In addition to traditional holiday and winter activities, many DocuWare team members will be catching up on their reading, listening to podcasts and browsing LinkedIn and Twitter. We’ve asked them about their favorites and hope you enjoy this curated list of their top picks. Here’s a look at what’s keeping members of the DocuWare team informed and entertained this year.
I subscribe to the World Economic Forum (WEF) posts on LinkedIn or Instagram. WEF features all kinds of stories from all over the world about new technologies, political initiatives, the influence of COVID-19, culture, climate change…Usually as video posts, but also statistics, pictures or short text. What I like best is the presentation of initiatives of people/companies/countries who try to improve their environment, e.g. a post about India recycling old plastic bottles as pavement for roads. Those stories are inspiring in times when you mainly read about the negative influences of climate change and old technologies and very seldom about what is being done to improve our situation.
I spend a lot of time with my head buried in technology, so I like to wake up with the Bloomberg’s Five Things to Start Your Day. It’s an interesting collection of stories from the last 24 hours about economics, the market, big business, tech and even a little politics as it relates to the economy. I enjoy taking a step back from the day-to-day details of my work and getting a wider view of where business and the economy are heading.
While my calendar these days allows for very little free time for “me” time – I take multiple short reading breaks throughout a day to clear my mind. Entering my feed are articles about current events, the latest on COVID, and interesting short reads on my favorite sports teams, golf, racing and the stock market. Incidentally, I cleansed my feed of most political or election-related sources a few months back. I read at least two books on every vacation as a means of entertainment and decompression. Always fiction - often a techno thriller. Military action and spy craft are an easy hook for me, too. It's been some time, but I’m usually up for a nice “western” as well. I was also recently introduced to the Morning Brew daily newsletter, which may have some staying power.
I subscribe to the Wired newsletter for articles about technology, business, culture and science - including well-researched articles on COVID-19. I also like the Forbes Daily Dozen which features articles about top entrepreneurs and their accomplishments. These newsletters keep me up to date, and are a great source of ideas. My favorite novel this year is The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek about a traveling librarian who is part of Roosevelt's Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project and celebrates how reading can change peoples' lives.
I’m very passionate about improving the work environment in accounting and HR. I have firsthand knowledge of working in a totally paper environment back in the '70s, and so many great things have happened to improve business processes in today’s digital office. I follow industry trends through my membership in The Institute of Finance and Management and by reading CFO magazine. As a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), I enjoy reading their daily and weekly newsletters, HR magazine, and HR Executive. It is truly amazing what technology has done in these areas and continues to do.
Reading is one of my greatest pleasures, as many of my colleagues can attest to – my nose is buried deep in a book every day on my train commute. This year I’ve read some wonderful books, like Stillness is the Key by Ryan Holiday, The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle, Talking to Strangers by Malcom Gladwell, and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari. When it comes to periodicals and blogs, the Harvard Business Review is my absolute favorite – this month I was fascinated by an article exploring the trends and effectiveness of digital tools that are revolutionizing the mental health care field. Follow me on Goodreads to see what books I’m reading now.
My best find this year has been the podcast You’re Wrong About which explores culturally significant events of the past and dives deep into the how and why they occurred and their lasting impact. The OJ Simpson trial, the life of Princess Diana, the DC Sniper, the Y2k bug and dozens of other topics are forensically examined with the clarity of hindsight, challenging common assumptions and usually proving that how we remember events is only a shade of the truth. My favorite fiction of the year was Piranesi, a beautiful modern fairy tale of vast hidden lost cities.
I’m the kind of person who likes to read a lot about a lot of different topics. Unfortunately, time restricts this passion of mine and so I love The Skimm. This daily newsletter offers serious and fun news topics. One quick read provides details on what health experts are saying about the COVID-19 vaccine, tech news, politics and more, while also delivering fun lighthearted news that keeps me entertained – this week I learned that The Weeknd will perform at next year’s Super Bowl. I’m just happy we will have a Super Bowl – I love the ads… did I mention I’m in marketing?
I subscribe to the Society for Human Resource Management's (SHRM) HR Daily. It’s curated by experts from the HR field. The newsletter offers daily insights on workplace compliance, talent acquisition and management, HR technology, and compensation and benefits. This is a great way to make sure I’m staying up to date on emerging trends and everything HR related. Additionally, I enjoy NPR articles and podcasts related to arts and music, business, technology and politics. Two favorite podcasts are Throughline and Pop Culture Happy Hour.
We hope we've introduced you to a new group of books, newsletters and podcasts. Let us know what you read or listen to that keeps you in the loop.
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