Five Things We Didn't Even Realize We Were Doing

When did this stuff start?  It’s certainly managed to sneak up on me.

1.  Did You Realize that we’ve begun to talk about startups like professional athletes?  We quote and debate these company’s valuations as easily as we talk about the salaries of up-and-coming ball players or star free agents coming off contracts.  We debate these company’s strategies and alliances like we dissect the chances for our favorite sports teams next season.

2.  Did You Realize that we’re all speaking media lingo as a result of our prolonged exposure to Fourth Estater’s on Twitter?  “Oh, so-and-so is gonna be on Bloomberg?  What’s his hit time?”  All of a sudden, everyone has an opinion on the “value of content”…it’s just like how we were all real estate experts in 2006.

3.  Did You Realize that we’re ridiculing things five seconds after they happen?  If everything is uncool or played out instantly, is anything cool at all?  What is the shelf life for an investment thesis or a pop song or a new show on TV when we act as culture shredders whose switches are always set in the On position?

4.  Did You Realize that we’re picking stocks again?  Hyper-correlation seems to have faded across all asset classes and market sectors.  Individual stock research has begun to pay-off again.  It’s not that we no longer care about the macro picture (with revolution in the Mideast of course we do), it’s more that we’ve accepted that there will be winners and losers again based on the merits of their businesses and not just the health of the economy.

5.  Did You Realize that we’re all quick to join teams now?  We’ve become extremely public in our affiliations as well.  A blowup at NBC over the Late Night slot?  I’m Team Coco.  Girls were declaring Team Jacob or Team Edward before having even seen the sequel to Twilight.  One wonders whether or not anyone would even notice or care if voting was held without the curtains and booths that kept our choices private.  Taking sides and making a public “Team” pronouncement has become a given for most of us – even before we’ve considered the topic.