On Resources, Statistics and Time

December 11th, 2014

It’s good to share. I’m told.

 

I’m taking a one-week break on the blog series about millennials (it’s a hot-topic, but not necessarily for everyone), to answer a question that was posed to me on an email from an old client and good friend last week. We’ll resume that series next week, (and it looks like there will be a white paper coming on it so…stay tuned!)

So back to the email, the question was…

“Hey, if it’s no secret, how do you keep up with what is going on in employment brand? Where do you get new ideas and thinking from?”

The context of the question was that my friend knew I have other work interests outside of EVP and digital brand/culture psychology that I am incredibly lucky to be able to pursue. Due to that, I am unashamed to admit that I am not someone who buries their head in every text, web site or published periodical about HR, Human Capital Management, Digital, Marketing and items of that ilk. Not looking to return to the treatise on Millennial thinking, but I suffer no FOMO.

So to share! I’ve got one method for content filtering that I use (which could actually apply to any subject you want to keep up to date with), and one web-site that I go to for background reading, and finally a research method that I use. The first method helps me filter the web as a whole, the second method is a great way to be exposed to new thinking.

 

1. Filtering and safeguarding

I use three tools.

FEEDLY

Collates subjects I am interested in by keyword, across all my interests. Time invested in setting up FEEDLY correctly is saved a million times over in what it pulls back for me. For instance – “EVP statistics” is one of the subjects I have delivered to FEEDLY. And I go into FEEDLY once a week. I don’t have it in every device, just on a desktop mac, because sitting at the computer (say after a writing session) puts me in the frame of mind for skimming content.

POCKET

I don’t read in FEEDLY. I skim in FEEDLY, and harshly filter content by sending it to POCKET. Why? POCKET lets you read anything any device that you have saved…even if you have no Internet connection at the time. Train, plane, in the country, in a tunnel, in a cave. POCKET has the stuff I need. One 15 minute session on FEEDLY once a week, gives me about 7 hours of things to read on POCKET, once a week. Now if I read something on POCKET that I think is awesome…EVERNOTE.

EVERNOTE

Keyword tag and search any document, spreadsheet, PDF, photograph, map location, infographic…anything I’ve deemed worthy of keeping. Again, it syncs wirelessly in the background, meaning of got 5 years worth of research on my phone, without needing an internet connection to read it. You can even share stacks of notes on it with other users.

 

2. Original Sources

My favourite web-site for new thinking or just plain interesting stuff to read to challenge your own thoughts.

SSRN

So much to discover there, on any subject – and if the full work is not available, you have the contact details required to get hold of the work. What a great resource. And if you’re wondering about the value of sharing…here’s a document on SSRN for you about the value of sharing.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2454667

Further Reading
https://www.cloudwards.net/best-note-taking-apps/

Comments? Thoughts?