These are tricky times. How do we make sense of the barrage of information, stories, and emotions that are raining down on us like a Santa Fe summer monsoon shower? The natural reaction is to take shelter, but – instead – maybe it’s time to take out your umbrella. Your wisdom is your umbrella, your shelter. At a time when accumulating knowledge feels tiring (and has now become the job of AI), how do we distill wisdom to find the essence of what’s important?
Could midlife wisdom schools be a radiant beacon amidst the socio-political fog that surrounds us? When I first started MEA, I said that I wanted to “mint modern elders” because Airbnb’s CEO Brian Chesky, my mentee, had told me “how can we find more curious and wise people like you to support young tech founders?” While my initial thinking was that MEA could be a “beginning school” (as opposed to a “finishing school”) for mid-lifers looking to reimagine and repurpose their careers, I now see MEA’s mission as helping to demystify, elevate, and operationalize wisdom.
In 1941, Outward Bound was created with a mission to inspire character development, personal growth, and social responsibility through experiential learning in the outdoors. I’ve come to think of MEA as an Outward Bound for the Midlife Mind, stretching mindsets beyond their normal limits. Yes, we use nature as a teacher, but we also use human nature as a teacher by elevating moral beauty and collective effervescence. And, the result is we don’t just “mint modern elders,” we unleash wisdom to create a better world. The evidence of MEA’s success is to witness the outer embodiment of our inner work. We make sense of our lives to make a difference in the world.
My sense is that midlife wisdom schools are about to become more common. Here’s what the University of Chicago Center for Practical Wisdom suggests, “We live and work in an age of extreme uncertainty and severe disruption. Leaders today face the complex systemic challenges of a global pandemic, racial inequality, climate change, and economic calamity. More than in recent memory, people seek coherence, empathy, guidance, and support. Perhaps more than ever, there is a need for greater leadership wisdom in meeting the needs of people, organizations, and communities…Leadership wisdom is the combined use of awareness, experience, and insight to set direction, empower people, ensure well-being, and guide activity to achieve lasting results.”
MEA is proud to be a pioneer in this long-term emergence of midlife wisdom schools.
-Chip