Ancient India has solutions for all our modern problems

India has a cure to the burnout epidemic spreading world-over, says Arianna Huffington, author and businesswoman who founded well-being and productivity platform Thrive Global. In India, for the formal launch of the productivity platform's operations in partnership with Times Bridge, a division of the Times Group, Huffington spoke about the future of digital media in an interview with ET's Surabhi Agarwal. Huffington, who is also on board of ride-hailing app Uber, spoke about at length about India's long tradition of ancient wisdom like Yoga, meditation and Vedas. Edited excerpts:

What are your plans for the Indian operation of Thrive Global?
We believe that India is key to our expansion. As I wrote in my open letter, India is the source of a lot of ancient wisdom that we are using in our behaviour change microsteps — all validated by modern science. So we believe that India has a lot of solutions to the modern problems — not just for India but for the whole world.


You talk of the ill effects of burnouts, stress, bad decisions. Were these a feature of the troubles at Uber also?
I joined the board of Uber in the spring of 2016, and it’s very clear that Uber, being an incredibly hyper growth company, also manifested the dangers of allowing the culture to be fuelled by burnout.

It had a hyper growth mentality that allowed employees to deliver results, (but) also exhibit bad behaviour and get away with it. So it should be a teachable moment for other entrepreneurs who think that they can just grow, fast and all will be well.

Do you think Uber is doing enough to fix its culture?
There are huge changes. I oversaw the committee that investigated what had happened. We adopted all 47 recommendations. They are either ahead of schedule or are being implemented right now. With SoftBank is coming in with a big investment, there are governance changes. There will be more independent directors. In fact, Rajeev Misra, (CEO of SoftBank’s $100-billion technology-focused Vision Fund) who is joining our board, is also joining the Uber board. So there is a lot happening that will bring about fundamental changes. So many powerful executives have lost their jobs. It is a clear deterrent to others by indicating zero tolerance. I call it the ‘no brilliant jerks allowed’ (strategy). That’s the way to deter bad behaviour.

You were one of the pioneers in digital media, which is now disrupting all forms of traditional media, how do you see the future?
It is pretty clear that no company can just be in print. Every company has to have a digital component. All the traditional advertising models are not really working anymore because of the social media. So there are going to be multiple business models, we are no longer looking at one business model or a cookie cutter solution.

Any plans to re-enter the media business?
This (Thrive Global) is a media business. It is just not covering politics, it is covering life which I think is right now more important than covering politics. The truth is that we are really led by a lot of politicians who don’t know how to govern themselves.

More wisdom and less stress is going to have a big indirect impact on politics because there is a direct connection between stress and burnout and bad decisions whether in media or in business.