Two Forms of Media Leaders Should Always Be Devouring

Read Time ~6 Minutes

You and I are probably going to devour something, so let’s devour what actually helps.

It is important to be balanced with regard to the media we consume.

Normally, I can easily pull myself away from a show. But when a new season of Daredevil comes out on Netflix, all bets are off. If you’re not familiar with the show, it has just the right mix of fighting, rage, heroism, and grit.

But there are also MANY really dumb shows. I don’t want to drop names but some of the things we consume are little more than bubble gum for the brain. That’s probably fine to a degree; if it helps us recover and rest by NOT thinking when we’ve been thinking too long and hard.

Leaders should be devouring more leadership material than anyone else, and our choices should be HEALTHY and HELPFUL.

HEALTHY

Healthy media does something POSITIVE for your soul. It stirs up feelings of INTEGRITY, nobility and spiritual progress.

Take a look at your past week. What was it filled with?

Mindless drivel?
Worthless chatter on a morning talk show?
Television that mostly made you feel “icky”?

It’s a problem when we begin to prefer grizzle and sugar over actual food.

Those who have understanding hearts hunger after knowledge, but those with no understanding feast on foolishness. Proverbs 15:14 (The Voice)

As you think about what you allow to come out of the media hose and into your brain, what does Jesus give a thumbs up about? Anything He is feeling awkward about?

HELPFUL

Because we are talking about LEADERSHIP, what we consume should genuinely challenge our competency, call us higher in terms of skill, and conceptually or principally help us to see the future with greater clarity.

Part of being the leader is that we have some idea or suggestion of what to do NEXT.

Through devouring good information, we have eyes to see the signposts, patterns, and opportunities that others don’t yet see.

For this to be true, we must be scoping out the lands we’re ABOUT to go into by reading, listening, learning while others are sleeping.

So what DO we consume?

Two Forms of Media Leaders Should Always Be Devouring

1. HEALTHY & HELPFUL BOOKS (& AUDIO BOOKS)

“Wise men store up knowledge.” Proverbs 10:14, NASB95

We may naturally have the raw material for leadership, but without consistent reading, we’re going to remain a leadership child. As a pattern, a leader is always sharpening their mind.

The good news is that audiobooks count as reading. While retention may be slightly less, you’ll make up for it in sheer quantity. Not everything in a print book is equally important or helpful, and an audiobook lets you skip ahead or speed things up when you’re in a patch that just isn’t that helpful.

Your most enjoyable reading will be about questions and problems you have RIGHT NOW, or that clue you into the questions you SHOULD have.

Think about what you’re reading:

Do you regularly read intellectually stimulating, helpful things,?
Are you reading more of that which will expand your heart and thinking?
Can you trade one hour of TV for one hour of reading or audiobook listening?

I find it helpful also to vary my categories of consumption. There are no rigid rules here, but I’ll try to read something from each of these categories over a two-month stint:

Leadership/devotional life
Practical ministry advice
Business and organizational leadership
Intellectually stimulating practical life advice (not necessarily Christian)
Theological devotional material
American revolutionary era biographies
Christian biography

2. HEALTHY & HELPFUL PODCASTS

Today we have the opportunity to literally be mentored by many of the greatest leaders in the world. FOR FREE.

“He who walks with wise men will be wise.” Proverbs 13:20, NASB95

I cannot even begin to communicate how helpful it is to hear high-level niche conversations between thought leaders and people trying to make an impact.

Are you listening to podcasts from the thought-leaders in your area of expertise?

Here are the podcasts that always find their way onto my phone.

So let’s quit it with so much junk food and begin devouring what actually helps.

One other side benefit is that podcasts are notorious for recommending OTHER sources of great leadership content, so they’re often like the gift that keeps on giving.

Leadership lesson: While a growing leader SHOULD value rest and recreation, they must proactively press themselves to keep devouring new, helpful, and healthy information so they can lead with competency.

Pray it:

Lord, you have made so much wisdom and advice available to me. I long to be truly helpful to you and to those I influence. Would you lay on my heart the types of media you’d like me to be devouring more often? Please, in Your mercy, give me an insatiable hunger for knowledge that is beneficial to my organization and help me, even if only through podcasts, to walk with wise men and women. You’re wonderful. Amen.

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Posted on February 5, 2018