Making Space for Wisdom

I don't use the word transformation lightly. Or often.

So when I tell you that I think what Chip Conley and his team at the Modern Elder Academy (MEA) are doing is, in fact, transformational - well I hope you'll take me seriously.

MEA is described as a modern wisdom school. It evolved out of Chip's experience as an embedded mentor at Airbnb and his subsequent book Wisdom@Work. The short version of the story is that he, as an experienced hospitality entrepreneur, was asked to come in and advise what was then a very early stage start up. He was twice the age of the average employee there and found that there was a wonderful reciprocity in his role because both he and the younger employees were as open to sharing as they were to learning. And in fact it was the employees of Airbnb who christened Chip their "modern elder." They were clear that he wasn't old but he was in fact oldER, and they recognized that he had wisdom borne of experience that could be very useful to them if they were open to hearing it.

Chip came away from his time at AirBnB with a commitment to change the narrative around how different generations can co-create, innovate and relate in the workplace. He, along with some partners, conceived of a place where "experienced" people could come and reset their understandings of how and for how long they can contribute to the world. (TL:DR - in lots of ways and for a very long time). And he envisioned a world where people are appreciated, respected and included as they age. As a result, the Modern Elder Academy was born.

I recently spent a week at MEA. What I learned, who I met and what I came to understand about the vision of Chip and his team will be woven into a great deal of what I do going forward. I think MEA is leading a necessary change that has the potential to reshape workplaces and careers and shift how leaders understand building sustainable organizational capacity.

These days I am having more and more conversations with clients about transitions - whether those transitions have been imposed upon them or whether they plan on initiating the transitions themselves. And I've lost count of the number of times that a client will say "...but I'm..." and cite their age, which is almost always in their 50s, as if the end of the road was right in front of them.

What's often going on is that the older, wiser worker is being pushed to the side to make room for "high potential talent" - the young, ambitious hot shot upon whom companies seem willing to bet the future. When the older workers start to see "the writing on the wall" they start to question their own ability to contribute, and predictably begin to lose confidence and purpose.

Given the knowledge, experience and, yes, wisdom that the experienced people possess, not to mention what is usually their robust good health, I find it tragic they start to feel irrelevant and even hopeless when they are in fact at the top of their game with so much still to give.

And I know for sure that the fast tracking hot shot will at some point have their moment of crisis when they will look around desperately in search of someone who can offer sage advice.

Change has to happen at multiple levels and in multiple directions. I want more "older, wiser" individuals to stand tall with the confidence that they still have a lot to offer. And I want organizations to understand that combining youthful energy and current skill with experience driven wisdom, the ability to synthesize ideas and think strategically can be powerful if assembled with thought and intention.

The slate of programming at MEA is diverse and top drawer, and I can wholeheartedly recommend any of the workshops offered. There is one coming up in October this year, though, that I think could be the start of a powerful - and absolutely necessary - workplace ripple. I invite you to check out The Magic of Cross-generational Wisdom - and consider bringing someone from outside your own generation along with you.

Let's collectively start to rethink how multiple generations can co-create bigger and better than any one group might ever do alone. Let's be part of the emerging co-generational collaboration movement that taps the best of us all.

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