3 ways to show up informed, at work and in life
Prefer to listen to this? Check out a version of this on my podcast, it’s a 5 minute listen.
We are so lucky to live in an information age where everything is available to us. With that comes a tremendous amount of overwhelming resources, and you might not know where to turn.
But know this: it is so important that whether you are going to an interview, on a coffee date, or to a work meeting, you are showing up informed about the person you are meeting with, the company that they work for, and any other relevant information such as what’s happening in your and their industry, and in your function.
I’m going to give you three tips for how you can achieve this. And listen up, because I actually ask the question “what do you read” when I’m interviewing candidates to gauge if they’re keeping a pulse on the world around them. I intentionally keep it vague to see what they come back with, though I expect a combination of business, industry, and creativity.
Here are the 3 main takeaways if you can’t read on. If so: share this link with 2 friends so they can benefit, too.
1. Subscribe to newsletters from reputable sources in your industry and function.
2. Before going to any meeting, and on a daily basis, read the news to get a high-level understanding of what is happening in the world. Stay away from bringing up political and religious topics in professional environments.
3. Identify a few books over the course of the year that you would like to read to get better at what you do. Set realistic goals. Read them over time. If necessary, listen to them on audible, or use the app Headway to get a shorter audio version.
1) Subscribe and read newsletters. This is your golden ticket to quickly understand what is happening in both your industry and function.
Let’s break that last part up. Your industry is the actual business you work in. For example, let’s say you work for a baked goods company. Your industry would be food and beverage.
Let’s say in that industry you work in marketing, so your function would be marketing.
Delineating between these two is important so you can understand the types of resources you have available to you because you should have a pulse on both.
There are many newsletters and resources out there, including email content and podcasts that can help you get smart on both.
Simply Google “your industry + newsletter” and the same thing for your function and you will see that there are likely many options. Once on the site, all you need to do is enter your email address and you will receive the content on a regular basis, based on how often the creator develops this content.
Look for sources that are credible, such as mainstream news sources you are familiar with or creators that are very well known in a specific industry to ensure that you are getting your information from a reputable source.
Being in business and marketing, one of my favorite news sources is Morning Brew. They do a phenomenal job creating bite-sized daily content. I breeze through their newsletter to see what’s happening in the industry before I start my day. They also have breakout content for finance, marketing, and other functions as well for functional tracks. The insights from these newsletters are stories you can bring up in meetings, with peers, and often they’ll spur insights, ideas or tools you can bring or apply to work.
And: don’t be shy to share these learnings with your boss and team. Simply send a note or chat with the headline, hyperlink to the article, and pull out 2-3 things you find relevant and why, so they can see the “what, so what, and now what” to understand the point of why you’re sending this.
2. Read the news. It’s important that you have a pulse on everything happening in the world. It’s not to say you need to be an expert on anyone specific thing, but you should have a general understanding on any given day of what is happening in the economy, business, real estate, politics, and religion. Stay away from bringing up religion and politics in conversation at work, as that may make people uncomfortable if they don’t agree with you, however, you want to ensure that you have a general understanding of what is happening so that of a topic is brought up, you are informed.
I achieve this two ways:
The News app on my phone. I preset the topics I am interested in learning about every morning and do a quick scroll of everything that happened overnight. It’s bery simple and effective. It also gives me some fun pop culture stories and moments to talk about as icebreakers as my calls start up.
Put the news on the TV while you are getting ready for your day. I will often listen to local news, and then move over to national / global news before hitting something like the Today Show to start the day with positive energy (because let’s be real here: much of the world news isn’t always that great).
3. Read (or listen) to books. The third element of growing your personal and professional self is to read. For some, reading comes easy. For others, they are heavily distracted with social media and life & work priorities to actually open a book.
Do what is right for you, but set a few goals throughout the course of the year to learn the topics you’re interested in. This should be led by what you are looking to develop in and you should hold yourself accountable to that.
For example, I am currently interested in strengthening my morning routine, so I have been reading Robin Sharma’s life principles, including learning from his 5 AM Club book and approach. This method helps people get better by waking up earlier in the day to practice exercise, spirituality, meditation and reading, while the world is still sleeping.
Find what works best for you and lean into that.
Another really great tip if you are not able to physically open a book is to purchase audible books so they are spoken to you. You can even go a step further and download the Headway app. It summarizes books into short few minute clips with the specific key takeaways you need to know. There is an annual fee but I find it incredibly valuable and I complement this with reading physical books. This is something that I put on anytime I have a free moment in the car, if I’m on a walk, exercising, etc..
And there you have it: use these tips to be and look smart in your personal and professional career.