The secret of becoming good at anything is daily practice.
Do you want to become proficient at articulating concepts to sell, influence, and get the most out of opportunities?
Write daily -- a blog post, commentary, notes to fuel articles, op eds, and interviews.
Regardless of the topic(s), when you want to improve your skills, reading quality publications will help you elevate your own game. The advantages to better trade are multiple, including:
- keeping an eye on where the puck is going by following news stories
- understanding the environment where deals are made
- seeing new opportunities for products or partnerships
- being human in conversation and in the moment to get the most out of opportunities with social and other new technologies
- editing your own publication or research for clients
Since so much of my work in centered on the spot where technology and business trends meet, I follow several digital publications.
There has been an evolution in my reading from publications solely dedicated to marketing and blogging like Marketing Profs Daily Fix and The Blog Herald, and Social Media Today, to publications that bring leadership and design to life like Fast Company magazine where I also contributed articles.
That was a nice mix of reading and writing. Currently, I have an even greater mix in my feed.
Technology pulse
For in depth information, my go to publications are Technology Review, Wired, and Ars Technica, where a recent article highlighted how big content is the frenemy of consumer electronic makers.
It was in the first that I discovered the network where my mother was hosting her blog had been temporarily saved by Jason Scott and the archive team, which in turn allowed me to transfer her work to a WordPress site.
I'm avid reader of Kara Swisher's posts on All Things Digital, a WSJ publication. She's on top of the latest tech news and reports with gusto and brevity.
GigaOm articles are timely and well researched. I particularly enjoy the insights I gain from Om Malik himself.
For Apple and mobile my go to is Asymco, and tech insider news with a dash of lifehacking I monitor The Next Web, for innovation I check out VentureBeat, and for Web Apps and tech I also scan ReadWriteWeb.
I'm also starting to read a new publication called The Verge. As the about page says, its mission is to offer breaking news coverage and in-depth reporting, product information, and community content via a unified, modern platform.
After the launch news broke yesterday at All Things Digital and around the Web, I am also adding Sarah Lacy's new publication PandoDaily to my feed. Lacy says she wants the site to be "the site-of-record for that startup root-system and everything that springs up from it, cycle-after-cycle."
Business pulse
At Business Insider I read the tech/media stories, which include Silicon Alley 100.
For strategic planning, marketing, innovation, and communication I scan the Harvard Business Review blogs.
Here the go to sites are The New York Times and the Guardian for technology and culture/media, the Wall Street Journal, The Economist and the Atlantic for more general topics, with a dash of the Financial Times.
For macro I go to The Big Picture, and for the media business I go to the Nieman Journalism Lab.
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I use a variety of tools to get the content I need and scan the stories efficiently, including apps and RSS.
The pace of economic and cultural change we're undergoing is increasing and the global adoption of social, mobile, and other new technologies are fueling its acceleration. Part of my services include taking this context into consideration.
To get the most out of opportunities, it is helpful to know how to articulate concepts well. Being read gives you an advantage while it helps you keep your perspective fresh.
I also read several books a year.
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As for sharing, well, I have more in my back pocket for that.
What reading habits do you have? Do you read and share business news with your team and clients? Have you leveraged tech and business news in your reports?
[image by Annie Berman]