Creating connections: The key to a happy workplace
Posted On March 1, 2019
Is it the job of an employer, or a workplace, to ensure that its employees are happy? Many Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers would argue that most employees should be happy just to have a job. Many millennials, however, will tell you that workplace environment is an extremely important factor to them in deciding where to work. Which of them are right? I asked my guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” — Dr. Elise Labbé-Coldsmith, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of South Alabama. And the answer I got was: Probably both. Research shows people… Read More
Categories: What's Working with Cam Marston, Work, Workplace
One way to survive lean times: Keeping your operation lean
Posted On February 26, 2019
When the housing market crashed in 2008, Mobile builder Rogers & Willard found themselves in the same situation as pretty much every other construction company in America. After the crash, the company limped through 2009 on only a third of the revenue it had enjoyed in 2008. Times were lean. But fortunately for Rogers & Willard, “lean” is something with which it was already familiar. Our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” Rogers & Willard president Mike Rogers says the company survived those tough years by keeping its operation lean as a matter of principle,… Read More
Categories: Entrepreneurship, Real Estate, Recession Economy, What's Working with Cam Marston, Work
Don’t know where you want to be in five years? If you’re a job-seeker, find an answer
Posted On January 9, 2019
The modern workforce is changing. It only makes sense that modern interviewing methods should change too. Common queries about educational background and job skills are being replaced or augmented with behavioral questions designed to determine whether an applicant is a good fit for the company: Can you tell me about a time you had a conflict with a co-worker and how you resolved it? If you had 1,000 emails in your inbox but you could only answer 300, how would you choose which to answer? And a seemingly simple one that today’s generation of college graduates is having an increasingly… Read More
Categories: Blog, What's Working with Cam Marston, Work, Workplace
Unproductive meetings are a sign of an unproductive workplace
Posted On October 22, 2018
Who likes going to meetings? Not many of us would raise our hands in response to that question. Most of us see meetings as time that would be better spent actually getting some work done. But workplace consultant and executive coach Michael Nash says it doesn’t have to be that way. Nash, who joins us again for another episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” says it really isn’t the meetings themselves we hate, it’s that they aren’t being conducted effectively. Meetings actually serve important functions, Nash says. They allow employees to have face time with their supervisors, and they… Read More
Categories: Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston, Work, Workplace
Lessons from a Green Beret: In the military or in business, building relationships is the key
Posted On October 14, 2018
We often use military metaphors when describing other things. We might call a hard-fought football game a “war,” or refer to a tough sale as a “battle.” But is there anything that the military can teach us about how we do business? Our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” is uniquely qualified to answer that question. Brad Israel is a U.S. Army Green Beret and Afghanistan veteran who is now the Chief Leadership Officer of 68 Ventures, a real estate holding company based in Baldwin County. Israel says there are several lessons he’s taken with… Read More
Categories: Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston, Work, Workplace
Want to leave it all behind? Some millennials are.
Posted On September 14, 2018
Ever wanted to just quit your job, leave everything behind and move to an island? Most of us have, at some point, fantasized about it. According to the New York Post, however, many aren’t just daydreaming about it. They’re doing it. The Post interviewed several twenty-somethings who have quit their jobs, some of them quite lucrative, and left it all in search of peace, adventure or fulfillment. Sarah Solomon was a publicist in New York until she quit and moved to Hawaii, where she now does freelance work in between trips to Guatemala, Indonesia and other exotic locales. Gracie Halpern quit… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Travel, Work
Dilly dilly: How millennials are changing (not killing) the beer industry
Posted On August 22, 2018
What do you see when you step into the beer aisle at the grocery store? Twenty years ago, you probably would have seen a lot of Budweiser, Miller and Coors products, mixed with a few imports like Corona and Foster’s. Walk down a beer aisle in practically any grocery store today and you’ll still see a lot of Bud, Miller and Coors. But you’ll also see scores of other obscure brands – craft and local brewers, many of whom weren’t in existence five years ago, much less 20. The loosening of regulations on the brewing industry has resulted in an… Read More
Categories: Podcast, Work, 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
Lifeguarding isn’t just for the young anymore
Posted On July 13, 2018
They were the cool kids, the kids we aspired to be. They sat atop their chair, with their mirrored sunglasses and tan skin, twirling a whistle around their finger and reminding us, once again, to stop running and stop hanging on the rope by the diving well. One day, we told ourselves, we’ll be lifeguards too. But a funny thing happened on the way to the pool for today’s generation of would-be lifeguards. According to the Washington Post, you might be just as likely to see a Baby Boomer sitting atop the chair at your neighborhood pool this summer as… Read More
Categories: Baby Boomers, Blog, Parenting, Work, 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