Chip Conley

Sometimes we need to "repot" ourselves to flourish again. I call this "same seed, different soil." We have a blind spot for the wisdom we’ve cultivated in a company, in an industry, in a particular position or role. It’s often when you change the landscape that you start to see what value you can bring to a new habitat.

Yesterday, we celebrated a love bubble at The Phoenix hotel (my first hotel created 35 years ago). With more than a hundred MEA alums and friends, it was a lovely reminder of the importance of being part of a community with a shared ethos (and lots of masks with the party being all outdoors).

Wow, I’ve been looking for this particular report to help make sense of the angst of so many white-collar workers 45 years old and older. Highly recommend you go to this website and download the report.

I will never forget the birthday when my ex staged a surprise party at a circus school. Suddenly, I was thirty feet in the air with my friends cheering me on as my impatient teacher was nudging me off the platform for my very first flying trapeze solo. Talk about your liminal moment.

I had a recent conversation with someone one-third my age who was angry at Boomers like me for screwing up the world. While being cordial to me, she used all kinds of stereotypes to describe my generation, much like how many people my age typecast Gen Z.

I’m writing this on a Delta flight sitting next to an 80-year old woman. This woman smiles at me. I smile back and then, meekly, turn to my lap which isn’t all that interesting. Connecting with a stranger, randomly assigned to you in the air is a truly liminal experience, right?! Especially when you know you have three hours ahead of you.

Currently, we’re in a collective transition that may be more profound than anything I’ve seen in my life. People are quitting jobs and changing careers. They’re moving from their homes or apartments. Ending relationships. Taking up new spiritual interests.

I love this simple, 90-second artistic cartoon called Side Effects that amplifies the idea that the carers of the world need love and support, too. Enter Fido! Watch the video, and you'll understand.

I have a fetish for words (and people) that are making a comeback. Recently, I imagined that “conviviality” was one of those words. Ngram showed that it’s used three times as much today than it was forty years ago.

Ted and I have a thing goin’ on. I’m a binge-watch virgin. At 60, I’m embarrassed to write that. Didn’t really understand the phenomenon until way too many MEA alums said I needed to watch the Ted Lasso Apple+ comedy series featuring an American college football coach who becomes a British pro soccer/football coach.