There’s such an onslaught of news to be found on any of the many digital platforms that people use that it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. This can take root easily in a personal sense, but it might also be something that you struggle with from a business perspective.
After all, you’re not just trying to stay informed; you’re trying to figure out how you can use this information to carve out a path ahead. In order to do that, you need to compress this enormous amount of information into something that’s more actionable and relevant.
Understand the Reality
Whenever you look at a news story, it’s easy to get carried away with hypotheticals. What does this mean? What if this comes to pass? How would I prepare if that happened? It can be valuable to be aware of consequences and prepare yourself for a direction in which things might move, but that doesn’t mean that you should completely neglect the present reality of the situation. Becoming too lost in hypotheticals makes an assumption that these hypotheticals have already come to pass. This can be especially problematic when news platforms function in such a way where sensationalism and more attention-grabbing headlines seem to win out.
Being aware of the present fact of the matter can prevent you from abruptly changing your course based on what might happen. This could run the risk of your business lacking a cohesive direction, or it could lead to doubt in your leadership capabilities.
Industry Specific?
While you might try to funnel out news stories based on how relevant they are to your industry, this might result in you tuning out a lot of more general content. However, it’s important to recognize that you share a lot of ground with businesses in all kinds of industries. If there’s a news story about the strengths of Postman vs. Insomnia when it comes to API utility, for example, that could carry a lot of weight in regards to how you design your own website – even if web development isn’t necessarily a prominent priority for your brand. This kind of mentality can help you sift through stories and understand how different elements might impact you.
Wider News/Business News
Of course, not all business that is relevant to your brand is going to strictly be business news. How the wider economy is faring or shifts in relevant technologies (such as social media) can paint a picture of how you should approach your next steps. The economy is likely a topic that you already considered relevant, but the kind of story that you’re looking for won’t always be linked to the topic of business in such an obvious way. What if, for example, you’re looking at local news and you find that the area in which your business is situated is about to have a new set of homes built within it? For many businesses, this could have an impact on how much business they see due to the increased proximity of potential customers.
