From Start-Up to Grown-Up #33: Chip Conley, Founder at Modern Elder Academy — Using regret as fuel; how and why founders need to shift their identities; how to manage people older than you; and his favorite interview question
Chip is the founder of the Modern Elder Academy (MEA), where a new roadmap for midlife is offered at a beautiful oceanfront campus in Baja California Sur, Mexico, and forthcoming campuses in Santa Fe, NM. His five books have made him a leading authority at the intersection of psychology and business.
Chip had tons of wisdom to share in this talk, including how to use regret as fuel for the future, what founders can learn when they shift their identities, how to manage people older than you, what Chip learned from the people that he mentored, and his favorite interview question.
Key highlights in the episode
Know our guest; Chip Conley (00:30)
The identity cleanse and why it is important (03:19)
Chip’s near-death experience and how it made him shift his identity when he sold his company (07:30)
The Anatomy of a transition; Three stages of transition (14:48)
How Chip became a mentor and an intern to Airbnb Co-Founder&CEO Brian Chesky (18:46)
Using regret as raw material for the future (19:45)
How insights from Airbnb led him to start the Modern Elder Academy (21:55)
Ways of scaling your company’s culture & soul as the company grows (26:46)
Culture fit vs. Culture add approach to hiring (28:48)
His favorite interview questions (31:20)
Why Chip has developed a strong personal brand and how it has served him (37:55)
His advice to new founders about having a personal brand (41:06)
What Chip teaches his mentees (46:37)
What he has learned from his mentees (51:10)
How to manage people older than you. And how to operate in an environment where your boss is younger than you (56:18)
Ways through which founders can find the truth in their companies (1:01:30)
The adjustments Chip has made in his leadership style and the feedback he received (1:04:13)
What Chip wishes he had known earlier on his entrepreneurship journey (1:08:11)
His advice for other founders as they embark on their journey to grow into leaders (1:09:41)
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Resources Mentioned
- Finish Big: How Great Entrepreneurs Exit Their Companies on Top: https://bit.ly/3jtlA2N
- Life Is in the Transitions: Mastering Change at Any Age: https://amzn.to/3HFPjOa
- Wisdom at Work: The Making of a Modern Elder: https://bit.ly/3YjOxwQ
Let’s Connect!
Follow Chip Conley on:
- Website: https://chipconley.com/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChipConley
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chipconleysf/
- Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/chipconleyauthor
Subscribe to MEA Wisdom well: https://wisdomwell.modernelderacademy.com/
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