Chip Conley - Becoming Modern Elders: From Midlife ‘Crisis’ to ‘Chrysalis’

In this episode of The Psychedelic Podcast, host Paul F. Austin welcomes Chip Conley, founder of the Modern Elder Academy, to discuss reframing aging and building regenerative communities.

Find episode links, summary, and transcript here: https://thethirdwave.co/podcast/episode-245-chip-conley/?ref=250

Chip delves into the importance of aging with gratitude in this conversation and shares his journey of creating a midlife wisdom school. Chip also highlights the value of intergenerational collaboration and its impact during his time at Airbnb. He explores how indigenous wisdom influences the academy's approach and discusses how psychedelics can aid in navigating midlife transitions. Finally, Chip shares his vision for regenerative communities, and shares lessons on the ego and the soul that he gleaned from building a boutique hotel chain.

Chip Conley:

Chip Conley is on a midlife mission. After disrupting the hospitality industry twice, first as the founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, the second-largest operator of boutique hotels in the U.S., and then as Airbnb’s Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy, leading a worldwide revolution in travel, Conley co-founded MEA (Modern Elder Academy) in January 2018 in Baja California, Mexico. Inspired by his experience of intergenerational mentoring as a ‘modern elder’ at Airbnb, where his guidance was instrumental to the company’s extraordinary transformation from fast-growing start-up to the world’s most valuable hospitality brand, MEA is the world's first ‘midlife wisdom school’ and has a campus opening on a 2,600-acre regenerative horse ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico in April 2024. Dedicated to reframing the concept of aging, MEA supports students to navigate midlife with a renewed sense of purpose and possibility. A New York Times bestselling author, Conley's seventh book "Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better with Age" is about rebranding midlife to help people understand the upside of this often-misunderstood life stage, and gave a 2023 TED talk on the "midlife chrysalis."

Highlights:

• The Origin story of the Modern Elder Academy
• Chip’s role at Airbnb and the value of intergenerational collaboration
• The Modern Elder Academy: Reframing Aging, Navigating Transitions, Cultivating Purpose, and Owning
• Wisdom
• How indigenous wisdom informs MEA’s approach
• Generativity & the importance of age diversity
• From 'can-do-it' hero to 'conduit' coach
• Burning Man, regeneration, and how psychedelics can help with midlif
• Building regenerative communities
• Lessons from building a boutique hotel chain

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