Prince Harry urges people to cope with ‘whatever life throws at them’

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Prince Harry has urged people to cope with ‘whatever life throws at them’ and become the ‘best version’ of themselves in his first motivational message for the mental health company that gave him a job. 

The Duke of Sussex was appointed ‘chief impact officer’ at mental health services business BetterUp by CEO Alexi Robichaux, who says his royal employee insists on everyone calling him Harry because they are all ‘partners’ in the business valued at $1.7billion. 

Now, the start-up has posted Harry’s first motivational message on its Instagram page. 

He said: ‘Self-optimisation is not about fixing something that’s broken. It’s about becoming the best version of ourselves with whatever life throws at us – someone who is ready for the next challenge and can meet setbacks with courage, confidence and self-awareness.’

Mr Robichaux also admitted last night that the press around the Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan Markle was a bonus for his company. 

‘It’s awesome. I mean, look, we’ll take the press, it certainly helps,’ he said. But was quick to add, ‘that’s not the driving motivation here.’ 

‘Prince Harry has been one of the the the fiercest advocates for mental wellness or mental fitness for many years,’ Robichaux said, citing Harry’s work for organizations like Head Fit, a service he launched in partnership with the U.K. Ministry of Defense.

 ‘This has been a big part of his personal life’s journey and his personal life’s mission.’ 

Robichaux said the role emerged out of months of conversations he and Harry had after they were introduced by an unnamed mutual friend who rightly thought the two thought alike.

‘There was a lot of energy and enthusiasm on both sides around this mission of how could we use technology, how could we use science, how could we use human experts to help people go through a personal growth and transformation journey?’ Robichaux said. ‘And so that was the start.’

The pandemic has kept him from meeting Harry in person, however, and that might not happen soon. The company, whose work deals in helping employees via text and video conference, is naturally friendly to working remotely even under normal circumstances, and that’s what Harry will primarily do.

The Duke of Sussex will not have an office at the company’s San Francisco headquarters or have employees who report directly to him, Robichaux said.

‘He will come into offices and attend company events, once that’s safe and things reopen,’ Robichaux said.

He said said he’s not worried about the practicalities of having a prince roaming the halls or appearing at meetings, and that he won’t use any royal titles. 

And he said while he’s technically Harry’s boss, he’s going to avoid that approach to the relationship.

“It’s funny, I never thought about it until this week when reporters have been asking me what it feels like,” he said. “I don’t think of it that way. I really think of him as a as a partner.”

It was revealed earlier that Harry had started his job at the Californian startup dubbed life coaching Tinder for millennials in January – but waited to announce it until after his Oprah interview was watched by tens of millions around the globe. 

The Duke will help to promote a wellness app used by corporate giants including Hilton, Facebook, NASA, confectionery giant Mars and oil firm Chevron to improve the wellbeing of their staff.

Harry, whose new role at the firm could command a seven-figure salary plus share options, was introduced to the BetterUp co-founder through unnamed mutual friend last year, and after they weighed up ‘four buckets of opportunities’, they agreed to start working together, Mr Robichaux said today. 

He said: ‘He’s been in the role for a couple of months, and we’re so excited to share the news with the world. We’re partners here, he likes to be called Harry in the workplace, so we just address him as Harry.’

Brand expert Mark Bukowski told MailOnline that timing the announcement for after the Oprah interview generated free publicity worth millions of dollars for the startup, and could help Harry cash in if he has shares in the business.

Tech-CEO Mr Robichaux, who likes to quote Einstein and Marcus Aurelius and once gave a presentation on his business to leading scientists and academics while wearing a spacesuit, told Sky News today: ‘We were just so impressed, and really I think there was such a natural chemistry and synergy around the insights and the contributions he can make creatively to BetterUp in ensuring that we achieve our mission.

‘Bigger than commercial success, this is about global impact, and so as we crafted the role together, those four buckets of opportunities, we came to the title ‘chief impact officer’, really denoting that he’s focused on our mission and he’s focused on ensuring that we’re doing everything we can to achieve our mission on a bigger and larger and grander scale to impact the lives of more people.’ 

He added: ‘He’s also helping to work on everything from product design to product strategy, to co-creating content and the experience for our members and helping with partnerships, like creating some new content for our users related to mental toughness and mental fitness as well.’ 

Harry’s first real job will see him spending time at the firm’s San Francisco office – when Covid-19 allows – where the prince can take part in weekly office yoga sessions, beat a punch bag when he’s frustrated or pet the office dog ‘Gordo’ when he’s concerned about his ‘wellness’. He can also bring his dogs Guy and Pula to work if he likes.

BetterUp also throws regular onesie-fancy dress parties for staff, including at Halloween – but if this gets too much for the prince he can relax using some of his five ‘inner work’ days a year – on top of his holiday days – to focus on ‘personalised growth’ by hiking in California, reading books or doing volunteer work.

His new office has sofas to flop on during a hard day and games to play when staff need a break, with one employee, Lily, saying the office was designed for both work and play. She said: ‘When one of us is flourishing, the whole team gets stronger. So every decision we made about what to put in the office had those baselines in mind’. 

Harry’s CEO, a devout Christian fluent in Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew, said he had experimented with therapy and life coaching in his twenties and the idea for BetterUp came to him while on a pilgrimage of self-reflection to Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain. His mantra is: ‘I don’t believe technology is the enemy when used right.’ 

Prince Harry announced his first job in the corporate world yesterday by revealing he had taken an executive position at a Silicon Valley start-up that claims to be worth $1.7billion. 

He announced another new job today – his second in 48 hours – as a celebrity commissioner fighting what he calls an ‘avalanche of misinformation’ in the digital world for an American study funded by a controversial billionaire whose website was blamed for helping wipe out newspapers.

The Duke of Sussex is joining the left-leaning Aspen Institute’s new Commission on Information Disorder in Washington DC along with 14 others including Kathryn Murdoch, the wife of Rupert Murdoch’s son James, who resigned from his father’s media empire last year.

His appointment came after he and his wife Meghan were accused of spreading misinformation about the Royal Family and why they quit in their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey this month.

The Aspen Institute is one of America’s best known, and best funded think tanks, drawing cash for research from rich donors and big businesses, including Facebook.

The organisation, whose HQ is a few blocks from the White House, looks at all areas of US life and says its mission is to build a ‘free, just, and equitable society’. But last year it was shamed after it was revealed its bosses accepted more than $8million in federal small-business funds during the pandemic – despite having a board of billionaire trustees and a $115million endowment. After a period of ‘reflection’, they handed the cash back.