Is feedback a gift or a punch in the mouth? Depends on how it’s done
Posted On August 2, 2018
Is feedback really a gift? We like to say that it is, but sometimes it feels like a punch in the mouth. That’s because feedback is often not given or received in a way that allows it to be appreciated or effective. To be effective, it has to be appreciated – or at least accepted. So says our guest in this episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” – Michael Nash of Nash Consulting, whose 18 years of direct executive management experience and 20 years of work as a consultant, executive coach and trainer are a testament to the wisdom… Read More
Categories: Podcast, Workplace
Tips for the Gen X manager: Get out there and communicate
Posted On July 24, 2018
For years, meetings were the bane of a Generation X employee’s existence. What a time suck, they thought. What a colossal waste — time spent yapping and staring at each other that would be better spent working. When I’m running things, they told themselves, we aren’t doing this anymore. Well, now they are running things. And true to their word, many of them did away with meetings altogether. Our guest in this episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” is Stephanie Constantine, an HR consultant in my hometown of Mobile who tells us why that plan isn’t working – and… Read More
Categories: Generation X, Podcast, Uncategorized, Work, Workplace
Perks created to attract employees today could become standard tomorrow
Posted On July 11, 2018
Phil Smoker finds himself in a unique situation these days. The fifth generation to build Smoker Craft boats, Smoker has seen his company average about 20 percent growth since rebounding from the recession in 2010. He’s had to hire a lot of people to keep up with that growth. And now for the unique part: His company is located in Elkhart County, Indiana, where about half of all the RVs in the country are built. The unemployment level in Elkhart County is 2.4 percent – just under half the national rate. So Smoker, whose company builds several different brands of… Read More
Categories: Podcast, Recruiting, Workplace
Growing too fast or not growing at all: the questions CEOs should ask themselves
Posted On July 7, 2018
What does a CEO need to focus on if his or her company is stagnant and starting to lose business to competitors? What about the CEO of a company that is growing so fast it can’t hire fast enough? While these two situations are wildly different – even opposite – the questions they need to be asking themselves are largely the same. Our guest in this week’s episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” is Gary Frey of Insight CXO, a Charlotte-based firm that provides coaching for CEOs of mid-market companies looking to manage their growth or maintain their foothold… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Podcast, Work, Workplace
How to master presentations and become a more confident communicator
Posted On June 27, 2018
Jerry Seinfeld once said that if most people had a choice at a funeral, they’d rather be in the casket than give the eulogy. Indeed, many of us are terrified of public speaking. Simply communicating, when asked to do it in front of a large group of people, can by paralyzing – but it doesn’t have to be. Our guest in this episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” is Lou Solomon, an author, TEDx speaker, adjunct college business instructor, founder of Charlotte-based Interact Authentic Communication, and an expert in interpersonal communication and presentation skills. We know that, even as… Read More
Categories: Podcast, Training Industry
With unemployment cratering, the challenge now is to fill open jobs
Posted On June 21, 2018
People shouldn’t have much trouble finding a job right now. Unemployment in the U.S. was 3.8 percent in May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics– an 18-year low. That’s great, right? Of course, if you’re a worker. If you’re an employer looking to hire, it presents a problem: Filling out a workforce. And filling it out with the right people. Our guest in this episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” is Ed Castile, Deputy Secretary of Commerce, Workforce Development Division, for the state of Alabama and Director of AIDT– Alabama Industrial Development Training. His job is to help… Read More
Categories: Podcast, Training Industry, Workplace
Did God create the Internet?
Posted On June 13, 2018
It’s an intriguing question, and one that our guest this week on “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” Scott Klososky, examines in a book by the same title. As a technologist, Klososky is concerned with what technology is doing to us, whether its benefits to society outweigh its drawbacks, and whether we are concerning ourselves with its consequences as we should. He shares his thoughts on these topics with us, but he also delves into a technological topic that should be a lot more immediate to business owners – cybersecurity. It’s not just rogue hackers attacking governmental entities and corporations anymore…. Read More
Categories: Podcast
Demystifying your paycheck: Who FICA is and why he’s taking your money
Posted On June 6, 2018
During an NBA career that spanned two decades, Shaquille O’Neal made more money per season than most of us will ever see in our lives. But when he got his first paycheck, he had a revelation with which most of us can relate: “Who the hell is FICA?” he famously asked. “When I meet him, I’m going to punch him in the face.” Michael Roe had a similar revelation, visiting his manager’s office after receiving his first paycheck to complain about being shortchanged. The experience inspired Roe to educate himself about personal finance and ultimately to create The Financial Millennial… Read More
Categories: Financial Services, Podcast, Wealth
When it comes to change, slow and steady wins the race
Posted On June 2, 2018
Change is difficult. It’s often necessary in business to usher in new leadership, to reverse an undesirable trend, to take advantage of new opportunities, or simply to keep up with or a step ahead of the competition. But we humans are naturally reluctant to accept change, predisposed to prefer the known status quo to the unknown. The result is often a workforce that is pulled kicking and screaming into the company’s new reality, retreating into the defensive position of protecting its jobs, and slowing and complicating the process with its recalcitrance. But my guest in this week’s episode of “What’s… Read More
Categories: Podcast, Work, Workplace
Getting creative: How to know when you need outside help
Posted On May 23, 2018
What is creativity? The answer to that question will be different depending upon who you ask. But to Rich Sullivan, CEO of Red Square Agency in Mobile, it’s really quite simple. “Really, creativity to me is the ability to adapt,” Sullivan says, “the ability to take what’s happened — facts and experiences and trends that you can draw a backwards line on — and be able to look what’s going to happen and predict something or literally influence what the future is.” Influencing the future is what Sullivan’s clients would like him to do – particularly, influencing their future sales…. Read More
Categories: Advertising, Podcast, Product Design