Viable Hospitality and Valuable Wisdom from Hotelier Chip Conley

Michael Krasny began this episode with author, hotelier and long-time wisdom seeker Chip Conley, who was in Baja, talking about the terrible fires in Los Angeles and what if any lessons can be learned from them. They spoke of wisdom seeking and Conley of the metaphor for our lives of a rental car as well as his ongoing struggle with cancer, which he calls his teacher. Krasny brought up wrong headed views of cancer that place too much blame on the individual self and they spoke of environmental and so-called lifestyle effects tied to it and then proceeded to discuss identity and what Conley, a gay man, has called "identity cleansing." The two also discussed Conley's history as a hotelier and his philosophy of hospitality, including how to deal with so-called "A-holes," as well as Conley's thoughts about seeking and finding joy. A good deal of this rich and highly illuminating conversation included talk of aging and shifting views of longevity, as well as ritual and the changing nature of the workplace and the role AI is likely to play in our future. The role and importance of mentorship also came up as did the significance of love. Conley spoke of his years of leadership at Airbnb, what he means by being a super host and what he calls karmic capitalism and the importance of imprint in memory.