, whether it’s in the political arena, their personal relationship or their job. Leaders from some of the most recognised companies on the planet explain why their organisations will always be transparent.

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August – October 2016

| Emily Sexton-Brown

Holding grudges is one of the most draining things you can do

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