Chip Conley

At a glance

• American entrepreneur who founded the hotel company Joie de Vivre Hospitality at 26 and later became head of hospitality and strategy at Airbnb.
• At Airbnb, in his fifties, he was much older than his colleagues — an experience that led to his idea of the ‘modern elder’: someone who combines life experience with curiosity and a willingness to learn.
• Wrote about it in Wisdom at Work: The Making of a Modern Elder (2018) and later Learning to Love Midlife (2024).
• Founded the Modern Elder Academy, a ‘midlife wisdom school’ with programmes on the transition into the second half of life.
• Featured in a 2026 Tim Ferriss episode on how to simplify your life.
• Relevant because he treats ageing as a stage of development rather than decline; an attitude that research on age beliefs also links to health.