Chip Conley

Brian Chesky's secret mentor who died 9 times, started the Burning Man board, and built the world's first midlife wisdom school | Chip Conley (founder of MEA)

Source 0562025-08-0313,881 words

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Opening
Lenny Rachitsky (00:00:00): Let's paint a picture of just what it was like to join Airbnb in your fifties. Chip Conley (00:00:04): I was mentoring Brian, but he was also my boss. I was 52, the average age was 26. I had to be both wise and curious, and often the dumbest person in the room. Lenny Rachitsky (00:00:14): It's great to be in founder mode. It's not as great to be working for someone in founder mode. Chip Conley (00:00:18): Brian assumed everybody else was going to work at the same pace and duration....

The opener starts with biography before advice. That order makes the guest legible as a person before the listener extracts tactics.

Low-ego framing
Lenny Rachitsky (00:00:28): Everyone's talking...

Uses we/us, uncertainty, or learner framing instead of performing authority.

Accept praise cleanly
I'd fluent in French. She said confidant in just the right way. I said, "Oh, well thank you, Lisa." I said to her, "You haven't given me any juicy details yet. A confidant is someone who has the secrets."...

Accepts praise without shrinking from it or turning it into a performance.

Return warmth
Chip Conley (00:10:41): We did a lot of different things together, and what I appreciated was you had a humility to you that was different than a lot of the other product managers. There's other product...

Matches the guest's warmth and keeps the social temperature generous.

Low-ego framing
Chip Conley (00:05:41): Yeah, I wasn't planning on doing this. I got a...

Uses we/us, uncertainty, or learner framing instead of performing authority.

Accept praise cleanly
I need to fix that. Chip, this was incredible. Everything I was hoping it'd be, thank you so much for being here and for sharing- Chip Conley (01:18:34): Thank you, Lenny. Lenny Rachitsky (01:18:34): .

Accepts praise without shrinking from it or turning it into a performance.