Wisdom at Work: An interview with Chip Conley

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Wisdom at Work: An interview with Chip Conley

Interview with Chip Conley.jpg

  

We’re thrilled to welcome Chip Conley to the Community Center to share his reflections on the relationship between wisdom and work and how the Airbnb host community has helped shape his career. A longtime hospitality entrepreneur, Airbnb strategic advisor, author, and host champion, Chip’s investment in this host community has deep roots and a lasting legacy. His new book, Wisdom@Work: The Making of a Modern Elder, promises to reframe the idea of growing older as an opportunity to share knowledge and become a student again, as well. His book will be available in English September 18th with additional languages to come in the following months.

 

Q: You’ve been invested in hospitality and in the Airbnb host community for many years. How did that work inspire the wisdom you share in your new book?

A: First of all, I miss our host community. During my four years in a leadership role in the company, I loved traveling around the world while learning from our hosts. There’s an old saying, “Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens,” and I found our host community to be skillful listeners, but also remarkable contributors to the community as a whole. The “wisdom of the crowd” (our global host community) educated me quite a bit and I hope they’ll see some of their point of view represented in my new book which chronicles why the world needs to value wisdom in a world that is increasingly dominated by technology.

 

Q: What can hosts learn from your approach to wisdom in their own hosting journeys?

A: It’s been fascinating to be twice the age of the average employee at Airbnb during my five and a half years in the company (the last year and a half as a consultant). I’ve done my best to be a champion for our host community and, especially, those who are a little older. Brian and his co-founders really appreciate that hosts 50 and older receive the highest Airbnb guest satisfaction scores of any demographic. There may be a few reasons for this: more time to focus on their hosting skills, growing emotional intelligence (a key feature of great hosts) as we age, and maybe a longer-term commitment to hosting as a means of creating retirement income. I don’t think any age group holds a monopoly on wisdom, but it is a quality that one can cultivate and harvest over time.

 

Q: How has the concept of hospitality changed, or not, for you from your 20s, 30s, 40s, and beyond?

A: When I started Joie de Vivre Hospitality in my mid-20s (1987), the company was one of the first boutique hotel companies in the U.S. We were proving that a growing number of travelers were looking for more of a personalized, localized hotel experience. Interestingly, we changed the title for our front desk agents from “clerks” to “hosts,” so the idea of hosting has been in my blood for 32 years. Over the 24 years I was CEO of that company, we created 52 boutique hotels, and it become clear that the big global chains wanted to start looking more like boutique hotels (more attention to design, better restaurants and bars, more focus on local experiences). When I joined Airbnb as the Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy, I saw this new home-sharing wave as being the boutique hotel innovation writ large as technology allowed Airbnb to take this localized hospitality focus and make it global. When Brian Chesky approached me to join the company five and a half years ago, he asked, “How would you like to democratize hospitality?” And, I think that’s what Airbnb and our amazing host community have done.

 

Q: What’s one piece of advice you would give a new host as they start out?

A: The common quality of our best hosts around the world is a combination of being very organized and very welcoming and empathetic. Those are different qualities, and some hosts may be better at one than the other, but those who can master both (sometimes it’s a couple who combine those qualities) will be very successful.

 

Q: What’s next for you, Chip? What do you want this next season to hold for you?

A: I continue to be a Strategic Advisor to Brian and his senior team. My process of writing Wisdom@Work helped me to see how many people in middle age and beyond desire to rethink their life and career but how few resources we have to support people in midlife awakenings. Thus, I’ve created the world’s first midlife wisdom school, the Modern Elder Academy, dedicated to providing the place and the tools to start reframing a student’s lifetime of experience. It’s a beachfront campus one-hour north of Cabo San Lucas in southern Baja, Mexico, so I’m back in the hospitality business again. We have people coming to join us from all over the world.

 

To read more about Chip’s book and the Modern Elder Academy, visit his website.

40 Replies 40
Cathie19
Level 10
Darwin, Australia

Wisdom at work @Airbnb ..... but life skills at play! 

🙂

CathieWhat would I want as a guest when arriving through the night?What would I want as a guest when arriving through the night?

Ranjana0
Level 3
Mumbai, India

It is a great interview and I am very excited about this opportunity I enjoy as a host.

Thank you. 

Warm regards 

Ranjana Patil  🙂 

Boutique Bombay Homestay 

Dahisar west. 

Mumbai. 

Anmol-and-Migmar0
Level 1
New Delhi, India

great interview

Stewart28
Level 4
Falkland, GB

I'm a host (www.courtsidefalkland.co.uk) and ABnB provide about 15% of my business for my stand alone cottage- thanks. But where is the value in this piece of ABnB sales puff? However a fantastic opportunity for self promotion and well taken and executed by Brian. Apart from the "blooming obvious" where are the golden nuggets of insight?

 

ABnB fill the gaps I have left from my own promotion and website channel. It works, its business and we both benefit. No more and no less.

 

ABnB haven't yet clocked that "roomy renters" and holiday property letters are two distinct types of supplier and as such need to refine their offering of our respective products. 

 

Is to late to be an ABnB host ambassador for whole property lets??

Pritesh0
Level 2
Goa, India

Great Insights! 

Thanks 

Pritesh 

Founder Optmize Holidays PLC

Goa 

Jeanette118
Level 1
Granada, Spain

Hi.  Im  now 69 and have been travelling for work and holidays abroad for about 45 years continuely, so I would say I have quite a lot of experience in this area from a customer point of view.

 

Airbnb is a great way of finding accomdation.  Now I am renting out an apartment through their website I feel I have the expertise to get it right.

Now in my 3rd year of a very successful business and  I have been a super host right through. So for me thanks airbnb

 

Winnie35
Level 2
Kigali, Rwanda

Thanks for the welcome

Winnie35
Level 2
Kigali, Rwanda

Thanks

Mika46
Level 1
Izola, Slovenia

Great job

Janet403
Level 4
Glasgow, United Kingdom

I sucessfully rent out a room in my flat for solo travellers via airbnb.

I agree with Stwart - room renter hosts are quite different from those who let out full properties on short lets. Airbnb should try to distinguish their different needs and also local impacts.

 

Ann409
Level 2
Kenmare, Ireland

Since joining the Airbnb I am so impressed by the clientele it appeals to. I have had such lovely guests and feel Brian’s words are so true. It’s wanting the guests to enjoy their holiday  and it is easy to help them do so. 

Robin429
Level 2
Chattanooga, TN

I agree with the point about aging. I belive everyone just wants to be treated well with empathy and respect. Who wants a host who does not offer respect? Who wants a guest? neither.

Kenneth117
Level 1
Paris, ME

Nice worth while linterview. I might enhance what has been said about wisdom. 

It was Confucius I believe that in circa 600Bc said, “Show me wisdom greater than Kindness!”

 

soft landings 

kenneth 

40 Long View Acres 

South Paris, Maine USA

I have recently joined Airbnb and I to agree with Brian. I to am 68 years old and doing Airbnb keeps me busy and fun meeting all my new friends. Thank you for everything . Linda in Kitchener Ontario Canada.