I have interviewed Chip Conley in a previous podcast about his book “Emotional Equations“, and I have alway appreciated his perspective as an author and thought leader.

In my interview with Chip about his new book entitled ” Wisdom@ Work” we explore what it is like to be a mentor and modern elder in a work environment at Airbnb which is mostly populated with workers in their 20’s and 30’s.  We all live in a world in which the accelerator seems to be stuck at full throttle, where the speed of our workplace has become difficult to navigate let alone make sense of.   As an elder in the workplace, Chip coaches people to take time to communicate and better understand one another.  He states “that for the first time we are seeing the power of intergenerational transfer of wisdom that flows in both directions. This offers the elder the opportunity to be raw again by being receptive to learning in a new way.”

Chip states that “Often an elder is brought into an organization to solve a problem in an area of domain expertise.  But just having them focus their mind on this area to the exclusion of anything else can be counterproductive to both the elder and the company.  I found that bringing a beginner’s mind to areas of the company where I was relatively clueless helped create a more catalytically curious company, and I was the occasional midwife to epiphanies in a few meetings. ”

Chip teaches four major lessons in “Wisdom@ Work” 1) Evolve 2) Learn 3) Collaborate 4) Console and if you want to learn more listen to our engaging and interesting interview together.  You can also check out the book website by clicking here or you can go to Chip’s website to learn more about Chip and his new book “Wisdom@ Work“.

Enjoy our interview together.