• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Analysts expected oil to surge above $200 but China has quietly kept prices half of that—and can’t for much longer

2

Corporate America has been draining the world's water. Matt Damon's new campaign calls on Gap, Starbucks, and Amazon to help give it back

3

Marc Lore’s robots make 500 burrito bowls an hour. A human can make 45

1

Analysts expected oil to surge above $200 but China has quietly kept prices half of that—and can’t for much longer

2

Corporate America has been draining the world's water. Matt Damon's new campaign calls on Gap, Starbucks, and Amazon to help give it back

3

Marc Lore’s robots make 500 burrito bowls an hour. A human can make 45
Commentary

Arianna Huffington: The Way We Think About Health Is at an Inflection Point

By
Arianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Arianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington
Down Arrow Button Icon
April 2, 2019, 12:45 PM ET
The closing reception of last year's Fortune Brainstorm Health Conference in Laguna Niguel, Calif.
Stuart Isett—Fortune

At the very heart of this year’s Fortune Brainstorm Health conference that’s starting today in San Diego is the stress and burnout epidemic that’s eating up our health care system, forcing businesses to redefine how they think about employee well-being, and driving innovation to help people manage their own health. The evidence of the epidemic is all around us: About 90% of health care costs are related to preventable chronic diseases and mental health conditions and our life expectancy has fallen three years in a row.

According to a Gallup study, 87% of employees worldwide aren’t engaged at work. A survey by Harvard Medical School found that 96% of senior leaders reported feeling burned out. And stress is costing the U.S. economy $300 billion annually in sick time, disability, and job turnover.

Fortunately, this is changing. The workplace is in a state of profound transition right now. It’s not just about A.I. and automation but about rethinking how we work and the fundamental relationship between companies and their employees. More and more businesses are realizing that what is missing in the narrow and flawed definition of success is people and the very experiences that shape their lives—both at work and at home.

We’re seeing more companies giving back, improving their cultures, and answering a growing demand—especially by millennials and younger workers—for a more meaningful way of working.

While more companies are joining the conversation about putting people first, there’s a big difference between talking about well-being and being able to connect people’s actual experiences to the success of the company.

Right now, the way we think about health is at an inflection point. Consumers have an enormous amount of health data available to them. But that’s not enough: The question is what to do with it. So we’re seeing increasingly more companies devoted to helping consumers not just track and measure their lives but change their lives. Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience, A.I., and behavioral science, companies are developing new technology to empower people to increase habit change compliance.

It’s about helping people make small changes that will not only transform our health care system in a big picture sense, but empower individuals to build lasting, life-changing habits.

That means going upstream to address the root causes of the lifestyle conditions that are driving our health care crisis. And business leaders, more than ever before, are positioned to lead this conversation and bring upstream solutions to their employee populations.

During our “Going Upstream: Changing Behavior for Healthier Lives” panel, I’ll be speaking with Sleep Number CEO Shelly Ibach, P&G Development and Innovation Officer Kathleen B. Fish, and Evidation Health CEO Dr. Deborah Kilpatrick about how their companies are harnessing technology and data to deliver consumers products and experiences that drive meaningful behavior change and build habits to fuel a thriving life.

Since I founded Thrive Global in 2016 to end the epidemic of stress and burnout, it’s become ever more apparent that this epidemic is directly connected to a global mental well-being crisis. For more and more people, living a life of well-being, purpose, and meaningful connections is harder than ever before.

Against this backdrop, in our “Where Mental Health Meets Technology” panel, I’ll be speaking with Dr. Leanne Williams, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University; Catherine Price, author of How to Break Up With Your Phone; and Diesel Peltz, founder and CEO of Twenty, an app that encourages offline, real-world interactions with the people who matter to you most. Every one of us has a relationship with technology, which impacts every aspect of our lives, from our relationships to our sleep. When we’re intentional about how we use technology, we’re able to harness its incredible power for good—including by boosting our mental well-being.

As more companies join the conversation about well-being, important questions arise. What exactly is employee well-being? How does it translate to business performance? What does a metric of success based on employee well-being look like? Why are we focusing on it and to what end? In our “Corporate Makeovers: Reimagining Employee Health” panel, I’ll pose these questions to some of our most forward-thinking business and policy leaders: Jennifer Morgan, SAP executive board member and president of SAP Americas and Asia Pacific Japan; Marcie Frost, CEO of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System; Qualtrics co-founder Jared Smith; and Marvelle Sullivan Berchtold, who was instrumental in the JPMorgan Chase, Berkshire Hathaway, and Amazon health care joint venture to bring about fundamental changes in their employees’ health care.

And we’ll introduce the Thrive XM Index, a new project from SAP, Qualtrics, and Thrive Global enabling companies to unlock the actionable data that connects the people experience to business performance, and gain unprecedented insight into the experiences that actually shape employees’ lives.

This focus on experiences is a deeply human approach to business but it’s also deeply practical. It acknowledges and honors the fullness of our lives and taps into the bedrock of our shared experience, whether we’re CEOs or entry-level employees. Because no matter where we are in our careers, our lives have chapters and turns—some expected, some not. Life is not lived at one speed. In certain chapters we accelerate. In others we shift gears, guided by events and new perspectives.

Taken together, these conversations and many others during this very rich two-day program reflect a fundamental shift—and a giant leap forward—in our current definition of health. When we bring together the latest science and the accumulated wisdom of some of today’s most pioneering thinkers and leaders, we have an incredible opportunity to unlock our collective potential, lead healthier, more productive lives, and create a better world.

Arianna Huffington is the founder and CEO of Thrive Global.

About the Author
By Arianna Huffington
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Commentary

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Commentary

Three ways that Asia’s enterprises are adopting AI—and where they are falling behind
CommentaryOracle
Three ways that Asia’s enterprises are adopting AI—and where they are falling behind
By Garrett IlgJune 11, 2026
8 hours ago
gordon
CommentaryVenture Capital
Gordon Ritter: I predicted AI’s learning loop a decade ago. The doomers are still measuring the wrong thing
By Gordon RitterJune 11, 2026
17 hours ago
bessent
CommentarySocial Security
Social Security and Medicare are heading toward insolvency. Congress has 6 years to act
By Steve H. Hanke and David M. WalkerJune 11, 2026
19 hours ago
Digital sovereignty isn’t the same thing as digital isolation. Asia’s governments should be careful
Commentarydata sovereignty
Digital sovereignty isn’t the same thing as digital isolation. Asia’s governments should be careful
By Leonard LimJune 10, 2026
1 day ago
tim
CommentaryAirline industry
Merlin CTO: autonomy can rebuild the foundation of aviation — and national security
By Tim BurnsJune 9, 2026
3 days ago
dewar
CommentaryLeadership
I founded McKinsey’s CEO practice: Here’s why operational excellence is a liability right now
By Carolyn DewarJune 9, 2026
3 days ago

Most Popular

Analysts expected oil to surge above $200 but China has quietly kept prices half of that—and can’t for much longer
Energy
Analysts expected oil to surge above $200 but China has quietly kept prices half of that—and can’t for much longer
By Sasha RogelbergJune 10, 2026
1 day ago
Corporate America has been draining the world's water. Matt Damon's new campaign calls on Gap, Starbucks, and Amazon to help give it back
Environment
Corporate America has been draining the world's water. Matt Damon's new campaign calls on Gap, Starbucks, and Amazon to help give it back
By Catherina GioinoJune 9, 2026
3 days ago
Marc Lore’s robots make 500 burrito bowls an hour. A human can make 45
Innovation
Marc Lore’s robots make 500 burrito bowls an hour. A human can make 45
By Amanda GerutJune 9, 2026
2 days ago
Current price of oil as of June 11, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of June 11, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJune 11, 2026
16 hours ago
Costco CEO Ron Vachris rose from forklift driver to the C-suite without a college degree: ‘Don’t chase a title’ is the career advice that got him there
Success
Costco CEO Ron Vachris rose from forklift driver to the C-suite without a college degree: ‘Don’t chase a title’ is the career advice that got him there
By Preston ForeJune 8, 2026
4 days ago
Pentagon accuses Alibaba, Baidu and BYD, three of China's biggest companies, of supporting the Chinese military
Asia
Pentagon accuses Alibaba, Baidu and BYD, three of China's biggest companies, of supporting the Chinese military
By Kate O'Keeffe and BloombergJune 8, 2026
3 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.