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Chip Conley

Entrepreneur

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​​Chip Conley joined the tiny tech start-up Airbnb nearly a decade ago after a successful career as a boutique hotel company founder and CEO. Twice the age of the average Airbnb employee, he earned the title “Airbnb’s Modern Elder.” As the internal mentor to the young Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, Chip got to see the value of intergenerational collaboration in a company that has now grown to be the most valuable hospitality company in the world. His bestselling book Wisdom@Work: The Making of a Modern Elder is a testament to rethinking the value of having 5 generations in the workplace and why more companies are doing their best to encourage their older workers to stay in the workplace longer. Chip’s Modern Elder Academy has more than 2,000 alums who’ve come to the Mexican beachfront campus and MEA will be opening two campuses in Santa Fe, New Mexico soon.

“I think it’s time for us to reimagine education and disrupt it. Research shows that around 45 to 50, we have our lowest point of happiness in life, but it’s not necessarily a crisis as much as it is a midlife calling.”

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