Identifying the trends shaping today’s workplace, workforce, and marketplace. Guests bring insight and lessons into the trends shaping their business, allowing listeners to learn, adapt, and get a little bit better at whatever it is they do.
What’s Working is currently broadcast 28 times weekly in 25 markets across the US, primarily in the southeast. The What’s Working with Cam Marston® 90-Second Business Tips are broadcasting 415+ times each weekday in 46 markets across the country. More stations join nearly every week.
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With all the free weather apps avaialble, why pay for a forecast? Because Crown Weather offers something a bit more, a bit personal. Rob Lightbrown offers a subscription only weather forecast that gets into the weeds of the weather. I was referred to him by a retired banker who used Rob’s service to help his agricultural clients try to prepare for the storms that may destroy their crops. I spoke to Rob a few weeks ago where he predicted that by late July and early August there would likely be some tropical storm activity forming. And, as I write this today, right on cue, there is prediction of a storm in the Atlantic to arrive around August first. Rob offers something additional to his subscribers, too. Want a weather prediction for your picnic? Your outdoor wedding reception? Your high school football game? He’ll gladly reply to your request with your own personal weather forecast for your event. Pretty cool.
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Last – The best daily news newsletter I’ve found is Morning Brew. I’ve read it every morning for years. Good content written with a dash of snark. Find it here.
Who is the hero of your business? Too often, it’s you. It SHOULD be the customer. Stephanie Greenwood is a StoryBrand consultant and explains it all so simply to me. She’s with IMMIX Strategic and walks me through the process. The customer is the hero. You – the business – are a guide that helps the hero overcome their problem. You bring them to solutions and help them avoid disaster. It’s so simple. And yet we botch it again and again.
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Leadership consultant and author Brandon Smith has written a book that I’ve had referenced to me too many times in the past weeks to simply ignore. Called Author vs Editor Dilemma, the book is a management and leadership guide with simple plans for turning your employees into a more highly productive team. It’s a simple concept – as the leader, too often you’re an author, telling people what to do. You need to edit – guide their behavior and leave them to take initiative. On with Brandon and me is Wills Moore. Wills is an executive coach and uses the book in his client interfaces. Wills shares stories of the book has changed his client’s efficacy.
Brandon Smith – “The Workplace Therapist” or “The Worksmiths“
Wills Moore – Agilitas Human Resource Consulting, 404.863.6511
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Cline Jones spent time as a boy watching the locks and dams near his home take and receive tow-boats on the river. The attraction of the work was deep and he signed up to be a part of that industry. Today he’s the Executive Director of the Tennessee River Valley Association and the Tennessee-Cumberland Waterways Council. He knows the numbers: the 12,000 miles of waterways transport 1/3 of the nation’s GDP; 541,000 jobs come from the inland waterways; 15 barges equals 1000+ 18 wheelers or 216 train cars. There are 219 locks operating today. And it’s the locks and dams that worry him the most. Many are well over their 50 year life-cycle for which they were designed. We discuss the waterways, their infrastructure, and their threats.
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Economist Connor Lokar says it’s goign to get worse before it gets better. Then it’s going to get much worse. Connor is with ITR Economics. He and his firm work with businesses to help them prepare for economic change. Avowedly apolitical, Connor and his team only say the November election is unlikely to change our economy in any meaningful way, regardless of who wins the presidential election. To get a good read on the economy you need to know government spending, demographics, imports and exports, and a dozen other numbers. Connor knows his stuff, and you’ll want to hear what our future holds.
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Lots of changes coming to workplace rules ranging from the legality of non-compete agreements to changes to the salary of exempt employees. Windy Bitzer of the Hand Arendall law firm explains the changes and what they mean for you and me.
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Lots of chatter out there about AI. Lots. Every day some some sort of news about how it will make our world unbelievably better and another about how it will be the end of humanity. I reached out to Kai Gray to ask him to answer some questions – what can AI really do? Aside from being the best source tech help I’ve ever found, what can it do for me? Today? Right now? It wrote me a sonnet to read to my wife on Valetines Day (which my wife thought was the most romantic thing I’ve ever done until she learned the truth) but what practical application does it have for me, right here, today. Well, listen to find out.
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Tenaska has created a method for capturing the greenhouse gasses emited from industrial sites and pushing it through pipelines to a hub where it is injected 10,000 feet under ground. The diposal site must have a top layer of impermeable rock and the CO2 ultimately turns into an inert stone. The process requires a significant investment and Tenaska (the biggest privately held company you’ve never heard of) has what it takes. Tenaska rep Brett Estep leads me through how it works.
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For years Scott McKain has led audiences and his consulting clients how to become distinct and different in a crowded marketplace. His approach is simple yet most companies won’t do it – what are the extra things you can do to remain memorable to customers and how can you incorporate them into your business? Most people will claim their expertise is all they need to secure business, not the small, additional customer service items. That’s where they’re wrong. In a crowded and competitive marketplace, standing out requires more.
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Burnie Juneau can walk into a business and tell if it is franchisable. He’s gained a sense of how easy it will be based on his years of experience. His approach to the owner is “are you interested in growing quickly.” The company he works for, Franchise Marketing Systems, does all the paperwork, files the trademark documents, and readies the business owner for growth. FMS then goes on to help sell the franchises, too, marketing the opportunity and finding the right customers.
If you like what Burnie has to say, he offers his phone number: 225.733.4680.
Show Sponsors:
Find Cam Marston’s book – What Works: The Ten Best Ideas from the First Two-Hundred Episodes on Amazon.com.
To get the Top 3 Tips of the show each week and a Free Chapter of What Works, sign up here.