Wisdom @ Work : The Making of a Modern Elder

Hospitality expert/mentor to the millennial founders of AirBnB, Chip Conley celebrates the value of wisdom in the workplace and shows older workers how to "rewire rather than retire," and reinvent themselves to thrive in the second act of their career.

In 2013, Chip Conley sold the hospitality company that he founded at age 26 and grew to the second largest boutique hotel chain in the world. Just over 50 and nowhere near ready to retire, Conley was adrift - until he received a call from Brian Chesky, the millennial CEO of Air BnB. While fluent in tech and design, Brian and his co-founders knew nothing about hospitality. Would Conley help them transform their startup into a global hospitality giant? Conley came on board officially as a strategic consultant, and unofficially as Brian's new mentor.
     While he certainly had the industry experience, Conley found himself facing a steep learning curve. He didn't know how to code. He didn't have the Uber app on his phone and had never even heard of the "sharing economy." After more than two decades of being a CEO, Conley was reporting to a CEO more than two decades his junior. That's when he realized that while his job was to teach and mentor, he was also, in many ways, a student and mentee.
Many mid-career workers will experience a similar crossroads: whether they are forced to make a change, or are simply struggling to keep up with the digital natives nipping at their heels. To stay relevant in a workforce that venerates the young, Conley says, middle-aged workers must marry knowledge with curiosity, experience with innocence, confidence with humility.
     Part manifesto celebrating the value of wisdom that can only come with years on the planet, and part playbook showing readers how to reinvent themselves to flourish in the second act of their career, Wisdom at Work ignites a candid and overdue conversation about age in the working world today.
     In the process, Conley liberates the term "elder" from the stigma surrounding the "elderly," while calling for a mindset shift in how companies relate to their more experienced workers, and showing leaders how to reap the benefits of an age-friendly workplace.