Yahoo Finance Prince Harry Gets to Work! Find Out How the Queen Has Been Involved with His New Gig
Lee Morgan
Prince Harry has been rolling up his sleeves over the last year as Chief Impact Officer for BetterUp, and his work with the personal coach app company is already connecting back to the communities that have made him the man he is today.
On Monday, the Duke of Sussex released a new blog about his progress with BetterUp and his goals for his role with the company. Co-founders Alexi Robichaux and Eduardo Medina co-authored the post, kicking it off by announcing their decision to join the Pledge 1% movement and to donate 1% of BetterUp's equity, staff time, product and profit back to its employees' communities.
Harry, 37, expanded upon this commitment by laying out his intentions as CIO, writing, "Social impact is not some buzzword, secondary goal, or silo at the edges of our business — it's intrinsic to the work we do here at BetterUp. Our success as an organization is deeply dependent on the positive social change we can make in this world."
Underlining how he believes it's important to approach "training for mental fitness" just as consciously as we pursue physical well-being, he wrote that "having a support structure around you [is] critical to finding your own version of peak performance. The effects on the individual and the community around them are profound."
In line with his personal experience as a member of (and vocal advocate for) the military — as well as the company's goal to "reach a diverse audience in an equitable manner" — Harry shared that military service members (both active-duty and veterans) and first responders are among the core groups BetterUp seeks both to help with their products and employ as the company grows.
"Now more than ever, we need to not only better support our military community, but also learn from them: about what it means to prepare for the unknown, take care of one another, and build deep connections with people from backgrounds that are different from our own," he explained.
"Our commitment to this group goes well beyond purely financial means," he added. "BetterUp is committed to expanding recruitment in the veteran community so these individuals can become the future of our company, as well as creating new programs so veterans in our workforce can fully contribute their wealth and diversity of skills and experiences. Any of us would be lucky to have them."
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
Harry has been multitasking over the last several months — including a few months of parental leave since he, Meghan Markle and their 2-year-old son Archie welcomed baby Lilibet Diana into the family on June 4 (the future princess just turned 6 months old on Saturday!). And his work since joining BetterUp in March has already been productive as he's helped his new colleagues join forces with organizations close to his heart — and his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth.
"The impact of our mission is on a global scale," he wrote. "We saw it, for example, in our partnership with the Queen's Commonwealth Trust earlier this year, when 1,000 inspired young leaders across the Commonwealth gained tools for resilience and mental fitness that will be with them for life and will help to accelerate their impact on the world."
Robichaux and Medina had earlier shared that BetterUp provided these young leaders around the world free access to the app "so that they are better prepared for the pressures of becoming an entrepreneur, and so that their creative ideas can become reality."
The team-up with Queen Elizabeth's global program "is aimed at helping them build and strengthen their confidence, resilience, and mental fitness, so they can expand their work, have a better chance of their creative ideas becoming reality, and ultimately, help their organizations drive greater impact," wrote Robichaux and Medina.
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Harry and BetterUp admittedly have lofty hopes for their work with the military community and with the Queen's Commonwealth Trust.
"Our ambition is nothing short of improving the human condition," he wrote. "We envision a world where everyone has access to the support and care they need to thrive — personally and professionally."
