Intergenerational Collaboration

Not all young adults were meant to be software developers. Some are better suited to be soft skills developers.

I said to friends long ago, "I know I'm on the right track with a new boutique hotel concept when the New York Times Travel section features an idea that's been locked in my head. Additionally, I know a wild business concept of mine is going mainstream when the Harvard Business Review (HBR) covers it."

After growing up watching both of my parents get pushed out of their corporate jobs at 50, I realized there was a larger trend where offices were becoming younger and younger while workers 50+ were moving into self-employment and often working from home in silos. The world as I knew it was becoming increasingly age segregated.

For 36 years I have had the great role of 'explorer of the human condition.’ And the only person I report to directly is my curiosity.

My transition into retirement started gradually, then was instantaneous. On March 13, 2020 I stopped going into the office—forever. Mind you, it’s not just “the office”, it’s the company I founded from a spare bedroom, leading since 2006. This leadership and success defined me, creating my personal brand.

Okay, I’ll admit it. I groaned at 49 and a half when I found my AARP membership card in the mail just two years before I joined Airbnb. AARP, Airbnb. They sound a lot alike, but they couldn’t be more different.

As I stepped into the Mission Church at Santa Clara University a few weeks ago to honor the life of a popular, long-time campus leader who passed away recently, I found myself swept up in a vivid memory of this splendid Bay Area college campus, the oldest in California.

"When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw." - Nelson Mandela, crusading against the Apartheid regime in South Africa.

Imagine a world where every child could speak weekly to a kind, caring and engaged older adult who is available to listen to them, and provide friendship and support. A world where a thriving community of older adults of every nationality come together with one purpose: to make the life of the next generation better.

Definition: "When a modern elder, who is as curious as they are wise, creates a catalytic effect on a team full of smart, focused, occasionally EQ-challenged young leaders."