T. Bruce MacKinnon is the President of Elevator World, Inc. With offices across the globe, the HQ is in Mobile, Alabama where their team puts out several publications throughout the year focusing on the elevator industry. While the business of elevators is certainly interesting, what MacKinnon offers in our conversation is a tutorial on how to dominate a niche market - something which he and his family know quite well. 

What's Working with Cam Marston presented by Coastal Alabama Community College

T. Bruce MacKinnon Teaches Us how to Dominate a Niche Market

I have not been stirred by a book or a message like the one I discovered reading author Stephen Cope's book The Great Work of Your Life. Many of my colleagues today search for work that provides meaning and purpose as they navigate the final third of their working career, myself included. Cope's book taught me what questions to ask and what types of answers to listen for. 

Author Stephen Cope on Discovering the Great Work of Your Life

Chuck Thuss' career as a hockey goalie surged at Miami (Ohio) and then in the minor leagues, including a stint at the Mobile Mystics. When it all ended, Chuck struggled to find purpose - a common struggle of athletes at the end of their playing days. Today Chuck co-hosts a podcast with a former National Hockey League player where they talk with athletes about their struggle to transition into life after athletics. Chuck also runs Compassionate Connection where he works with people of all types who simply feel lost, suffering from an indentiyy crisis. 

Chuck Thuss makes Compassionate Connections with Athletes in Transition

I revisit some former show guests and learn how they used the pause in business caused by the pandemic over the past eighteen months to reinvent themselves. These entrepreneurs don't ever stop. Artious Walker and Smac's Shack Food Truck, Mary Beth Greene and MB Greene bags, and Chris Rainosek at The Noble South restaurant. 

Checking In on Smac's Shack, MB Greene, and The Noble South.

Ellis Ollinger began as a summer employee for Flowerwood Nursery and today is the company CEO. Flowerwood grows and distributes plants from Maryland to Missouri to Texas and all points in between. With 650 employees, shared patents on plants, and a business relationship with Southern Living magazine, Flowerwood is a third generation success story that you'll want to hear. Hear how Covid has driven more to gardening but supply chain issues continue to ham-string the industry. 

Flowerwood Nursery - Growing and Delivering Plants to Nurseries Across the Southeast

Known variously as the iGen or Gen Z, the next generation workforce has experienced some doozies that will shape their take on the workplace and our world in general: Covid, election disputes, Afghanistan, vaccine division. The list goes on. How will it impact them? My guest is my 18 year old daughter the day before my wife and I took her to college. I interrupt her and my conversation to add context to what my generational studies have revealed about her world and the workplace's future. 

The World View of Our Next Gen Workforce: A Chat w My 18 Year Old Daughter

Rob Holbert is the managing editor of Lagniappe Weekly in Mobile, Alabama. Watt Key is a fiction writer with at least a dozen published books under his belt. I write weekly commentaries for Alabama Public Radio. The three of us read a five hundred word commentary we prepared for this broadcast and then discuss how we go about our writing. 

Writers on Writing: I Sit Down with Rob Holbert (Lagniappe Weekly) and Watt Key (Fiction author)

Why are lumber prices at an all time high? Is it Covid? Labor shortages? Tariffs? It's all of the above plus many more things including the freeze in Texas last year that froze chemical plants, too few long-haul truckers, bugs in Canada, Chinese goods through Vietnam. The list is overwhelming. It's a perfect storm of random events and there appears to be no end in sight. Bert Scarbrough of Premier Lumber and homebuilder Brian Robertson give me the details.

The Story Behind Today's Extraordinary Lumber Prices - A Perfect Storm of Events

We can't get enough of this guy. Kieron Elliot had us at "sláinte" (pronounced SLAN-ja and meaning "cheers!") when I heard him giving a presentation on Instagram. He agreed to be on What's Working and we discuss The Macallan's plans for bringing Millennials into their brand and he walks me through how to taste two of their signature bottlings for the US - The Macallan 12 and 15 Double Cask. Per Kieron, "chew it." Chewing it gets the salivary gland involved.

REPLAY: Kieron Elliot is the US Brand Ambassador for The Macallan Scotch Whiskey

Mobilian Watt Key's first published book was Alabama Moon and it hit big. Schools picked it up for summer reading. Movie rights were reserved and then purchased. Since then Watt has published a bunch more books and he could keep going but there have been some headwinds in the publishing industry impacting Watt's ability to tell stories the way he wants to tell them. So, Watt's going to pivot. In this extended interview we learn what's worked, where the challenges are, and hear Watt's plans for the next chapter in his career. 

Mobile Author Watt Key Discusses the Business Side of Writing

Many parents expect their kids to take care of them when they get old. The kids have no plans to do so. Many kids think they'll receive a fat inheritance when their parents die. The parents will spend every penny to stay alive with some quality of life. And it's here that long term care insurance becomes important. With a great number of friends assisting aging parents, this topic has landed on high on my radar.  Also, a commentary from friend of show David Webb on a recent disheartening trip he took to New Orleans. 

Long Term Care - How It Works and Why You Need To Know About It

You've seen Frank Wood on TV or on the movie screen or on a Broadway stage. He's busy with his craft. And the process he and a cast go through as they take on a new play is the epitome of how to form a high-performing team. It involves listening to fellow cast members (teammates), taking direction from the director (team leader), taking a strong position on your character (your role in the team), and being eager to be redirected and refocused if the director feels there is something better you can contribute. 

Tony Award Winning Actor Frank Wood on Quickly Creating High Performing Teams

Bill-E Stitt impressed us with his bacon when we first met him. Now after sampling his bacon and hearing his story and getting to know the legend that is Bill E Stitt, we can't get enough of him or his product. Seldom do we interact with anything that is the "world's best," but Bill E's bacon is just that. 

REPLAY: Bill E Stitt Makes the Best Bacon in the Entire World

Based in Los Angeles, Kieron Elliot is national brand ambassador for the Macallan Scotch Whiskey in the US. We discuss the Macallan's strategy for introducing a whiskey typically preferred by older, white, affluent males to the next generation. Kieron tells me their customer is already much more diverse than I'm aware and we sample some of the Macallan's offerings on the air. (Warning - this episode will make you want to sample a good scotch. And you definitely should.)

Taking The Macallan Scotch Whiskey to the Next Generation

The overwhelming underperformance of boys in academics has slowly been revealing itself for years and now the data shows the depth of it. The impact ranges from the future of eduction, performance in the workplace, to the competitiveness of the United States. Blair Fisher is an educator and head of school at Mobile's St. Paul's Episcopal School and monitors education trends. He joins me to discuss this alarming phenomenon. Think this doesn't concern you? Think again. (This content will be controversial to some.)

The Hidden, Undiscussed Crisis of Boys: Educator Blair Fisher Discusses a Growing Concern

Having spent the last twenty plus years studying workplace and workforce trends, Cam Marston now brings his research, his insights, and his extensive network of contacts from across the country to a radio program focused on keeping you relevant and prepared for a rapidly changing workplace.

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What's Working with Cam Marston presented by Coastal Alabama...

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