In Your World is There Wisdom @ Work?
This is the perfect time for elders to make a comeback
By Rodger Dean Duncan
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“Brain drain” sounds like a terrible medical condition. But it’s actually a term used by economists referring to a country’s loss of its most educated and talented workers to other countries.
The term also applies to individual companies and even whole industries that struggle with managing their talent resources.
A related—and common—challenge is managing the balance between fresh recruits and more seasoned workers. We live in a world that venerates smart young entrepreneurial go-getters while savvy veterans often feel invisible and undervalued.
Chip Conley has a solution: help people in midlife repurpose their knowledge and embrace their mastery and value, then show them how to reboot their careers and inject fresh vitality into their lives.
Conley is living the very doctrine he preaches.
At age 26, he founded Joie de Vivre Hospitality and turned it into the second largest boutique hotel brand in the U.S. He sold his company in 2010 when he was 50. He felt a bit adrift, unsure what to do with his energy and ambition. Then he got a call from a young entrepreneur named Brian Chesky who had founded a home-sharing start-up called Airbnb. Today, at age 58, Conley is Strategic Advisor for Hospitality and Strategy at Airbnb and has helped turn that online marketplace into the world’s largest hospitality brand.
Conley says you don’t have to be on the other side of 50 to be concerned about your value in the marketplace. “The age at which we’re feeling self-consciously ‘old’ is creeping into some people’s 30s,” he says. “Power is cascading to the young in so many companies.”
To help others navigate their careers, Conley has written Wisdom @ Work: The Making of a Modern Elder.
“This is the perfect time for elders to make a comeback,” he says, “thanks to their ability to synthesize wise, empathetic solutions that no robot could ever imagine. In an era of machine intelligence, emotional intelligence and empathy—something older people have in spades—are more valuable than ever. The more high tech we become, the more high touch we desire.”
Conley says it’s time to liberate the term “elder” from the word “elderly.” That paradigm shift, he believes, can help transform the workplace. And he offers tips on how to avoid getting lost in a career cul-de-sac.
Rodger Dean Duncan: For today’s 30-something workers, life in their 60s and 70s may seem lightyears away. How can young professionals adopt a mindset that will serve them well several decades down the road?
Chip Conley: For the first time, we have five generations in the workplace so there’s a lot we can learn from each other. It’s almost like we have the ability to create an intergenerational potluck with everyone bringing to the feast what they do best. We’re seeing the end of the traditional “three-stage life” in which people learn till they’re 20-25, earn till they’re 65 and retire till they die. Instead, today we’ll see more and more people adopt a growth mindset in which they’re committed to life-long learning.
Duncan: Becoming an intern, you suggest, is a good way for people who feel “too old to evolve” to stay relevant. Can you give us an example?
Conley: As a way of staying relevant in an increasingly young and digital savvy industry, 71-year-old Doug McKinlay, an advertising professor at Brigham Young University, approached a friend at a Dallas-based ad agency, the Richards Group, about becoming a summer intern. The company paired Doug with a 25-year-old creative exec, with whom he quickly formed a symbiotic relationship. This benefitted both men, as well as the agency. Doug now suggests that all advertising professors work inside an agency every five to seven years to ensure they’re up-to-speed on what’s new in the industry.
Duncan: You suggest that workers undergo a periodic “identity cleanse.” What exactly is that and what’s its purpose?
Conley: Development psychologist Erik Erikson suggested that each of us has an “invariable core” or an “existential identity” that is an integration of the past, present and future.
An “identity cleanse” allows you to purge some of the baggage of your LinkedIn profile and become more conscious of what’s essential in your experience and history. Reserve at least a couple of hours for this exercise as well as find a place to do this where you won’t be disturbed or distracted.
I recommend doing this by yourself, but there’s some preparatory homework you could ask a minimum of a half-dozen co-workers, friends or family to complete. Ask them to answer the following, “When you think of me in good times and bad, what are the core qualities that I exhibit? What are the positive ones? And what are the more challenging ones?”
Before you read people’s answers, answer these questions yourself, being as candid as you can, knowing you don’t need to share this with anyone else. When in doubt, consider feedback you’ve gotten from past employee reviews. Make your list and then compare it with the answers you received from others. Can you identify your identity? What are the durable traits or qualities you want your reputation built upon? If you’re having a hard time determining them, think about when you feel most “in the flow” at work or what you’re doing when you easily lose track of time?
You’re probably experiencing some natural talent or aptitude. What habits or customs can you incorporate into your daily life that back-up this trait or quality? For example, if you like that your invariable core is recognizing and appreciating people, does it make sense to create a habit that you will privately recognize two people with specific feedback in person at least, on average, twice per day?
Duncan: Adopting a beginner’s mind is crucial to staying (or becoming more) relevant in the workplace. What are some helpful approaches to doing that?
