The Midlife Chrysalis

You can build a successful life and still reach a point where you need to rebuild yourself. In this episode, Chip Conley sits down with David Gottfried, co-founder of the U.S. Green Building Council and pioneer of the...

Your first love can stay with you for decades. So can the story you keep telling yourself about it. Actor and filmmaker Juan Pablo Di Pace joins Chip Conley for a personal conversation about love, memory, and the past’s...

Watch a great film, then share dinner with the person who made it. That’s the spirit of the MEA Film Fest, where stories on screen spark conversations and connections in real life. In this Wisdom Wednesday episode, Chip...

After decades at the top, John Donahoe found himself starting over at 65. John has led eBay, ServiceNow, and Nike. But some of his most important lessons came from burnout, failure, and the difficult transitions between...

You’ve built a life that looks successful. Yet the things you worked so hard for may no longer be what you want next. In this Wisdom Wednesday episode, MEA founder Chip Conley joins Derek Gehl to explore finding purpose...

Eleven years after losing her husband, the pain has changed. The love hasn’t. Dr. Lucy Kalanithi, physician and widow of Paul Kalanithi, author of When Breath Becomes Air, joins Chip Conley for a deeply personal...

Jonathan Rauch had reached the top of his career, yet each year he felt less satisfied. Then came the loss of his parents, his job, and a startup he had tried to build. To his surprise, his sense of contentment began to...

Being the person who saves the day feels good. But letting someone else do it can make you a better leader. MEA founder Chip Conley joins Derek Gehl to talk about one of the hardest changes in his career: moving from...

Success can look impressive on a résumé and still leave you wondering who you really are. At 76, Harvard Business School professor and former Morgan Stanley executive Thomas DeLong is rethinking some of the biggest...

Sometimes the most powerful way forward begins by doing less. Filmmaker Nic Askew has spent more than two decades capturing what happens when people stop performing and simply allow themselves to be seen. Through his...

At some point in midlife, achievement stops being enough. The titles matter less, the phone may stop ringing, and the question becomes: where does your value come from now? In this episode of Wisdom Wednesday , MEA...

We’re taught to expect decline as we get older. But the science tells a far more hopeful story. In this episode, bestselling author and positive psychology expert Shawn Achor joins us to explore how our beliefs can...

What can the world’s oldest people teach us about time, aging, and being alive? Academy Award nominated filmmaker Sam Green spent 10 years filming people who held the title of the world’s oldest living person. His...

Why do we celebrate birthdays as kids, then slowly stop celebrating ourselves as we get older? In this episode of The Midlife Chrysalis , Chip Conley joins Derek Gehl for a conversation about birthdays, aging, and why...

At 91, James Flaherty isn’t slowing down. He’s still writing, creating, learning, and planning what comes next. A former advertising executive, entrepreneur, innkeeper, and author who wrote five books in his 80s, James...