THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
Prince Harry is to become chief impact officer at the US coaching and mental health firm, BetterUp, in the first of two new jobs announced.
It is his latest job move after he and the Duchess of Sussex stepped back as senior royals in March last year, and he has said in a statement that he was "really excited" about taking on the new role.
It also comes after the duke and Meghan gave an explosive interview to Oprah Winfrey earlier this month.
In his statement, Prince Harry said his goal in his new function would be to "lift up critical dialogues around mental health, build supportive and compassionate communities, and foster an environment for honest and vulnerable conversations".
In his role as the company's first chief impact officer, Prince Harry is expected to have input into initiatives including product strategy decisions and charitable contributions, and advocate publicly on topics related to mental health, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports.
Prince Harry will not manage employees or have people report directly to him, but he is likely to spend some time in the company's San Francisco headquarters once it is safe to do so, BetterUp CEO Alexi Robichaux told the WSJ.
Prince Harry said that when he met Mr. Robichaux, they "instantly recognized a shared passion for helping others realize their full potential".
The chief impact officer position is relatively rare in the corporate world, notes the WSJ - it is seen more commonly in non-profit organizations such as Amnesty International.
BetterUp, which was founded in 2013, provides mobile-based professional coaching, counseling, and mentorship.
The firm says it has some 2,000 coaches offering services in 49 languages in 66 countries.
Prince Harry has previously launched initiatives such as the Invictus Games, which aim for members of the armed forces to use sport for psychological and physical rehabilitation. He has also advocated publicly on mental health issues.
Prince Harry has said that in his new role as BetterUp's first Chief Impact Officer, he will "be focused on four key areas:
Prince Harry has announced another new job today - his second in 48 hours - as a celebrity commissioner for an American study into the 'avalanche of misinformation' in the digital world funded by a controversial billionaire blamed for wiping out newspapers.
Harry, who blames the press for emigrating to Los Angeles with his wife Meghan and son Archie, said in a statement today: 'As I've said, the experience of today's digital world has us inundated with an avalanche of misinformation, affecting our ability as individuals as well as societies to think clearly and truly understand the world we live in.
'It's my belief that this is a humanitarian issue and as such, it demands a multi-stakeholder response from advocacy voices, members of the media, academic researchers, and both government and civil society leaders. I'm eager to join this new Aspen commission and look forward to working on a solution-oriented approach to the information disorder crisis.'
Harry's role as a 'philanthropic leader' is part-time, and will involve regular meetings and joining him on the panel will be former Texas congressman Will Hurd, Sue Gordon, the former principal deputy director of national intelligence in the US, and Kathryn Murdoch, the co-founder and president of Quadrivium and daughter-in-law of billionaire media mogul Rupert.
The commission is being funded by billionaire entrepreneur Craig Newmark, who founded the Craigslist, a classified adverts website branded a 'cesspool' after it emerged hundreds of crimes were facilitated as a result of contact via the site, including women exploited in a growing 'sex for rent' scandal during the coronavirus pandemic. Craigslist has also been accused of wiping out newspapers by taking away the classified adverts they relied on to stay afloat.
