If you’re like me (ok, I could be alone on this one), you constantly browse your favorite book store, which in my case is Barnes and Noble, in search of new nuggets of knowledge. With my background being in communications (primarly advertising and PR), I tend to stick to that section, always hoping to run across something new and interesting.

Fortunately for me, there is no shortage of good advertising/marketing books. Or so I thought. The fact is, once you’ve read one, you’ve read them all. I’ve read books from Seth Godin, Brian Solis, and other marketing greats. But, after getting to the second or third book, I’ve realized a trend. They are all saying the exact same thing. I’ll even go as far as saying that they repeat themselves constantly, chapter after chapter.

What is it they they repeat? They all say the same thing, that being — listen. Listen to your customers. And then act accordingly. That’s it. That’s what every book spends chapter trying to explain.

To me it was frustrating to read these books. I wondered if ‘listening” was really that big of a change for the industry. Yes, we have this new technology known as social media, and many authors treat learning social media as if it’s on par with learning advanced calculus. The truth is, it’s not. Using social media is easier than reading any of the books trying to explain it.

My point is, if you are in the communication business, don’t look in the marketing/advertising/sales section. Focus on learning other things. Look at authors that focus on trends, human psychology, pop culture. Or maybe look at something that inspires you, like art books/magazines or plain old fictional stories.