A friend of mine, remarking on my extensive library of books on advertising, sales, and management, said, “Wow, did you read all of those books? Your library must be worth a fortune.”
Yes, I did read them all! Advertising and sales management has been a passion of mine since I sold my first ad nearly 50 years ago. And, while over time, my library did cost a fortune, upon further reflection, I came to the painful realization that it’s no longer worth a fortune.
Why? Revisiting some of the landmark volumes, I quickly realized that most are dated and no longer pertinent in a rapidly changing advertising, sales, and business management world. The foundation marketing textbooks used by universities as recently as 10 years ago, for example, make no mention of social media or mobile.
Old-school thinking about motivation misses the point that most millennials are more motivated by technology, learning, contributing, and trying new things than they are by titles or dollars.
While some of the basics written by the likes of Al Reiss, Jim Collins, Jack Welch, Dale Carnegie and Jack Trout, to name a few, remain true, they are no longer ground breaking. They’re simply the basics and price of entry into a successful advertising, sales and management career.
You can bet your competitors know the basics as well as you do.
The winners in a rapidly evolving world, with changing demographics and motivations, will be those who don’t rest on their laurels or past experience, and who gravitate towards innovation and new competitive edges.