EML started in business eight years ago – about the same time that Apple launched the iPad – but while the iPad has gone on to create a whole new category of electronics – Tablets – devices that have changed the world – EML is still on the starting blocks.  Are we just wasting our time?!

Maybe, but there again, perhaps not.  The iPad was launched into the electronics sector which is well known for its astounding rate of development.  When I first worked in the computer industry the average lifespan of a printer – from new model launch to being declared obsolete – was just three months.  Compared to that the iPad’s pace of development is somewhat pedestrian!  

EML by contrast, works in the field of Darwinian evolution where the game of life has been played for over four and a half billion years and even small changes can take thousands of generations. Against this background the global trend for humans to live longer is moving at light speed – in the last 50 yeas life expectancy has increased by 50%.  The fact that so many of us will be around for longer than expected changes our prospects and this brings with it a range of unintended consequences.

Part of the amazing success of the iPad and its many lookalikes, is their intuitive design.  They do not come with a weighty instruction manual – users expect to be able to operate them ‘out of the box’.  Learning how to use the devise is osmotic – users first learn from seeing the ads on TV, they then watch friends and family and when they do acquire a tablet and need to know, they ask.  When they really do get stuck there is always a YouTube video available or even the re-boot option that clears past mistakes and takes you back to the start.  In life too, there is no instruction manual – we learn by osmosis.  When changes took many generations that approach worked well, but this rapid increase in life expectancy is changing ‘the rules’ we live by  – our underlying ‘operating system’ – as we go along.  

Like many I was brought up listening to the advise of parents and grand parents – not just my own but the wider family and friends.  Their wisdom was always a good starting point.  This is no longer the case – their advice and guidance may have worked for them but their children and grand children are finding that the ‘rules of life’ they face have changed.  

Finding a way to understand these changes is key to your success, and enables you to share that success with those around you – EML can help.  call us on 020 3372 4062