During my time at Airbnb, CEO Brian Chesky often called me Secretary of State. As evidenced in the short video below of Airbnb co-founder and Brian and me (and moderator Julie Hanna), Brian came to realize that he needed an “elder statesman” to be the bridge to many of the industries Airbnb was disrupting: hotels, landlords, convention meeting planners, destination marketing organizations.
Disruption will continue to accelerate in the business world and many young technologists, with brilliant ideas but little “know-how” or “know-who” of the industries they plan to disrupt, need a “modern elder” by their side.
Maybe you can be an elder statesperson who can help a young start-up understand the historical industry landscape? Maybe you can offer a little humility and EQ to those who want to disrupt the world or, in Airbnb’s case, “democratize hospitality?”
