Cam Marston
CAM MARSTON is an author, advisor, radio talk show host, and top-rated keynote speaker on the trends shaping the workplace and marketplace. His presentations are informative, engaging, humorous, and full of concrete research that is tailored to his audience. Cam enlivens the data with anecdotes, tales from the real business world, attention-grabbing visuals, and quips that make the messages and actionable strategies memorable.
CAM MARSTON is an author, advisor, radio talk show host, and top-rated keynote speaker on the trends shaping the workplace and marketplace. His presentations are informative, engaging, humorous, and full of concrete research that is tailored to his audience. Cam enlivens the data with anecdotes, tales from the real business world, attention-grabbing visuals, and quips that make the messages and actionable strategies memorable.
His original focus was on generational differences and their impact on the workplace and marketplace. Cam and his firm, Generational Insights, have provided research and consultation to hundreds of organizations, ranging from small businesses to multinational corporations, as well as to major professional associations. Cam’s four books and countless articles describe and analyze the major generations of our time, explaining how generational workplace and marketplace preferences affect every aspect of business, including recruiting and retention, management and motivation, and sales and marketing.
In 2018, Cam began a podcast that was soon picked up as an FM radio show titled What’s Working with Cam Marston. Cam interviews a wide range of expert guests to learn about the trends influencing their workplace, workforce, and marketplace, and how they are successfully reacting to them. He has now broadcast over 200 episodes and released his fifth book, What Works: The Ten Best Ideas from the First 200 Episodes.
Cam also records commentaries for Alabama Public Radio called Keepin’ It Real. They’re his humorous and inspirational observations of the world around him and have won both statewide and national awards. You can find both his radio show and his commentaries on your favorite podcast app. The commentaries have recently been converted into short, subscription-based videos to be used as inspirational and motivational weekly training content for the workplace.
Cam’s expertise and acumen are the products of over 20 years of research and consultation across a wide range of industries. He has provided insight and advice to leadership at some of the world’s most prominent corporations, including Kaiser Permanente, Charles Schwab, BASF, Nestle, Schlumberger, Fidelity, Warner Brothers, ESPN, Qualcomm, RE/MAX, and Eli Lilly. He has also offered presentations and consultations for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Internal Revenue Service, NASA, and the U.S. Army, as well as for major professional associations such as the American Bankers Association, the Health Care Compliance Association, FMI/The Food Industry Association, the Financial Services Roundtable, and the Million Dollar Round Table.
Cam’s perspectives have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Investment Advisor, the Chicago Tribune, BusinessWeek, Fortune, Money, and Forbes, as well as on Good Morning America and the BBC. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Tulane University and is a native and resident of Mobile, Alabama.
RECRUITING AND RETENTION IN HISTORIC HIGH TURNOVER
High retention workplaces have become more and more rare as our new Covid-present world attempts to reenergize itself. Both job turnover and demand for workers is at historic and shocking levels. Businesses’ inability to find and keep workers, no matter the pay, perks, or seniority, is real.
A few innovative actions by forward-looking companies can result in immediate improvements in recruiting and retention. Trusted leaders are familiar with the trends shaping the workforce, from life stages to generational characteristics to current events. Today’s employee marketplace wants to know your plans to address the latest hot topics including mental health, remote workplaces, flexible hours, workplace safety, and diversity and inclusion. They also need motivation and a clear path for their growth and development.
In this timely and engaging presentation, you will learn:
- Trends that shape what an employee expects and needs to flourish that you must be ready to address
- How to show your company’s personal side publicly
- Steps to becoming a motivator for your teams
- How to design plans for your employees’ first days on the job and for longer term growth
- How to form the groundwork for a strong workplace culture that is attractive to recruits of all generations and in which current employees thrive and never want to leave
LEADERSHIP FUNDAMENTALS IN A TIME OF EVER-CHANGING WORKPLACE CHALLENGES
Our world today is loud, cluttered, and busy. Every day countless attempts are made to attract our attention and distract us from our goals. There’s an ample supply of inspirational and motivational quotes and stories on leading through the noise out there today, but it is mostly void of actionable content. It lacks the simple to-dos of effective, day-to-day, leadership. The blocking and tackling. The fundamentals. Whether your current challenges are engaging a remote workforce, the physical and mental health and safety of your employees, diversity and inclusion expectations, supply chain issues, or high turnover (just to name a few), you won’t succeed unless you have already established core leadership skills.
The belief that leadership must be different today due to the unique and extraordinary times is false. The environment may be different. The events shaping today’s workplace may be VERY different. But the core principles of leadership remain unchanged.
Through 25+ years of developing highly customized presentations by studying the ins and outs of organizations of all sizes, combined with interviews of hundreds of business and workplace leaders via his FM radio show and podcast What’s Working with Cam Marston, Cam will spotlight the essentials of leadership that can be lost in today’s world of distractions. They’re the messages he’s heard repeated – sometimes subtly, sometimes boldly – in his interviews and partnerships with the most effective leaders he’s found.
This presentation will return leaders to the fundamentals of leadership. They will learn:
- How workplace culture is intentionally created and must be carefully stewarded in order to last
- Communication remains the root of nearly all workplace challenges and how to understand what your colleagues need from you in your interactions
- That preventing teamwork challenges BEFORE they happen is a much better solution than fixing teamwork problems after they have gotten out of control
- Self-Awareness is key to gaining influence
- Predictions for workplace change and how to get ahead of the changes
WHAT’S WORKING: WORKPLACE AND MARKETPLACE TRENDS
Extraordinary turnover. Mental health awareness and challenges. Diversity and inclusion priorities. Supply chain nightmares. Vaccine controversy. Political divisions. Trembling stock market. Inflation forecasts. Partridge in a pear tree. Goodness.
The trends shaping today’s workplace and marketplace are, each on their own, worthy of a headline in a news cycle. But in today’s upheaval, they’re happening simultaneously. Which of the trends making current headlines will impact the workplace and marketplace most? Which ones do employers, managers, sales leaders, and human resources executives need to keep an eye on? Cam Marston has opinions on that…
In 2018, Cam began an old-school, interview-style, terrestrial radio show called “What’s Working with Cam Marston.” His goal? To interview professionals from a spectrum of industries across the country who will help his listeners better understand the trends shaping their workplace, the workforce, and the marketplace. Today, over 200 episodes later (and also available as a podcast), Cam shares the most relevant trends that he has uncovered in customized presentations designed to arm each audience with the skills and information needed to get ahead in their industry.
This presentation delivers thought-provoking content curated for your specific industry. Cam cites best practices gained from his continuously growing body of interviews, as well as from proprietary research, to equip each audience with a list of the most important trends, their potential impact, and guidelines on how to address them.
LIFE STAGES: WHY UNDERSTANDING THE COMMON CHAPTERS OF LIFE IS KEY TO WORKPLACE SUCCESS
An important understanding of workplace differences is based on life stages. Life has chapters. As we progress through life’s chapters, new priorities surface and old priorities fade. As each chapter closes and a new one begins, the priorities shuffle yet again. The chapters and shuffling start at birth and end when we end.
Many of the most important and volatile chapters of our lives occur during our working years. Getting married. Giving birth. Aging parents. Empty nesting. Commonly called “life stages,” these chapters are common amongst our society. Within the workplace there are chapters, too. Onboarding as a new hire. Learning to lead. Learning to take direction. Learning to manage. Mentoring or being mentored. Grooming a successor. Identifying and honing a special skill set. Retirement prep.
This presentation reveals the challenges and motivations life stages typically bring and what may be happening behind the scenes in co-workers’ lives that could impact teamwork, communication, attitude, and focus. It’s another element of diversity – different life stages all around us – and inclusion – welcoming each person and the challenges and celebrations their life stage holds. You will learn how to engage your colleagues in different life stages: what you can say to them and do for them that will result in a more harmonious and productive workplace.
FIVE GENERATIONS IN THE WORKPLACE
For the first time in history, five distinct generations — Matures, Boomers, Xers, Millennials and GenZ— may be employed side by side in the workplace. With differing values and seemingly incompatible views on leadership, these generations have stirred up unprecedented conflict in the business world. Effective management of this generational divide is vital to longevity and success. In fact, it is the most important demand your company can make of its leaders.
In this engaging presentation, Cam Marston teaches how each generation developed its core values, how that manifests in the workplace today, and why they can all not only operate alongside each other, but do so with extraordinary success. This program provides the generational insight, concrete examples and specific approaches to help frustrated managers build the individual connections needed to boost employee performance and retention.
As you will learn, the only common ground is the intensity with which each generation holds fast to its value systems. Understanding and respecting those generational biases are critical to bringing out the best in every employee.
RECRUITING AND RETAINING ACROSS THE GENERATIONS
We hear it all the time: “Our people are our greatest asset.” But good talent is hard to find and even harder to keep. How do you build your people assets? What do today’s employees want? In today’s multigenerational workforce, Millennials want meaning and freedom, Generation X wants openness and flexibility, Boomers want recognition and authority. Matures like rules and respect. What about the Gen Z, the generation following the Millennials? Each generation has something to offer so every business needs to offer something to each generation.
Retaining employees is far more cost-effective than recruiting and training new ones. This presentation profiles each generation of employee – what will get them on the clock and what will keep them ticking. Cam Marston will help you adapt your recruiting and retention program to suit the ambitions and goals of each generation, choose from the best that each has to offer and realize the full return on investment in your workforce.
Recruiting, training, experience, and institutional memory make your employees your most valuable assets. Effective multi-generational hiring and retention efforts will help ensure that those assets keep working for you and not for someone else.
SELLING ACROSS THE GENERATIONS
The first rule of selling remains steadfast: Know your customer. With five distinct generations playing active roles in the buying decisions of companies worldwide, that tenet is increasingly difficult to fulfill. It is no longer enough to be personable and knowledgeable about your product. Changing dynamics require changing strategies. To succeed in today’s business climate, you need to approach each buyer with an informed generational perspective — recognizing the underlying biases, values and expectations that pave the way to “Yes.”
In this presentation, Cam Marston shows you how to create a fast and genuine connection with new customers, sell to your customer’s expectations, build trust between generations, and avoid communication pitfalls.
Throughout the presentation you will learn how companies are effectively engaging generational marketing techniques to appeal to the unique decision-making traits of each generation and how to develop a solid sales process based on generational biases and business preferences.
THE GEN-SAVVY FINANCIAL ADVISOR
For decades, financial services professionals have focused on demographic groups that are now moving into and past retirement. The Matures (born 1945 and prior) and the Baby Boomers (born 1946 – 1964) are the generations that the financial services industry grew up with and their client relationships were defined by traditional business models. Now, Generation X and Millennials, with different economic and cultural experiences, are in the age ranges that make them prime markets for investments, retirement planning, insurance, and other financial products.
Cam Marston understands the attitudes and expectations of today and tomorrow’s generations and what they expect from financial services providers. He knows how they buy, how they value different types of information, what their definition of “expert” is, how they apply it to financial professionals and what they want financial professionals to teach them. Cam has also tracked how the Covid Economy has altered the way they perceive money and financial planning. He understands their preferred methods of communications, which sales tools to use and how to use them effectively.
The next generation of financial services client has arrived. They will not tolerate being treated the same way their parents were treated. Learn what they want in this exciting and impactful presentation.
LEADING A MULTI-GENERATIONAL TEAM EFFECTIVELY – WORKSHOP
Leading Multi-Generational Teams is an out-of-your-seat, multi-media workshop using fun and engaging methods to expand leaders’ existing knowledge and facilitate new and deeper insight into those who they lead. Providing multiple application opportunities, the workshop optimizes a leader’s abilities to develop high performance teams and achieve better results on the job.
Participants learn the demographics, historical events, and parenting trends that created each generations’ workplace preferences and how these preferences can become sources of conflict. Awareness, appreciation, and mastery of generational preferences enables leaders to address such conflict productively, if not avoid it altogether. Furthermore, mastery of generational preferences ensures productive team relationships and communications that promote creativity, innovation, teamwork, and performance.
The Gen-Flex® model—a tool for leaders to examine how generational preferences influence their own leadership approach on a case-by-case basis—is central to the workshop. The tool teaches leaders to adjust their approach to minimize generation gaps and lead effectively.
A flexible program, the course is available in half-day and full-day versions. Leading Generations can also be customized to integrate (or be integrated into) your organization’s existing learning programs.
CAM MARSTON AS YOUR EMCEE
Not only is Cam Marston a powerful speaker but he is also an exceptional Master of Ceremonies. A meeting planner’s dream, Cam’s emcee skills rival those of any comedian or other professional host. He is quick on his feet, funny, flexible, always prepared, and skilled at keeping the meeting on track and on schedule.
As an in-demand expert on workplace and marketplace trends, Cam offers special rate packages that combine his emcee work and a keynote.