Millenials on the March….

Millenial’s on the march….

Lately, I have been reading a lot of articles, many actually, on the “Millenials” through the various news outlets.  There seems to be a new cadre of pundits espousing their research on the generation ‘gone wrong.’  The majority of the writings seem to be laden with facts, figures and statistics with anecdotes thrown in for marketing buzz that is a less than flattering theme in their portrayal of the Millenials, also known as ‘Generation Y,’ those born between 1980 and the early 2000’s. 

The various adjectives that are used to describe the Millenials often relate to them as being “lazy” or “slackers,” “lacking in ambition and drive.”  “Not being able to leave the nest.”  What’s perhaps most interesting to myself, and I’ll get to the realities of the Millenial generation, in terms of employment later in this writing, is that few observing, and now obliged to comment on, seemed to have seen or recognized what was to come? 

Granted, things certainly changed in 2008, for everyone.  Economically, the nation, the world really, has taken such a hit that unless you’ve been living under a rock, or are SO well financially insulated, you can afford to have the blinders on, you’ve been affected in ways not anticipated.  For that, you can thank Hank Greenberg, then CEO of AIG!  You can thank Bank of America and Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, JPMorganChase, Bear Stearns!  You can thank Freddie Mae/Fannie Mac!  You can thank Bernie Madoff, Hank Paulson & Richard Wagoner!  Ahh, Richard Wagoner.  Remember him flying to Washington, D.C. on the corporate jet to beg congress for bailout monies for GM?  Poor soul.  It was the packaging and re-packaging of risky mortgages being sold to a euphoric public willing to spend much more than they could afford on the McMansion because they were guaranteed equity growth to spend.  It was the ‘creative’ financing of Derivatives that are so complicated that many of the very banks executing such didn’t understand how they worked?  I’m mentioning only a few as the list is very long and they are by no means alone nor is any one of them singularly the cause of what started to unravel economically in 2008.  As Alan Greenspan said, “an irrational exuberance…”

It was a systemic failing, and what I was witness to before 2008, before Millenials were even dubbed or recognized as such, was an increasing trajectory that, unless oblivious or a fool, could in no way think it would keep its upward, double-digit climb and the various expectations and entitlements that come with that? 

I have been working with the Millenials since the day I finished graduate school in the early/mid 90’s.  I didn’t know, at the time, they were called Millenials and it was early enough then that they had not yet earned any labeling of such.  With or without the corresponding labeling, what WAS obvious, was that in the 1990’s into 2008, except for a few minor ‘corrections,’ economic prosperity was simply going upwards.  Every generation throughout the 20th century and into the 21st had the good fortune to be riding a given expectation that theirs would be better than their parents!  Marginally or dramatically, it was given, a mere fact, that ‘each generation would have it better than their predecessors!’ 

Incomes were steadily rising, luxury goods were becoming more and more prevalent, houses were not just getting bigger, but more grandiose and feature laden.  Acquisition & consumption was growing at such a pace that it made the 1987 movie, “Wall Street,” almost quaint by comparison.  Computing, electronics, cars, television, communication; things were just getting ‘better,’ day by day, year by year.  And along with this came a new child rearing.  Kids were being raised, granted with the best of intentions, with the ever growing expectations that each was the next prodigal child in every one of the nation’s homes.  The platitudes have been many and the constant patting on the backs of the growing youth over the last 20 years have been so systemically ingrained that they’ve become the norm.  Every little Johnny & Jenny is to be ‘appreciated’ and the ‘best!’  Every child is a ‘star’ or at a minimum, budding ‘expert.’  Everyone deserves an ‘A,’ and everyone will do great things and discover new antidotes for all of the societal ills!  ‘Competitive’ day-care.  Private schools and nannies.  Designer diapers, Themed birthday parties, extravagant gifts and toys, electronics and connections abound.  Photographs and videos documenting every, singular, mundane moment in every new life!

Now, not only are all these superlatives and actions unrealistic but they are also statistically impossible.  Not everyone can be an ‘A’ student.  Not everyone gets to be a Valedictorian.  Not everyone can be a star quarterback for the team, especially if, given the fact, that every player is given a ball so that it’s ‘fair…’  Generationally, we’ve, systemically, raised a group of people that have difficulty in that they’ve only received positive praise.  They’ve not been ‘allowed’ to fall, or fail, as there’s been a safety net so well built-in that learning to face real adversity, learning to think around a situation, learning to adapt and be resourceful, has been somewhat filtered out of the upbringing. 

Academically, the MIllenials have been duped.  Every college/university has been involved in the ‘arms race’ in trying to make themselves more marketable.  Every institution has spent inordinate monies on waving more glitter, making things shiny, new and large.  Science centers, student centers, suites to live-in, on-campus entertainment and events.  Athletic centers that rival any New York City fitness club!  Selective showcasing of their alumni/ae that have made successes of themselves in popular culture or business, all peripheral branding tools THAT highlight a school’s ‘educational value.’  Academic institutions of learning have become residential communities and country clubs, playgrounds for those entering adulthood, not too unlike a cruise-ship package, oh, but with some coursework and a $200,000 price tag! 

Each institution has been guilty of the ‘come here and your degree with OUR name on it will be the ticket to get you that job or career you not only want, but deserve!’  Along then comes 2008.  Bam!  Nothing seen like it since the Great Depression!  Markets had been climbing, spending growing, no ‘forewarning’ of any doom except from a very bright financial guy from Boston, Harry Markopolos, saying unchecked growth cannot continue and who pointed a finger at Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi-Scheme and said, “there it was, looming in front of us,” to paraphrase, identifying a crash to come.  Prophetic, but had fallen on deaf ears.

In working with the Millenials as stated before, what I’ve witnessed is not that they’re lazy.  They are also not unmotivated, not by any means.  What they are is of such a different time and upbringing that while they are facing some of the very same challenges & similarities that every generation has faced, it is now packaged in different ways and needing to be confronted in new and adaptive ways than in times before. 

Every generation has dealt with economic fluctuations, but this is the first generation that’s had to deal with it while also combined with other ‘new’ factors; many jobs now being outsourced and going overseas, technology eliminating various roles, if not industries, through new understanding and automation.  Every generation has dealt with increasing avenues of communication, but it has been exponential for the Millenials.  Everything now being a simple keystroke or post away, so for them they really do communicate and access information in a way that had been foreign to previous generations.  Every group has had the support of the previous, as alluded to above, but the Millenials have had the ‘good’ fortune of being raised by a community that wants them to succeed!  So much so, think ‘helicopter parenting,’ we’ve in a way forgotten, if you’ll excuse the metaphor, ‘to teach them how to fish, as opposed to just handing them a bountiful catch.’ 

How all of this has evolved along with the associated labels; ‘entitled’ and ‘narcissistic,’ among many others, and yet not having foreseen such, remains an enigma to me.  In using the term ‘slackers,’ I’d like to just draw a few analogies to their previous cohorts, sort of a “then and now.” 

Think Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook)?  How about Steve Jobs (Apple)? 
Think Chad Hurley (YouTube).  How about Bill Gates (Microsoft). 
Think Evan Speigel (SnapChat).  How about Michael Dell (Dell Computers). 

“Slackers?”  No.  Different in how they communicate, think, process information, form expectations and view the world and quality of life?  Yes.  Are they to be held accountable for their actions?  Yes.  Are we (previous generations) partly to blame for their new/different world-view?  Absolutely.

Much more to come as this is a new blog and I’ll be reflecting on the employment markets, the entry to such by the Millenials and what it is all to mean…  Stay tuned!