Chip Conley

Crisis and opportunity are two sides of the same coin. This past year, a series of crises have predominated. Yet, all kinds of trends - that were already gathering steam - have accelerated due to the pandemic. Here are five that I’m particularly intrigued by:

During my time at Airbnb, CEO Brian Chesky often called me Secretary of State. As evidenced in the short video below of Airbnb co-founder and Brian and me (and moderator Julie Hanna), Brian came to realize that he needed an “elder statesman” to be the bridge to many of the industries Airbnb was disrupting: hotels, landlords, convention meeting planners, destination marketing organizations.

“Who needs wisdom when we have such exquisite algorithms?” A young data scientist asked me this question when I was at Airbnb. I could tell he was half-serious, so I pulled out a pen and paper and drew this pyramid (if you know me well enough, you know I have “pyramid-envy”).

Thanks to those of you who’ve made the trek down to Baja to spend a few spacious weeks with us for Sabbatical Sessions. Fernando Vazquez made the trip from Mexico City and brought me a few books (much appreciated by this bookaholic who still hasn’t figured out how Amazon can deliver to our dusty street with no name) including this New York Times bestseller.

An adolescent with a pacifier. A young adult clinging to the nest. A mid-lifer with bulging lips and an unbudgeable, Botox-infused forehead. None of these are natural. But such is the way of life when you’re trapped in the ugly clenches of the ego.

Our lives are buckling with the stress of undue complexity. So are our organizations. For that matter, so is society. Truth be told, we face all kinds of gnarly problems that don’t seem simple to solve. It’s during these complex times when we need to get back to “first principles,” otherwise known as a basic proposition or assumption that cannot be deduced from any other proposition or assumption.

Life expectancy. Such a profound concept, even melancholic if you let it be. But, here’s the thing: the word not only speaks to how long we live, but how much we expect from life. In other words, it can be an empowering concept and one worth investigating. To that end, I want to introduce four insightful articles/studies and one question.

Spoiler alert: This book isn’t really about how to live forever. This is the Foreword I wrote for the paperback edition of Marc Freedman’s fabulous book that originally launched two years ago (paperback coming out in December).

I probably don’t need to tell you that this is a strange Thanksgiving. Far fewer of us are seeing family and friends today. Some of us will raise our glasses and share out thanks on Zoom or by phone. I thought it was a good time for a little emotional math.

We often get so preoccupied with age that we miss that mastery in front of our nose. Is she old enough to run that company? Is he young enough to be dating her?