Modern Elder

The Encore Physicians program matches retired doctors who want to continue practicing medicine part-time with community health centers in the San Francisco Bay Area. These "modern elders" are paid for providing direct patient care and mentoring less experienced clinicians for a few days per week over the course of a year.

I spent my college summers working with master artists & makers all over India. I learnt way more about myself, the world and life in those few days than “school.” I left feeling inspired, supported and armed with new skills.

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."

Ted and I have a thing goin’ on. I’m a binge-watch virgin. At 60, I’m embarrassed to write that. Didn’t really understand the phenomenon until way too many MEA alums said I needed to watch the Ted Lasso Apple+ comedy series featuring an American college football coach who becomes a British pro soccer/football coach.

Death, you strike with unpredictable disrespect. You take the ones we never expected to leave.

Much has been written about the needs of the evolving workplace, with specialists in decline and generalists on the rise. David Epstein’s superb book "Range" captures this new perspective on leadership. However, it is a new study that has recently been getting some traction amongst HR executives.

I don’t know about you, but I can get buried in my work, addicted to the everyday busyness of my life. If I’m not careful, my attention becomes scattered, and I soon forget to pay attention to what (and who) is in front of me. I don’t believe I’m alone.

My experience as the "modern elder" at Airbnb taught me that the generations have so much to learn from each other. Often, it’s the lived experience, EQ, and holistic thinking that can help a brilliant, young talent navigate the obstacle course of their early careers.

When Dan Steffey, 78, recently went to his boss, Eric Paine, 41, to say that he wanted to retire, Paine didn’t hesitate to politely decline his request. Five years earlier, Paine, CEO of rapidly-growing Community Development Partners (CDP), a mission-driven affordable housing development organization, had hired Steffey, a grizzled veteran of affordable housing in Oregon, to help them expand into the Pacific Northwest.

“Although an infant becomes a child simply by aging, a person cannot become an elder by simply becoming older. Elders fall into the category of things that are made, not born. Becoming an elder is not a “natural occurrence;” the qualities needed don’t simply develop from physical changes brought on by aging. Rather, there is something meta-physical involved; something philosophical and spiritual that is required. Old age alone doesn’t make the elder." - Michael Meade