Business executive Jon Belsher helps leaders to effectively keep on top of world news, national news and industry news while still doing their job.

1. Where Leaders
Get Their News
By Jon Belsher

2. “Not all readers are leaders, but all
leaders are readers.” – Harry Truman

3. Harry Truman has some great advice: leaders should
read. But since Truman’s presidency, the way we read
and get our news has drastically changed. Back then
we mostly had books, print newspapers and
magazines that were read cover to cover. These days,
there are a wide variety of outlets to read and
mediums to ingest them — and most news is
ingested in bits and pieces!

4. Not only do you have traditional print media, but
there are online and electronic versions, apps on
your phone or tablet, e-newsletters and social
media. And don’t forget about all the niche news
sources as well.

5. With so many outlets and mediums to choose from,
what is a leader to do? How does a leader effectively
keep on top of world news, national news and
industry news while still doing their job? Here are a
few key outlets and efficient ways to keep you
in the loop.

6. You can’t go wrong with reading the traditional
sources like The New York Times, The Wall Street
Journal and CNN. Read the front section, the
national and international section, and any niche
sections you specialize in. It can be daunting to visit
these websites every day, so you can subscribe to the
RSS feed to simplify the way you ingest news. This
keeps track of new content and strips down the
news to the bare essentials like the main text and
images.
Traditional News Sources

7. In addition to traditional news sources, you should
keep up with news in your industry as well via
magazines or e-newsletters. For general leadership
news, Forbes, Entrepreneur and Inc. focus on
business management, leadership and
entrepreneurship.
Niche Sources

8. In addition, you may also want to read publications
specific to your niche. If you’re involved in the
medical field like me, you may want to read
Prevention or the American Journal of Public Health.
You can subscribe to industry-specific e-newsletters
that arrive in your inbox every day. You may want to
consider subscribing to SmartBrief, which has more
than 200 e-newsletters in partnership with trade
associations and professional societies.
Niche Sources

9. In addition to the outlets I mentioned above, you can
also choose to get information from their social
media outlets like Facebook or Twitter. This may be
useful to keep you informed as you’re leisurely
scrolling. If you have a LinkedIn profile, follow other
leaders in your industry and check out what they’re
writing about in the Pulse section. Chances are you’re
hearing straight from these top leaders and reading
content that you can’t find anywhere else.
Social Media

10. There are definitely more outlets and ways to get
your news than what I have written in this blog.
Although it can be challenging to determine what
you should read, and where you should read it and
how you should read it, all leaders need to
effectively keep on top of the news. Where you and
your company will be two to five years from now will
depend on the sources its leader reads.

11. Jon Belsher is
the Chief
Medical Officer
for MedSpring
Urgent Care
and exemplifies
competency
and success in
both the
business and
medical fields.
jonbelsher.net