Business is always buzzing about leadership. Whether it’s market leadership, thought leadership, or a lack of leadership, hardly any topic garners as much discussion as what it means to be a leader.

This weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Social Learning Summit (SLS11), hosted by the American University Social Media Club. After two days and six panels I came away with a fresh outlook on the digital world we live in, as well as new tips and strategies to navigate an increasingly complex digital landscape.

As citizens, we know it is our civic duty to learn the issues, study the candidates, vote! But too often, it seems folks are taking sides just spoiling for the fight. Recent political and spiritual rallies in Washington have remained peaceful and we are glad of that. But it seems our ability to debate, respect opposing views, compromise and come-through with a democratic process has been under siege.

As the hottest summer on record in Washington, D.C., quickly comes to a close, it’s interesting to note that this wind-down isn’t unique to the weather. As communications and media professionals across the city can attest, job openings in the traditional media sector are also winding down. Who hasn’t seen the cuts across all aspects of the traditional media business?

I would disagree with the venerable PR “blog-father” Peter Himler who says the Old Media still beats New Media on a good day. It’s true that the Twittersphere “lights up,” as Peter writes, when the NYT dolls out a big scoop. But what about when Twitter scoops the media?

In case you haven’t heard, USA Today is firing 10 percent of its workforce. Unfortunately for the once-largest print newspaper in the country, its advertising sales have dropped 50 percent since 2006 and it has lost nearly 25 percent of its readership since 2007. (As a result, the Wall Street Journal recently overtook USA Today as the U.S.’ largest paper by circulation.) Whew! Not so good.

It’s the YouTube video that pundits like Chris Matthews are calling one of the greatest political ads ever made.

As I’m sure many of you have seen, the “Social Media Revolution” video has recently been revamped to reflect social media’s latest – and fundamental impact on communicating today.

Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez announced this week that he, like more than 100 million others around the world, is joining Twitter as just one more way to broadcast his opinions to the world.

Other than the bad pay, here is another reason why I left journalism. The AP reports that U.S. newspaper circulation is down 8.7 percent from a year ago. Sunday circulation was down too, almost 7 percent. In layman’s terms, this means people are reading the newspaper less in hard copy format.