'Thrive' Book Party

Arianna Huffington has a number one New York Times bestseller with her new book Thrive. It is in many ways a very personal book and she writes that its catalyst was a fall she took brought about by exhaustion and lack of sleep. Now anyone following Huffington’s brilliant career and knowing how many things she is involved in couldn’t be in the least surprised that she suffers from a lack of sleep. No one would be able to do all the things she does and sleep too. My invitation to the book party came through a good friend Herbie Ziskend who now works with Huffington. As I said to Arianna when I got to meet her she is lucky to have him. Herbie is an incredibly smart young man who came to Washington with the Obama administration in 2008 and is now bringing all his knowledge and experience with him to the Huffington Post.

In the book Huffington talks about her mother and the advice she gave her to see the moment. To not always be looking to the future and striving for more so that you miss the moment you are living in. Good advice for anyone.

At the book party, which was held at the Jefferson Hotel, Huffington was introduced by Senator Al Franken who sounded more like the comedian than the Senator he is today and that was a good thing. He kidded Huffington that she was the only one who would find the antidote to exhaustion was to sign a new book contract. He also suggested that the speech she gave to the graduating class at Smith College may have been difficult for the graduates’ parents to hear. After all they had struggled to pay for their daughters’ education only to hear Huffington suggest there is more to life than business success.

Huffington in her comments reminded people that she had never heard a eulogy for anyone that sounded like their Linkedin profile. Paraphrasing her comments “Whoever in a eulogy reminded people that the person who had just died successfully increased revenue for their company for six straight quarters.” Everyone got the point.

In her speech to the Smith graduates Huffington “likened our drive for money and power to two legs of a three-legged stool. They may hold us up temporarily, but sooner or later we are going to topple over. We need a third leg.” Huffington calls that third leg the “Third Metric for defining success in order to live a healthy, balanced and meaningful life.” In the book she describes that third metric as “our well-being, our ability to draw on our intuition and inner wisdom, our sense of wonder, and our capacity for compassion and giving.”

Arianna Huffington is an amazing woman who has accomplished much in her life. Along with a very public personal life with all its headlines, she has raised two daughters and authored 14 books. She co-founded and is President of Huffington Post which today is one of the most influential media outlets around the world. It has given people like me an outlet to write about how we see the world and share our thoughts and ideas. I think everyone can get some good ideas on how to improve their lives from the pages of Thrive.