Don't think that mastery is a place you get to.

It's a process.

It's like the caterpillar to the butterfly.

In between, it's a gooey mess in a cocoon or a chrysalis.

But life is full of transitions. It's just that, frankly, when we get to midlife, we somehow think that we're supposed to have the master ability to go through a transition.

When, in fact, a lot of people shut down because they realize they don't know. it's okay not to know and it's okay to

actually look like a fool you know when you were going through your foolish puberty period

everybody laughed at you and you know we're all doing it together well why couldn't we do the same

in midlife and there's you know the stakes may be greater because you've got kids and you've got a

reputation to uphold,

et cetera, et cetera. But honestly, that process is almost stenting people's growth in midlife.

76 million Americans are baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964.

You might assume that this cohort is careening into retirement, but with higher life expectancies, the demographics of the American workforce are changing. By 2020, 25% of employees in the United States will be at least 55 years old.

But here's the rub.

Today's workplace worships youth and technology.

The median age of the Facebook employee is 28.

For Airbnb, it's 26.

Our youth-oriented tech culture leaves so many people feeling invisible, undervalued, and threatened by younger workers.

Chip Conley is out to change that notion and liberate the term elder from the stigma of elderly and embrace the value that age brings to one's life, career, and to the workplace.

Throughout his career, Chip has mastered

the art of self-renewal, leveraging his experience and emotional intelligence to bring value to

those around him. At age 26, he founded Joad de Ville hospitality and turned it into the

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