Chip Conley

I wrote this in response to the occasional feedback wondering why MEA has “Elder” in its name even though the word can be triggering.

You’ve heard the rumors. America’s most populous retirement community, The Villages in Florida, has more sexually transmitted diseases than the city of Miami on a per capita basis. That’s an urban myth, but there are all kinds of reasons this myth exists, as evidenced in this article.

When you hear the phrase “developing character,” you probably think of a fast-growing adolescent navigating their way through the emotional, hormonal, relational, and identity transitions of their teens. But, why can’t “middlescents” (those of us going through the adult corollary of adolescence: “middlescence”) be developing character as we journey through midlife?

This is the title of our free upcoming online event with Father Richard Rohr, one of the best-known modern-day Christian mystics. Mark your calendars: May 31. Richard is based in New Mexico, so I've had the honor of becoming his friend. On multiple occasions, he's visited our Saddleback Ranch, which will be our first Santa Fe area campus.

Most days, I feel like Nadia Comaneci exhibiting visual poetry with my command of the balance beam of life. But on a few rare days, I feel like I can barely walk to the bathroom when I wake up in the morning. Forget about the balance beam or the high wire act. A tricycle feels more my speed. Yesterday was one of those days.

Alfred Nobel had the rare experience of reading his own obituary, and what he saw deeply distressed him. A brilliant scientist, Nobel was a prodigious chemist and inventor. He was awarded hundreds of patents during his career, the most famous being for dynamite.

There’s mounting evidence that suggests those who are unemployed long-term are twice as likely to be over the age of 50 than younger. It’s hard to pinpoint one reason for this. Still, it seems to be a combination of ageism, a confidence gap for many older workers regarding their tech skills, and a growing apathy amongst workers 50+ concerning the modern workplace.

Before Peter Bowes approached me to do his podcast, I’d never heard of the expression “Live Long and Master Aging,” which translates to the LLAMA in the title above. You can listen to it here, but here’s the distilled version summed up into three habits.

As we develop each of our MEA campuses, we brainstorm the adjectives and experiences that might create a set of original spaces.

Not all young adults were meant to be software developers. Some are better suited to be soft skills developers.