Chip Conley

This David Whyte gem describes the holiday season, parenthood, and what it means to be a Modern Elder who is more focused on being interested than interesting. Just beyond yourself.

If I had one piece of advice to offer any leader, it’s this simple, but profound question you would pose to each of your direct reports, “How can I support you to do the best work of your life?” We live in worlds our questions create. This thoughtfully-conceived question can illuminate someone’s life path.

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr crafted this well-known and loved invocation during the Great Depression, and it’s become a touchstone of the global twelve-step community.

It was 1636, the Dutch Golden Age, and the recently introduced and fashionable tulip was all the rage. Prices for bulbs were bubbly...until they weren’t and “Tulip Mania” became the first recorded speculative bubble.

“Wholly unprepared, [we] embark upon the second half of life. Or are there perhaps colleges for forty-year-olds which prepare them for their coming life and its demands as the ordinary colleges introduce our young people to a knowledge of the world and of life?

What do you wish you'd known ten years ago that you know now? How does that inform what you need to know ten years from now? I live in Mexico but learned French as a kid. So, at 59, I’m taking three one-on-one Spanish classes every week I’m in Baja. I know I will regret it ten years from now if I don’t make the investment now.

It’s not a board game. It’s not a beauty contest. It’s not a costume party. You are a student of life. Choose your subjects wisely. You will receive a pop-quiz on occasion. Don’t prepare or memorize.

Between 1902 and 1908, poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote ten letters to nineteen-year-old Franz Kappus, who was attending Rilke’s alma mater and was similarly studying poetry. These letters offered counsel to Kappus on how to look at life through the eyes of an authentic, fearless, and searching poet.

I’m beginning to think I should have renamed my recent book, “Wisdom@Work: The Making of a Modern Elder,” with “How Boomers Boo-Boo With Millennials.” How often have we seen older workers lecture younger workers on how the world works? The irony is that nearly 70% of those in their mid-50s have a boss younger than them today.

Forget about retirement! Consider reinspirement. Based upon my past three years, mostly in Mexico, I heartily recommend an international destination as a new habitat for re-inspiration. It allows you to start fresh with a beginner’s mind, learn a new culture and a new language. Maybe even save some money. Here are my top ten spots for you to consider: