Why are so many business and marketing books written by successful people? I know it sounds logical, but let’s think about this for a minute.

We read all these books to gain insight from other people’s knowledge. But, how does one get this “knowledge?” Typically, you learn from your mistakes. So, if you’ve never made any mistakes, how can you teach anything?

Let’s say you studied hard in highschool, got into an ivy league college, then you went on to a first rate business school before scoring the perfect internship. Then you where on your way to being a CEO of a Fortune 500 company before turning 35. Hmmm, I’m guessing you haven’t screwed up very much.

If you really want to learn something, you want a book by someone who’s screwed up often, and really bad. When you get advice, you want to know its from someone whos done it wrong, and can hopefully tell you why it didn’t work. Really, you want someone who lacks the common sense to have done it right the first time.

What you want is a book called “Marketing for Dummies by Dummies”. So, to all the book publishers reading this, how about dropping me a line. I promise I have no idea what I’m talking about.

About The Author - My name is Stirling McLaughlin. I am married. I am an Art Director, Designer and Illustrator. I work at Atmosphere BBDO. I have lots of ideas. I have a baby girl named Nika Bean. I live in New York City. When I was in college, they put me on TV because I wore a mask and yelled at people. I have a reality show that I wil be starting… any day now. - See My Portfolio