Chip Conley

Thank you so much for your plentiful contributions of great books to read during this global pause. It was hard to select a top five given more than forty recommendations. So, here’s a top five along with an extended honorable mention list.

Uncertainty has never been on my guest list. He’s unpredictable and shows up whenever he wants. He’s also rude, ungrateful, and never offers to help with the dishes. Quite frankly, he takes up way too much space at the table.

“In time we will be given the opportunity to either contract around the old version of ourselves and our world—insular, self-interested and tribalistic—or understand the connectedness and commonality of all humans, everywhere.

Happy Cinco de Mayo! In this era of social media, a good brand can go south in a heartbeat. Remember, the cell phone video of a passenger forcibly being dragged through the aisle and removed from a plane because the airline was oversold.

You ought to be upset. That restaurant where your honey popped the question or the tavern where you and your friends watch Monday night football isn’t opening its doors again. And, it didn’t have to be this way.

British philosopher Bertrand Russell wore many hats: mathematician, historian, writer, essayist, social critic, political activist, and Nobel laureate. He wrote this piece of prose at age 81, 16 years before he passed away. I think you’ll find his thoughts on death illuminating. Maybe we ought to talk about death more often.

Welcome to Act 2 of 2020 as we’re now one-third of the way through the year. Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey suggests that the process of transformation has three phases which mirror the rites of passage in indigenous societies: departure from the past, the dramatic initiation phase, and the return to society but in a new role.

The only challenge with creating a Worldwide Association of Procrastinators is that no one would show up for the first meeting. And that’s assuming they scheduled the first meeting.

Poet and philosopher Maya Angelou is so respected that MEA’s first cohort is named after her. She once wrote, “Be angry. It is right to be angry. It is healthy!”

This is the fifth and last video in my Monday series of leadership lessons in a downturn. It may turn you upside down in terms of how you look at your life and the world. Hopefully, you’ll get a little chuckle from the short video including the surprise flying guest at the end.