Keep on Keeping Up

I admit it. I am an iPod fan. It took me a while to utilize the 30 gig iPod that my family gave me for my birthday, but it is in full use now. I have about 400 songs ranging from the Zombies to Springsteen to B.B. King and on to the Pernice Brothers. I also have some business podcasts, television shows (Dragnet) and some audio books. I use my iPod when exercising and it seems I run out of energy, or battery power, before I run out of content.

Ah, content. I am buried in it. RSS feeds, e-mail summaries, newsletters, magazines, trade journals, blogs, business newspapers (and their daily e-mail blasts) it is taking me longer and longer to review it on a timely basis. Add the new BusinessWeek audio feed and keeping up can be a full time job. No time to read the magazine? Someone will read it to you.

Yet, as purchasing professionals, not keeping up can hurt us. Badly. Just look at the recent wave of mergers and acquisitions. While it may seem like a financial play, it really does impact the supply chain somewhere. I’ve often found that the smallest news brief in a Boston Globe sidebar often has the biggest impact on me or my company.

So stay current. Find your news somewhere and read it regularly. Clip and read the things that have an impact on you, your company, or your suppliers. Forward articles, links, or items of interest to those in and out of your company. Staying current has never been easier, or harder. The avalanche of content can bury you or it can separate you from those less inclined to keep up. Make it your personal competitive advantage.