The Millennial Snowflake Bubble

The Coronavirus is the pin, and the balloon is exploding with Snowflakes. I showed my initial write up to my wife and she thought I should soften it up. She’s probably right, but then again why write another article everyone has already read? Sometimes medicine tastes terrible but you gotta take it anyways.

Let’s start off and say if you look at this from a market and history perspective, it is the same thing, again. Yes, really. When the market implodes, panic, and hysteria ensues. Sound Familiar? The Panic of 1819, 1837, 1857 1873… 1918 Spanish Flu, H1N1, Zika and on and on and these are only a few. The list is literally endless. What a short memory we have because, “this one is different.” Um, no it’s not just check Wikipedia(kidding). Well actually, there is a major new problem…Snowflakes! I thought Global Warming was going to cure that…. can I even say that?

Anyway, many Millennials grew up with participation trophies, and now over the last 10 years grew up in a super bubble where getting a job has been pretty easy. They haven’t had to navigate difficult issues, and always put what is recently socially acceptable over business practicality. Not to mention the bull market over the last 40 years, parents of Snowflakes and Snowflakes themselves are now in a rude awakening. Did I seriously hear “but we will just work from home?” Companies executives I have spoken with, who this month have employees working from home, are seeing productivity (think revenue) drop over 50% just in March! Working from home means your new participation trophy is being fired remotely.

If this all sounds harsh, it is basically just reality setting in. Millennials are leaders now, politically speaking, around the world as well as in many companies. Leadership isn’t easy, it is about navigating uncharted waters, making tough decisions, and having a mature long-term perspective. This article isn’t about being sympathetic to the existing situation, or delving into the medical assessment of the Coronavirus (I’m fully aware of Immuno-compromised and elderly people being at risk), because quite frankly the media has already spun enough end of the world hysteria that the economic drop is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Hello! What do you expect if no one shows up to work? The Corona Virus will eventually and probably be cured in the near future; however the current economic and business decisions will lead to certain (financial) death. Millennials are now 50% or more of the work force and unless medically statistically speaking something changes, usually not at risk from COVID-19. During work hours, Millennials are doing laundry, playing video games, drinking (craft) beer, and watching Netflix in record amounts now…. you think this is economically productive? Snowflakes have now turned their apartments back into adult college dorms.