A small dream came true this past Saturday when I had a book signing at Fairhope’s Page & Palette book store for my new book, What Works. Sales were brisk for only brief moments of time but the event itself was what I was after. Behind me on the table are books by authors I’ve always admired (Rick Bragg, Watt Key, Winston Groome, are but a few) and to be sitting next to them with a book of my own was very special for me. Friends and family came by to check on me, buy a book, and visit for a… Read More
Categories: Advertising, What's Working with Cam MarstonWhen your job is to recruit informants for the CIA, you learn to ask the right questions. Blake Mobley did just that while working as a counterintelligence officer under two presidents. It was an experience that taught him how to look for the structural weaknesses in organizations, how to find what motivates people, and the sorts of questions one needs to ask to really learn what they need to know about a person. Those are valuable tools in the hiring process, too. And in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” Mobley shares how some of the lessons… Read More
Categories: Blog, Podcast, Recruiting, What's Working with Cam MarstonDr. David Bronner wasn’t the first choice to lead the Retirement Systems of Alabama when the job was last open back in 1973. He wasn’t the second or third choice. He wasn’t even the 100th choice. But he was the right choice. Bronner, who grew up in Minnesota before coming to Alabama for law school, ended up running the state’s retirement system because neither of the two most powerful men in the state at that time – Gov. George Wallace and Paul Hubbert, then head of the Alabama Education Association – knew who he was. And therefore, after about 160… Read More
Categories: Advertising, Blog, Financial Services, Podcast, Real Estate, Succession Planning, What's Working with Cam MarstonThey call the entertainment industry “show business” for a very good reason. As one great showman I met recently told me: “If you have no show, you have no business. If you have no business, you have no show.” That showman is Bello Nock, a seventh-generation entertainer, circus performer and daredevil who performs around the country. You might have seen him on America’s Got Talent a few years ago, You might remember him from his years with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. You might have seen him in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest unsupported… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam MarstonSuccessful succession planning isn’t just a plan. It’s a process. That’s what Scot Hunsaker has been preaching to his clients for nearly a decade as the Managing Partner of Ardent Group, an organization that mentors business leaders. And he hasn’t just preached it, he’s done it. In 1999, Hunsaker bought the firm his father built – Counsilman Hunsaker, an engineering firm that designs aquatics facilities. He grew the company from one office to five, from 10 employees to 50, and took the business global. Among its projects are recreation centers at the University of Alabama and UAB and Olympic facilities… Read More
Categories: Succession Planning, What's Working with Cam MarstonOn Wednesday, July 15th at Noon Central, the What’s Working with Cam Marston radio show will feature customer service and leadership expert Mark Sanborn as our first webinar guest. Mark will discuss his research into the post-Covid work environment and what leaders and teams need to know about team formation, productivity, and sustainability and what customers will need that will be different going forward. Mark’s unique qualifications as a nationally recognized authority on leadership and customer service offer the What’s Working audience the unique opportunity hear the content directly from the expert himself. Covid has introduced permanent changes to the… Read More
Categories: Blog, Training Industry, What's Working with Cam MarstonDid you know that, according to government statistics, nearly 70 percent of businesses affected by a major disaster will go out of business within the next two years? Russell Fountain’s business is to help companies and organizations avoid that fate. Our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” Fountain is the owner of Global Disaster Solutions, a construction consulting and disaster recovery company that helps businesses, hospitals, schools and individuals deal with the aftermath of disasters – natural or otherwise. Fountain started his business after 15 years as an insurance adjuster and a decade of working… Read More
Categories: What's Working with Cam MarstonDid you know there is a nationally famous builder of skateboards right across the bay in Fairhope, Alabama? I’m guessing you probably didn’t, and Bear Walker would just as soon keep it that way. Walker, our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” doesn’t publicize the location of his shop, but his work is well known across the country. He is the owner and creative force of Bear Walker Premium Boards, and if you’ve never heard of them, your kids probably have. Walker shares with us what makes his boards unique, from the high-quality maple deck… Read More
Categories: What's Working with Cam MarstonIf you watched Daniel Jones or Gardner Minshew play in the NFL this year, or if you’ve followed Jake Fromm or Shea Patterson in the college ranks, you’ve seen the work of David Morris and his company, QB Country. Morris, who joined us in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” is a former star high school quarterback and a self-described “career second-stringer” at Ole Miss who founded QB Country, a quarterback training and development company that works with players from middle school all the way up to the NFL. Morris has built QB Country from a sideline… Read More
Categories: What's Working with Cam MarstonThere’s something special about a family-owned business. And in many of them, no one knows that better than the employees. “I think when you have a family-owned business, I think you get very close to employees, especially employees that have been around a really long time,” said Brent Barkin, president and CEO of Shoe Station, and our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston.” “Because of the longevity of being a family-owned business, you kind of grow up around these people. I wouldn’t say it’s trite that you starting thinking of them as family,” says Barkin,… Read More
Categories: Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam Marston