Without embracing wellbeing, we can never be truly successful and our bottom line will suffer, said Arianna Huffington today (March 11) during her keynote address at the IHRSA 2015 conference in Los Angeles.

Huffington - who remains president and editor-in-chief of Huffington Post Media Group, having sold the company to AOL for US$315m (€249m, £197m) in 2011 - took to the podium to produce an enlightening and often amusing keynote under the theme ‘Redefining Success: The Third Metric That Can Benefit Your Bottom Line.’

The Greek-born founder of The Huffington Post talked about the ‘third metric’ and her mantra for personal and professional success. Both are the subject of her latest book Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Happier Life.

Huffington’s third metric defines wellbeing, wonder, wisdom and willingness as its cornerstones. Society, she said, has become too obsessed with money and power as measures of success, but to only focus on these aspects “is like sitting on a two-legged stool, you will soon fall off.” Her own fall came in 2007, when Huffington collapsed in the office and woke in a pool of blood. “I asked myself ‘Is this really success?’” she reflected, adding that from that point forward she began her journey to the discovery of the third metric.

Huffington observed that a sea change in business is starting reflect the notion that wellbeing has a major impact on performance and ultimately – a company’s bottom line. “2014 was the year of CEOs coming out as meditators,” she said, noting that many of the world’s most powerful business leaders have recently partly attributed their success to meditation and a decent night’s sleep.

Huffington considers the health and wellbeing of her employees to be of paramount importance. As a result, she revealed, nap rooms have been installed at The Huffington Post and in the company’s New York offices, meditation, breathing and yoga classes have been introduced. The company also boasts a gym, and stocks the office fridges with healthy snacks such as yoghurt and fruit.

The path towards wellbeing needs to be taken at a gradual pace, Huffington believes, also advocating a sanguine approach to life itself.
“We feel the need to become much more relaxed about the challenges that arise every day,” she concluded. “What is amazing is that looking back on your life, some of your biggest heartaches lead to some of the best things that happen to you.”

- To read a Health Club Management interview with Arianna Huffington from the January 2015 edition, click here.

The full four-day IHRSA Convention runs from 11-14 March, while the Trade Show takes place on two days – Thursday 12 March and Friday 13 March.

Health Club Management will be on hand throughout IHRSA 2015, live reporting on the latest developments throughout the conference and posting them straight to the Health Club Management website. Head of news Jak Phillips will also be live-tweeting from the event, follow him on Twitter by clicking here.