Episode 11

You Will Be a Cool and Relevant Elder – with Chip Conley

We’re living with five generations in the workplace for the first time. I like to think of it as an intergenerational potluck where we each bring to the table what we do best.”  -- Chip Conley, New York Times bestselling author 

In Episode 5, we talked about dealing with age at a tactical level.  In this episode, we blow up our assumptions about what it means to be “older” and talk about the cool things that may await you when you are an “elder.”  Michael is joined by the wise entrepreneur and bestselling author Chip Conley.  They discuss building careers of relevance and meaning at all stages of life – and it’s an episode full of golden nuggets.

Chip Conley is the hospitality maverick who helped Airbnb's founders turn their fast-growing tech start-up into a global hospitality brand.  He’s also the founder of the Modern Elder Academy. Chip and Michael discuss:

• Midlife relevance: Chip’s experience at Airbnb, where he was twice as old as the average employee

• Navigating career transitions: learning to cultivate and repurpose what you’ve learned

• Building intergenerational alliances where wisdom flows in both directions

• His latest entrepreneurial (ad)venture, The Modern Elder Academy

• Cultivating learning: what Chip has been writing in his “Wisdom Book” every week over the past 32 years

• Chip’s favorite book of all time and its central lesson

Here are links for Chip Conley and the Modern Elder Academy. Chip’s five books include Wisdom @Work: The Making of a Modern Elder, Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow, and Emotional Equations: Simple Steps for Creating Happiness + Success in Business + Life. 

Other books referenced in this episode by Chip and Michael are:

Carol Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

William Bridges, Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes

Bruce Feiler, Life Is in the Transitions:  Mastering Change at Any Age

Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

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