Identifying the trends shaping today’s workplace, workforce, and marketplace and discussions on culture and society. 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.
The What’s Working with Cam Marston® 90-Second Business Tips are broadcasting 415+ times each weekday in 46 markets across the country.
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Water, walks, and sleep. Those were the three biggest points that stood out when I heard Brad Davidson speak at a recent corporate event. He’s trained athletes ranging from high school football teams to NFL left tackles. His recipe for busy executives eaten up with stress is more water, longer walks, and better sleep. It’s a foundationally different approach to exercise for people in middle age than anything I’ve heard. His book on how to do it was a best seller.
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Meet my son Spencer. A tradition of What’s Working is to interview my children upon their high school graduation. He’s off to the University of Alabama in the fall. We discuss what skills he predicts will be needed in the job market, his prediction of the impact of AI on tomorrow’s workplace and where he hopes to land in the work world. You might hear me choke up a bit when telling him how proud his mother and I are of him.
Also in this show is Emma Gage’s review of Taylor Swift. Emma, an incoming high shool junior, is a “Swifty” and travelled to Houston with her father to see the show. Her review begins around minute 46 and she nails it.
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April McClung’s sons had a chance to travel abroad as high school students. April needed money to make it happen. A decison was made to use a family member’s old pound cake recipe to sell them at farmer’s markets. Today those cakes are sold at Sams and have been shipped across the country. Meet April, hear her amazing story, and become inspired by a woman who thought she had it all figured out until this cake recipe became a central part of her faith-driven live.
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ESG is not something “out there” or only discussed in political environments. ESG (environmental, social, governance) is here and is shaping the way businesses interact with each other and with customers. Kai Gray and his parters run Motive ESG. They work with businesses to improve their ESG scores, thereby enabling them to compete for business with some of the nation’s defense contractors, major manufactorers, building contractors and such. Kai predicts ESG will become a filter through which the next generation invests money and even buys product at the grocery store.
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I met Heikki Malinen at a conference in Point Clear, Alabama for his company, Outokumpu. His presentation showed a grasp of world events like none I’d seen before. He travels nearly non-stop, visiting the company’s stainless steel plants across the world. The war in Ukraine has impacted his company’s ability to get the affordable electricity he needs to power his plants in Europe. Workforce issues are a challenge to his facilities across Europe and the US. His challenges are familiar to listeners of What’s Working, but the scale is much different. You’ll find in Heikki, as is so often the case, a remarkable grasp of detail, a nice and friendly demeanor, and an infinite curioustiy.
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My book, What Works, highlights the 10 best ideas I heard in my first two hundred episoded of What’s Working.
I’ve long been suspcious that social media can do anything for me. For kids today, yes. For me, a middle aged guy? Hardly. Domenick D’Andrea and I met at a conference and he assured me that if I learn how and when to post and what subject matters people want to see, it will generate profitable business leads. I commit to try it, postng primarily to LinkedIn, to see what will happen. And Domenick says it can’t exclusively be business stuff, it has to be personal, too, like me zipping my suitcase and leaving the hotel room with a very short commentary. Seems crazy. Domenick is convinced. I commit to giving it a try.
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Find my book, What Works, highlighting the best ideas of the first 200 episodes on Amazon.
Dr Matt Barber loves his work as a orthopedic surgeon. It’s a combination of of skills that hits his sweet spot, including the advances in technology which peak his intersts. In the studio with me, Dr Barber has a sample of a knee made from a 3D printer of a patient’s scan including the slight imperfections caused by the patient’s age and wear and tear. Dr Barber and I discuss how technology continues to shape the profession, how people like him stay sharp and how you and I can talk to an orthopedist to determine if they’re on top of their game or not. It’s a thought provoking conversation that I loved.
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Find my book What Works at Amazon.com.
Cigar Aficionado magazine loves EP Carrillo cigars. And they should. The cigars are fantastic. The patriarch of the company is Ernesto Perez-Carrillo. He’s third generation in the business after his (thankfully) failed attempt to become a jazz drummer in New York City as a much younger man. Today he leads the company as they develop new product, supervise the growth of a variety of tobaccos in Central America, train rollers, and market across the world. His son and daughter – both brilliant – are also in the business and he’s grooming them to lead. This year they’re on track to make four million cigars. We talk family business, hurricanes, the youth market, and much more. And you’ll hear me geek out a bit because Mr. Carrillo is a bit of a celebrity to me – so dang cool to get to talk to him.
Check out What Works – my book highlighting the top ten business lessons I learned from the first 200 episodes of the show.
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Customer service still matters, though we don’t hear about it today like we used to. We know customers are increasingly disappointed in the service they receive. They have no problems blowing up social media when they get treated poorly. But customer service training and eduction is woefully lacking. And cheap, online customer service training…stinks. Pam Denham has trained customer service for years. She and I talk about what’s missing today and she offers some simple tips for taking service skills into your company.
Find my book, What Works, online.
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Scot Hunsaker was on the show last year talking about how to prepare employees to take over once the CEO decided to leave. He has a recipe for the process which we discussed in a very engaging conversation. Scot and his wife then boarded his boat and began a slow ride up the east coast, around Nova Scotia, and down the St Lawrence river. His boat is now in storage near Chicago. He and his wife then flew to New Zealand and then Australia for a six week trip. From Australia, Scott called. “Cam,” he said, “there’s something I need to tell your listeners that I’m learning from this trip. They need to not wait too long before starting their retirement. I’m seeing too many people who are too old and frail to enjoy it the way they dreamed.” Well worth a listen.
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What Works is my book written about the best ideas from the first 200 episodes of What’s Working. Sign up at the bottom of this page to receive a free chapter.
