I left for the Modern Elder Academy (MEA) about a week later, and my experience there made all the difference. Our cohort learned how to embrace a growth mindset and find and flourish in the flow channel - where we practiced patience during the process of stretching out of our comfort zone and trying new things. I shared my hesitation with my cohort, and with their love and support, my anxiety instead turned into anticipation.

On the latest episode of The Inc.Tank, our special guest is none other than Chip Conley himself – the visionary behind MEA. And while the podcast focuses on the impact of technology on the way we work and live, we thought it would be worthwhile to explore how changes in our personal lives are also changing the technology and business landscape.

Long before the pandemic, the term “digital nomad” was already used to describe people who worked remotely. Now we're all digital nomads and the ways that we work, live, learn and play will never be the same. The old world of operating in “fixed” offices, locations, rules and roles must now adopt a growth mindset to accommodate this transition to nonlinear ways of thinking. As the father of three children who span grade-school, college and post-grad, I get a front-row seat to the transformation of their worlds and subsequent outlooks on life. These changes are no less dramatic for those of us in midlife. Without revealing any spoilers, Chip discusses the future of “long life learning,” the concept of the radical sabbatical, and the re-imagination of higher education.

In Jen Sincero’s book “You Are a Badass” she talks about the power of “source energy” where all living beings and thoughts vibrate at a certain frequency. Sincero maintains that we're all vibrating at a certain frequency, everything we desire, and don't desire, is also vibrating at a certain frequency, and like frequencies attract one another. As Christina and I talked with Chip and he shared his ideas on how we can be catalysts for making aging aspirational again, I felt my own energy spike. It reminded me of the special role MEA fills in helping us become emerging elders and putting our collective source energy out into this world.

This episode of our podcast, Chip Conley: Modern Elders in Business, is available now on all podcast platforms and at TheIncTank.org. He is my first-class badass!

David Yang is an MEA alum and Vice President for Digital Transformation at ICF International and also holds the rank of Captain as a Volunteer Firefighter/EMT with the Prince George’s County Fire Department, MD, the sixteenth busiest fire department in the United States and one of the largest combination career/volunteer departments in the world.