For the 118th episode of Burning Platform, we host Chip Conley, author of “Learning to love Midlife” and a founder of MEA (Modern Elder Academy). He defines midlife broadly as “from 35 to 75”. The common word association for midlife is “crisis” and he says that is a shame because life actually gets better with age.
He was an owner/operator of a chain of boutique hotels. After selling them he joined the much younger founders and execs at Airbnb in the formative stages of its explosive growth. They called him a ‘modern elder” – “as curious as he is wise”.
Building on those experiences, he started MEA – Modern Elder Academy which is dedicated to “reframing the concept of aging” and helps professionals get ‘unstuck” in their careers. “We have been around now for over six years, we've had 5000 People from 48 countries come to our Baja campus to go through our week long programs, and we now have a new campus in Santa Fe”
He walks through 12 nuggets from his book including the one below
“If you're a 63 year old man like me, and you hear that the average man in the United States dies at age 74, you might think I have 11 years left. But the truth is the average age of 74 includes everybody who might have died at age 10, 20, 30 or 50. So if you've gotten to 63, number one, you're in good shape, you will live longer than 74 as a man. Number two, depending on your socio economic background, the more educated you are, the more prosperous you are, the healthier you are, the longer you will live.”
It is a very optimistic perspective on the core of our workforce which falls into his definition of midlife “from 35 to 75”
We then talk about the bookends of the range. The aging or recently retired worker and how they are a relatively untapped talent resource. Next, we discuss the other end and the perception that they are entitled, disloyal workers
Lots of great thoughts about all 5 generations of employees in today’s workplace. HR folks in particular will benefit from what his thoughts on “reframing the concept of aging”
