Want to get Smarter?

Assuming your answer is yes, unless you're J.K. Rowling, I have a suggestion. Check out Axios.

As all of you are aware, we are in the midst of an insane and revolutionary time where the definition of newsworthiness is constantly evolving and changing. We live in a 24 hour news cycle where it seems like everything is worth reporting like this and this and everything is breaking news. It can be extremely hard to see what is important to read and what isn't. On top of that, we all lead busy lives with short attention spans, and don't have time to let alone sort through pages of articles but then read them. Even worse, we hear fake news every other minute so how do we know what is true or what is exaggerated?!

On top of that, I think it's important to note that news doesn't fall mostly into politics anymore. As I said, times are changing and they are changing fast - too fast for the government that is rigged with partisan gridlock. Therefore, the private sector is stepping up. The general public, corporations and industries (ie. entertainment, sports, etc.) are stepping up to fill the gaps that the government has been leaving. Here are some examples: Twitter | #BoycottNRA & NonProfits | Paris Climate Deal | Delta. In short, corporate social responsibility is sexy and taking a stance is now trendy. Corporate America is shaping policy and Time's Up.

At this point, you're probably wondering how this makes you smarter considering you knew all of this. Well, this brings me back to Axios. Roy Schwartz, Mike Allen (think Politico Playbook) and Jim Vandehei saw this all coming before Trump was elected and knew they had to act fast. They founded Axios and launched it a week before President Trump's inauguration with the goal of helping you get SMARTER FASTER. Axios is literally the greek word for worthy and I promise you it is worthy of your attention. They aim to provide ONLY content worthy of people’s time, attention and trust. Their stories are all brief with only the details that you need to know to make you smarter. There is NO fluff. They also only pick stories that they feel are worthy of your attention so that you don't have to worry about sorting through their site to find the newsworthy pieces.

They understand that we don't all just follow politics but rather function at the intersection of each other. Here are all the sections they offer news and information on:

They have an amazing series of newsletters that range from daily to weekly to bi-weekly from specially selected experts. Insider tip: use the business, media or healthcare one for interview material. My favorite? Mike Allen's daily AM Newsletter.

Mike Allen was one of the founders of Politico. Every morning, I get the AM newsletter to my inbox and it is Allen's top 10 picks of what you need to know about what is going on in the news/world. The best part is that in my opinion there is no partisan slant. It truly feels like I am just getting straight information and facts on what is going on in the world. Allen also is extremely well connected with amazing sources. At the bottom he always puts, "be smart" so that you can get the "bottom line" of the story. That way if you are REALLY in a rush you can understand what is going on and why it matters in a sentence. I start my day feeling informed. Also, I got the chance to meet Mike Allen and he was AWESOME.

In short, too many of us are moving through life far too ill informed and this is a great solution. Don't be one of those people!