Here's a question for you.
What do you think about when you hear the word elder?
Well, if you're in your twenties and thirties, pretty safe bet you get a vision of somebody who's kind of old, decrepit in the waning years of their life and not in a place where they're sort of at their prime and offering incredible things to the world.
If you are in the middle years of your life, the word elder me kind of have an association with elderly and it may be a source of fear, something that you're trying to and fighting like crazy to avoid.
Well, my guest today, Chip Connelly, has written a book called wisdom at the making of a modern elder, which is really a reclamation of the word elder and the notion of what it means to be to serve the role of an elder in society, in business, in work and the incredible value.
And here's the kind of fascinating thing about that.
What is the age range that we think about when we think about this?
Well, one of the things that I explore with chip is the notion that we may be entering this phase of our lives way, way earlier than we thought and the wisdom that folks in their forties, fifties can bring to business, to work, to the world in a world that is increasingly fast paced, distracted, hyper focused on the small granular things, the wisdom and experience of decades on the planet, pattern recognition, astonishing experience, the ability to get the bigger picture, the holistic gist of things is increasingly valued in this world, but also the mindset that comes from playing the role of what Chip described as a mentor, somebody with incredible amounts to offer, but also who comes from a place that is not driven by attachment to accomplishment and ego in the past.
But curiosity is a critical thing in the conversation.
This is a wide ranging conversation.
Chip was the founder of Joie de Vibe Hotels, a huge boutique hotel chain that he built, grew for about 24 years and then sold before then taking on a strategic and advisory role at Airbnb, where he has had a huge impact on a company where he is twice the age of the average age person in that business.
We dive into all of this in today's conversation, really eye opening.
I learned a ton from it.
I'm excited to share it with you.
I'm Jonathan Fields and this is good life project.
So it's funny, I was trying to figure out when we first met, it was a while back now it's got.
To have been over a decade ago.
I don't really remember the context other than I always thought of you as a glowing guy, which is a funny thing.
I mean, no one's ever said that to me, but people have said it in other ways to me.
But the idea that you are someone who is not enlightened, but is aware enough about the importance of having something radiate inside of you to know that in a world that prizes what's external, that, you know, sometimes the greatest treasure is actually inside, and it's a matter of how do you allow it to radiate a little bit.