Intergenerational Collaboration

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.

Following up Jeff Hamaoui’s post from yesterday: “Zach. Why are you going surfing? There are no waves… you’re being dumb,” my dad’s voice carried into the garage that early Saturday morning in March. As I strapped my surfboard to the car roof, I called down the garage stairs to him, “I just… have to.

I am writing this on Thanksgiving day. Thinking about gratitude and some of the people in my life. I wanted to share a particularly unexpected friendship I have developed over the last 7 years. Life has a curious origami to it. Ways of folding in on itself, finding unexpected edges and if you are lucky revealing an unprecedented shape.

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).

As schools struggle with the decision to reopen amidst a global pandemic - kids are displaced and parents are anxious - boomers across the country are joining forces to ensure the future generation is not left behind.

When you’re 102 and a thread of your carefully constructed life is arbitrarily pulled, the resilience of the weave can give way very rapidly. Such is the case of Shirley, a resident in a community for older adults. In the mere two months of having to shelter in her apartment due to the coronavirus, she went from being mildly confused to completely lost.

Nearly 40% of us have a younger boss. If you’re 55 years old, it’s 70% likely your boss is your junior chronologically. By the year 2025, it’s estimated that the majority of Americans will have a boss that is younger than them.

In 1988, Daniel Goleman -- then a journalist for the New York Times, later the bestselling author of Emotional Intelligence -- sat down with Erik Erikson and his wife, Joan, for a chat. Erikson, then 87, was one of the world’s greatest theorists of human development. Joan, 86, was his collaborator.

We’re coming upon the ten-year anniversary of the “stay woke” revolution dedicated to addressing social and racial injustice, although the idea of being “woke” has been around in the African-American community since the 60s.

Have you ever had a serious case of “gen-ling gap?” This week, I was texting with a Millennial friend, and our conversation went something like this: