The Making Of A Modern Elder: Chip Conley Joins The Millennials At Airbnb


In the hospitality industry, Chip Conley is a legend. Back in 1987, he created Joie de Vivre, that grew to 52 hotels in California and set off a boutique hotel craze. But after 24 years of managing the company, he decided to retire and pursue other ventures. Writing. Speaking. He was on the board of the Burning Man Festival. He created a new website called Fest 300 which celebrated the best festivals in the world. He kept busy.

But then out of the blue, he was contacted by Brian Chesky, a 31-year-old CEO of a start-up company with a new concept called home-sharing.  The company was called Airbnb. And Brian said, “Come work with us and help me democratize hospitality.”

Chip said “yes.” So over the past six years, his second act has been a fascinating ride at Airbnb. And it led to Chip’s latest book titled “Wisdom at Work: The Making of a Modern Elder.”

So what exactly is a modern elder? According to Chip it is someone who can “marry an air of gravitas with a spirit of humility.” In a business setting, that means serving as a sage counselor and learning like a wet-behind-the-ears intern at the same time.

In today’s episode, we’ll also meet Sarah Goodnow Berry, Airbnb’s Global Director of Brand. She is one of the millennials running Airbnb and one of Chip’s mentees. Below is a photo Sarah took of Chip delivering his “farewell address” to the entire Airbnb staff in 2016 and the emotional post which she uploaded to instagram.

Click here for more information on the Modern Elder Academy. And click here to purchase “Wisdom At Work: The Making Of A Modern Elder.”

Special thanks to Marci Alboher of Encore.org for connecting me with Chip Conley. It’s good to have friends in high places.

Can A City Have A Second Act? Welcome to Irving, Texas


We’re going to mix things up a bit with today’s episode. Instead of focusing on an individual’s story, we’re going to ask the question, “Can a city have a second act?” And that brought me to Irving, Texas – a city of about 240,000 people.

Irving has a lot going for it. It is in the center of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. It is contiguous to Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, the 4th busiest airport in the United States. And it has Las Colinas, an innovative business park that is home to seven Fortune 500 company headquarters including Exxon-Mobil, McKesson, and Kimberly-Clark.  

And for nearly 40 years, the city was also the home of the world-famous Dallas Cowboys football team, one of the most successful sports operations in history.

But in 2004, the city faced a traumatic event. The Dallas Cowboys announced they would be leaving Irving, opting to build a new $1.15 billion stadium in Arlington – about 25 minutes away. In 2008, the Cowboys played their last game in Irving’s Texas Stadium. And on April 11, 2010, the stadium was reduced to a pile of rubble in a controlled implosion that took less than a minute.

The City of Irving’s Texas Stadium, where the Dallas Cowboys played for 37 years, was demolished in a controlled implosion on April 11, 2010.

I traveled to Irving to explore how the city responded to the Cowboys departure and adapted to keep the community moving forward.  

A Cop Leaves The Force for Corporate America


For today’s episode, I traveled to Frisco, Texas and met with Steve Paz. Since he was a boy, Steve always wanted to be a police officer and he got his chance initially as a military police officer in the Marines. He then spent twelve years with the Dallas Police Department, one of the finest police forces in the country. He was on the front lines of crack cocaine epidemic of the 1990s and encountered a number of dangerous situations which he describes in the podcast.   

In 2004, a family friend offered him an excellent corporate position – a role that he admits he was completely unqualified for at the time. He took the job which paid more money, dramatically cut his commute and offered his wife and family tremendous piece of mind.

But he also felt a loss of purpose in no longer serving among America’s finest. We talk with Steve (as well as his wife Judy) about his decision.

Special thanks to my friend Dean Barber for suggesting this episode.

Honey, I Just Bought A Liquor License: Sharon Starts A Wine Store


Sharon Sevrens had a thriving career as an investment banker. But when she and her husband experienced September 11th from their apartment building just a block and a half from the World Trade Center, she knew it was time for a change.

Over time she had developed a passion for wine. So with no experience in retail sales or in the wine business, she purchased a liquor license from Whole Foods for $150,000. And in October 2005, she opened a wine store called Amanti Vino (which roughly translates to “lover of wine” in Italian) in her home town of Montclair,, New Jersey. It’s been a runaway success with a second store now planned in Morristown, NJ.

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Check out the Amanti Vino website.

Special thanks to a public relations colleague Sharon Nieuwenhuis for connecting us with Sharon Sevrens and making this episode possible.

Goodbye GE…Hello JC: Father James Martin’s Second Act

Father James Martin is an American Jesuit priest who has written a dozen books including The New York Times best sellers “The Jesuit Guide to Almost Anything,” “Building a Bridge” and “Jesus: A Pilgrimage.” He’s got a huge following on Facebook and Twitter and is frequently a religion expert for everyone from The New York Times to CNN to Comedy Central (where Stephen Colbert appointed him the official chaplain of The Colbert Report).

But we are talking to him today about his second act – when he made the move from a promising career at General Electric to embrace a life of poverty, chastity and obedience as a Jesuit priest. It is one of the most dramatic life changes that you can imagine.

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Check out “Building a Bridge,” “The Jesuit Guild to Almost Anything, “Jesus: A Pilgrimage,” “The Abbey” and “Seven Last Words” on the Harper Collins website. “In Good Company: The Fast Track from the Corporate World to Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience,” Father Martin’s second book referenced in the podcast, was published by Sheed and Ward. All books are available on Amazon

 

Acting Is Her Second Act: A Public Relations Star Finds A New Role


For 40+ years, Judi Schindler worked in the field of public relations. For most of that time, she ran her own firm called Schindler Communications. According to Judi, it was “a hugely rewarding job.” And she emerged as a pioneer among women entrepreneurs helping to establish a Chicago chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners.

But when she decided to retire, Judi went back to a pursuit she enjoyed in her youth…acting. And what started out as simply “taking a class” turned into a second career with headshots, an agent and auditions. Now in her mid-seventies, she is still full of energy and creativity and going strong on-and-off stage.

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Check out Judy’s book, “Husbands: An Owner’s Manual” or sign-up for her blog “The Toilet Seat Must Go Down.”

 

The Last Laugh: 81-Year Old Man Tries His Hand At Stand-Up Comedy


Trained as a chemist but working as an executive recruiter, Art Schill decided he wanted to try his hand at stand-up comedy — at the age of 81.

And it turns out, he’s really good at it. Less than a year after taking comedy classes near his home in Long Island, New York, Art has played a range of top comedy clubs including Carolines, Dangerfields, Mohegan Sun and the Broadway Comedy Club. In a way, he’s the newest and oldest thing on the East Coast’s comedy circuit.

We interview Art, his daughter Lisa and his comedy mentor Paul Anthony who shared, “Art is really, really talented. None of us can believe he just started doing this in his 80s.” Paul quipped, “Sometimes he comes to me to say, ‘Why can’t I go on last?’ I say, ‘Art, you’re 82. I got to get you on stage as fast as possible. I don’t know how much longer we have here.”

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WATCH ART’S ACT ON YOUTUBE

Special thanks to Daniel Bubbeo, Assistant News Editor at Newsday, for connecting us with Art.

Ready for Some Expert Advice? 23 Minutes with Marci Alboher


On this episode, we spend time with Marci Alboher, the author of The Encore Career Handbook: How to Make a Living and a Difference in the Second Half of Life. She also is a Vice President at Encore.org, a nonprofit focused on helping people pursue second acts for the greater good.

Marci offers her thinking on the best practices in transitioning to a second act. And she outlines common traits shared among individuals that have been successful in making the change. And finally she talks about her own journey from lawyer to journalist to author to non-profit leader.

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ABOUT THE ENCORE CAREER HANDBOOK

 

 

Getting Benchwarmers in the Game: Retired Engineer Keeps a Promise


Joe Bock retired in 2008  after a long and successful career as an electrical engineer. But he always remembered his time back in grade school as a kid sitting on the sidelines and never getting into an athletic game. “I wanted to be athletic more than anything else.” And when he retired he was determined to help “kids like me.”

So at 74 years old, he now runs a program called “Benchwarmer Basketball” that has a growing and faithful following at the Cheviott Hills Recreation Center in Los Angles, California. He went back to school to study kinesiology (what Joe terms the “politically correct” word for physical education). And he hit many road blocks along the way. But he stuck with it and has helped dozens of kids off the bench and on to the basketball court.

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BENCHWARMER BASKETBALL VIDEO

Special thanks to Encore.org for assistance in arranging this interview.

 

From “Late Night with Conan” to Rikers Island


Deborah Shaw was an established costume designer in New York City. For 15 years she worked for “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” creating hundreds of costumes for the program. But when the show moved to Los Angeles, she decided to stay in New York and do something completely different.

And her second act took her to Rikers Island, one of the most dangerous prisons in America. Starting in 2009, she began working in  “The Big Garden” — a two-acre plot amid the prison complex — helping both detainees and prisoners via horticultural therapy. Today she is building a new program for the Fortune Society using gardening to help individuals recently released from the prison system re-enter everyday life.

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Special thanks to Sarah McKinney of Encore.org for connecting us with Deborah Shaw.