Brian Chesky's secret mentor who died 9 times, started the Burning Man board, and built the world's first midlife wisdom school | Chip Conley (founder of MEA)

Let's paint a picture of just what it was like to join Airbnb in your fifties. I was mentoring Brian, but he was also my boss. I was 52, the average age was 26. I had to be both wise and curious, and often the dumbest person in the room. So it's great to be in founder mode. It's not as great to be working for someone in founder mode. Brian assumed everybody else. Pace and duration. His point of view is like hey, we're having a meeting in the office tonight at ten o'clock. You know, be there. I just said listen, let's get some older people who are hosts in here. This whole Story is a really good example of the value of having folks that are older. When you have older brains connecting the dots, younger team members being really fast and focused, it's brilliant. And people won't notice your wrinkles as much as they'll notice your energy. The Airbnb experience led you to starting something called the modern Elder Academy. So if you think about the caterpillar to butterfly journey, midlife is the Chrysalis. Midlife is not crisis. I'm happier today at 64 than I was at 47 when I was going through my flatline experience. Well let's back up a little bit. This near death experience.

Today, my guest is Chip Connolly. Chip is one of the most extraordinary and interesting people that you'll ever meet. He was a founding member of the board of Burning Man. He's on the board of the Esselent Institute in Big Sur. At twenty six, he started a hotel chain called Jwadaviv. Which went on to become the second largest boutique hotel chain in the US. After selling it, Brian Chesky personally recruit Chip to join Airbnb to help Brian and the company transform from a fast growing startup to the world's most valuable hospitality brand.

After leaving Airbnb, where he was known as the Modern Elder, Chip started the Modern Elder Academy, now known as MEA, the world's first midlife wisdom school, with large, sprawling, beautiful campuses in Baja and Santa Fe. He's also written seven books, given a TED talk, and is just a genuinely interesting and amazing human and friend. In our conversation, we explore how to be successful in tech as you age. What he's learned working with and for Brian Chesky, including a lot of real talk. How to build a great culture at your company, his near death experience, and how it changed the trajectory of his life.

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