Leading a company with purpose

While she first became well known for founding The Huffington Post, today Arianna Huffington is an authority on well-being and burnout and the author of 15 books. Huffington launched Thrive Global in 2016, a company dedicated to well-being that fuels productivity. Thrive’s clients include the likes of Walmart, Accenture, Paramount, Microsoft and Hilton.

At NRF 2024: Retail’s Big Show, Huffington, founder and CEO of Thrive Global, was joined by Carla Vernón, CEO of The Honest Company, and Signet Jewelers CEO Gina Drosos for a conversation about building a foundation of well-being and creating a culture where anyone can thrive.

“Retail is really stressful,” Huffington said. “We cannot promise anybody that you can have a stress-free existence, but we can promise that you can interrupt the stress cycle, so that it doesn’t become cumulative.”

Cumulative stress is the problem, she said. Two years after founding The Huffington Post, Huffington collapsed from exhaustion, sleep deprivation and burnout.

“I hit my head on my desk and broke my cheekbone. That was the beginning of my realizing that stress and burnout were actually global epidemics, not just my personal problem.” She started covering the topics on The Huffington Post and eventually founded Thrive Global.

Huffington said there are five foundational habits we can adopt to help fight cumulative stress: sleep, food, movement, stress management and connection. She called them “micro-steps” that can reinvigorate our lives.

“Micro-steps are small daily incremental steps that become healthier habits,” she said. “When we are more recharged, we are more creative and more productive.”

The importance of experience

Huffington asked Vernón, who was previously vice president of the consumables categories at Amazon and earlier held several leadership positions at General Mills, about her career path.

“You’ve said that success is not a straight line, but more of a Candyland maze game board,” Huffington said. “What did you mean by that and how did that game board take you to Honest?”

“I love a game,” Vernón said. “If you remember being a kid playing Candyland, sometimes it would send you backwards, right? And sometimes you’d get a shortcut and get to take a jump ahead. But it wasn’t a single path to your end goal.”

There were opportunities in her career, Vernón said, where she made a decision to take a job for the experience, rather than an “upwardly mobile” title.

“I feel like if you build up a supply of tools in the toolbox, later you get the chance to use them to build a full house,” she said.

‘Know better, do better’

Drosos also has had “an amazing career,” Huffington noted; she has more than 30 years of executive experience in consumer goods, personal care and health care, and previously served as group president of Procter & Gamble before moving to jewelry.

“I think Carla said it really well,” Drosos said. “I think acquiring experience is so important. The things I learned at Procter & Gamble were to focus on the consumer to really understand what he or she wanted.”

For instance, for skin care in different climates, different types of skin require different moisturizing. P&G met that need, “and it helped to grow the entire business,” she said. “I learned, which I think has been very important in retail, to listen to people on the front line and move quickly to keep an agility in the organization that allows you to respond when things change.”

Change they will, especially as consumers become more aware of the origins of the products they’re purchasing. A prominent player in responsible product development, The Honest Company has a list of 3,500 chemical materials it chooses not to use, referred to as the “NO List.” As the market evolves, though, the company must refine its story.

“The wonderful thing about the original thesis that Jessica and the founders of Honest Company had was that it was all about raising the standards continuously,” Vernón said. “We’ve now framed it as the ‘Honest Standard,’ and we make sure that’s a standard that is always moving in response to what we know. I love the saying, ‘Know better, do better.’ So, if the science changes, or if consumers become more picky, then our standard raises.”

The ‘no’ list

The executives also discussed their personal “no” lists, things they have removed — or at least attempted — from their lives in an attempt to preserve tranquility. Huffington led with a simple ban on phones in the bedroom. “It interrupts your sleep,” she said. “It has every project and every problem you’re dealing with. That’s my big ‘no.’”

“One that was always on my list was no traveling on my child’s birthday,” Drosos said. “I once missed presenting at a board meeting, which at that time in my career seemed quite scary. But having boundaries like that are important.”

Vernón agreed, sharing a mental framework she uses to help reinforce boundaries.

“If we don’t say no, it’s very hard to say yes to what matters.”

Thrive Global Founder and CEO Arianna Huffington

“I wrote a phrase for myself, which is ‘Just because you’re a solution to someone else’s problem, doesn’t mean they’re a solution to yours,’” she said.

It’s important to define what it is you’re trying to do, Vernón said — whether that’s charitable work, parenting, mentoring, career development or exercising regularly.

“Knowing what’s on my [yes] list helps me recognize, when something comes, where I say, ‘I know that’s an opportunity for you, but it’s not an opportunity for me. So, I’m going to say no.’”

“This is so important,” Huffington said. “If we don’t say no, it’s very hard to say yes to what matters.”