Creating the ‘Netflix of Health’ with CEO & Co-Founder of Champion Health, Harry Bliss #22
At the humble age of 27, Harry Bliss is a CEO revolutionising the health and wellbeing space, Co-Founding Champion Health in 2018. In the wake of the loss of his friend and mentor, Harry has set off on a mission which is changing and saving lives, revolutionising the offerings for employee health and wellbeing.
Speaking on his incredibly noble motivations, Harry shares the story that details his relationship with mental and physical health, the massive ambitions to achieve real positive impact, and shifting from a reactive to a proactive methodology.
TRIGGER WARNING - This episode of Extrology does contain conversations raising awareness around the sensitive topics of self-harm and suicide. If you or someone you know is in need of immediate support, Samaritans are available on 116 123.
Lee & Harry discuss:
The power of sport, and Harry’s appreciation of Freddie Flintoff’s mental resilience
Champion Health’s origins, and its focus on inclusive and accessible wellbeing
Harry’s hopes to achieve a greater impact than financial gain
How organisations can embrace a healthier culture around wellbeing
A growing focus and importance for self-compassion
Links & references:
Lee Cooper: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leecooperrecruiter/
Harry Bliss: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harry-bliss-44b479136/
Champion Health: https://www.linkedin.com/company/championhealth/
Get in touch: lee@extrology.com
Episode highlights:
“Sport really does teach you life lessons, such as how to lose, the fact that hard work pays off. All of these kinds of things that I've really looked to implement within Champion Health, I've really learned through sport I think.” - 7:35 - Harry Bliss
“I worked for the largest workplace health provider, and I just really was underwhelmed with what they were doing. They were making a lot of money without delivering value, and there's only so long that you can do that for, especially in this world.” - 11:10 - Harry Bliss
“I really want to be a household name that has an impact at the heart of it. That's the number one thing, we're always going to be mission driven. The fire in my belly is to help people and to have an impact, and that truly is the case.” - 17:00 - Harry Bliss
“We definitely see more demand for wellbeing services and wellbeing support which, if I'm being honest, the issues were there before COVID. We know that over 25% of the workforce are experiencing moderate to severe depressive symptoms or anxiety at any one time.” - 23:10 - Harry Bliss
“We need to focus on prevention at the heart of it. At one point in James's life, he wasn't struggling with his mental health. How could we have supported him at that stage, as well as when he slipped into crisis.” - 29:40 - Harry Bliss
“It’s so easy to just focus on a short term solution, and short term solutions in anything don't work, generally. Behavior change - and that's what we're talking about here, cultural change and behavior change - is a long term thing.” - 34:50 - Harry Bliss
“I think data driven decisions are really important. It's the old adage of what gets measured gets managed, and if you can't see something then there's no pain there, there's no real drive to measure it and to optimize it going forwards. So that's something we've worked really hard on as a team, to be able to measure well being.” - 41:00 - Harry Bliss
“I think hindsight is wonderful, but we wouldn't be in this position without the mistakes we made. We recruited experience rather than people that are going to drive value, and that was one thing we learned the hard way. ” - 52:10 - Harry Bliss
“Just do it, break things, and especially then just be fearless. I think I was slightly held back and reserved because I'd seen all these people with these grand titles. But actually, when it came down to it five years on, I've realized that titles don't really mean anything.” - 53:15 - Harry Bliss
Extrology is sponsored by Progresso Talent Partners who for more than 25 years have successfully delivered interim and permanent leadership talent to transform businesses and to hire the talent you need to enable your business to thrive: https://www.progressotalent.com/