He traveled the globe in search of and digging deep inside the fastest companies in the world for his book, It`s Not The Big That Eat the Small…It`s The Fast That Eat the Slow. Within weeks of its 2001 release it hit the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and New York Times Bestsellers Lists. Published in 32 languages, USA Today named it one of the top 25 books of the year.

Next, he and his research team spent a year studying more than 40,000 companies and identifying the ten most productive companies in the world for his book, Less Is More, published by Penguin Putnam. In the book he reveals the secrets of the world`s most productive companies.

Following two years of research during which time he and his research team studied more than 72,000 companies, his book, Think BIG — Act Small, debuted in May 2005, profiling the leadership of the only 10 companies in the world to have grown both revenue and profits by ten percent or more annually for ten consecutive years without missing a beat.

He was the youngest radio station group owner in the world and his unique and legendary programming, sales and management strategies are credited with revolutionizing many parts of the broadcasting industry. Later, he founded Jennings-McGlothlin & Company, a consulting firm that, within three years, became the largest media consultancy in the world. More than 300,000 businesses worldwide have purchased his best selling videos on leadership, sales, management, and customer satisfaction.

When not traveling the world on research and adventure travel Jennings presents 80 keynote speeches annually for companies like Verizon, GlaxoSmithKline, General Dynamics, SunAmerica, Convergys, Hallmark, Sony, Lexmark, Ford, Wells Fargo and Time Warner.

Key Career Accomplishments

• Designed and facilitated workshops and dialogue sessions for thousands of individuals,  at all levels of an organization, on topics including mediation, conflict management and resolution skills, diversity and inclusion, leadership, team building, communication skills,  and anti-harassment/anti-discrimination.
• Worked within a wide range of industries including: education, law firms, insurance, banking, marketing, pharmaceuticals, health care, manufacturing, non-profit organizations, and government agencies.
• Awarded the honor of Trainer of the Year for 2007 by the Center for Conflict Resolution in Chicago.
• Mediated conflicts ranging from civil cases to landlord/tenant issues and has developed a particular focus assisting those within families, partnerships, organizations, and communities resolve disputes.
• Highly experienced helping others understand specific dimensions of diversity, including race, gender, generations, and sexual orientation.
• In his decade practicing as an attorney, David worked in a large national law firm     representing major corporations, a mid-size firm focusing on domestic relations, and a small firm as counsel to individuals, estates and trusts, family-owned businesses, and closely-held corporations.

Education, Certifications, Memberships, Recent Speaking Engagements, Publications

• Columbia Law School, New York, NY (JD, 1995), Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar
• Brandeis University, Waltham, MA (BA in American Studies, 1992), summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa
• Center for Conflict Resolution, Chicago, IL (Mediation Certificate, 2003)—trainer and volunteer mediator
• DePaul University College of Law, Center for Dispute Resolution, Chicago, IL (Certificate in Family and Divorce Mediation, 2005)
• Association for Conflict Resolution, Chicago chapter—member and former board member

We would never say we’re a big deal. We’re a southern firm with southern manners. But we’re not afraid to beg others to say it for us: from big names like Guy Kawasaki to big companies like Google, Pepsico, and NBC Universal, we’ve been responsible for bringing the message home. Your message is your baby. Let us rock the cradle.

Marston’s books, articles, columns, and blog describe and analyze the major generations of our time: Matures (born before 1946), Baby Boomers, (born 1946-64), Generation X (born 1965-79), and Millennials (born 1980-2000).  He explains how their generational characteristics and differences affect every aspect of business, including recruiting and retention, management and motivation, and sales and marketing.

His first book, Motivating The “What’s In It For Me?” Workforce (2005), explores the characteristics and motivations that each generation brings to the workforce and suggests management tactics applicable to any business setting. His next book, Generational Insights (2010) is a guide to the best practices in managing generational issues. Generational Selling Tactics That Work (2011) is the first book-length study of generational approaches to sales and marketing.

Marston’s expertise has also been featured in the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, the Chicago Tribune, BusinessWeek, Fortune, Money, and Forbes, as well as on Good Morning America and the BBC. He writes a monthly column for Business Alabama and has been a featured columnist in Agent’s Sales Journal, PROFIT Magazine, and Multi-Housing News, among others. His blog at generationalinsights.com tracks the latest changes and developments in generational issues and demographics.

As a consultant, Marston has provided generational insight and advice to leadership at the nation’s most prominent corporations, including American Express, Fidelity, Merrill Lynch, Kellogg, Coca-Cola, Macy’s, 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, and the U.S. Army, as well as major professional associations such as the American Bankers Association and the Million Dollar Roundtable.

Marston’s presentations are informative, engaging, and often humorous. He offers concrete demographic research that is tailored to his audience. But he enlivens the data with anecdotes, tales from the real business world, attention-grabbing visuals, and quips that make the message memorable. Marston’s clients consistently report that his research makes his programs relevant and his presentation style makes them interesting and fun.

Marston’s insights and expertise are the product of 15 years of research and consultation across a wide range of industries as well as his own early-career background in corporate sales and research. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Tulane University. He is a native and resident of Mobile, Alabama and a proud member of Generation X.

He regularly consults with businesses and organizations specifically in the areas of customer value analysis, international branding, and multicultural marketing.  In addition, he currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Danish American Chamber of Commerce in Atlanta and as a member of the American Marketing Association, the Academy of Marketing Science, and the Academy of International Business.  Dr. Overby is also a past board member of Jackson Sister Cities, the Southern Regional Chapter of Italy-America Chamber of Commerce in Atlanta, and the Capital Optimist Club in Jackson. Dr. Overby’s early career included four years as a graduate assistant in the College of Business at the University of Tennessee and six years as European Project Manager and Market Research Analyst for Entergy Corporation.  While at Entergy Corporation, he recruited and managed European direct investment projects targeted at the Middle South region of the United States, and he advised small and medium-sized business with their international marketing strategies.

While at Florida State, he was part of the core faculty in the International Business program and he was the faculty advisor to the International Business Association.  He also taught each summer in London, England and Valencia, Spain.   Dr. Overby served at Florida State University as Assistant Professor of Marketing and International Business.

Dr. Overby’s academic research interests are in the areas of international marketing, international business strategy, cross-cultural consumer behavior, and the ethics of globalization.  He has published in a number of leading journals and magazines, including Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Research, International Marketing Review, Industrial Marketing Management, The Service Industries Journal, The Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, International Journal of Service Industry Management, International Journal of Management and Competitive Edge.

After receiving her Ph.D. from the University of Georgia, Susan taught in the University of Georgia system and at East Tennessee State University.  She was a business owner and entrepreneur in Nashville for several years before she came to Belmont.

Dr. Williams is an active public speaker and consultant on topics related to management. Representative clients include The Darden Group, Disney, AAA, The United Methodist Church, Aon, Genesco, Tractor Supply and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. She completed a three-year appointment as a judge for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, a Secretary of Commerce appointment. Active in national organizations, Dr. Williams is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma and Phi Eta Sigma professional honor societies.  She is on the ETSU Foundation Board of Directors, the Better Business Bureau Board of Directors, and volunteers her time for a variety of local non-profit organizations.  She is a Tennessee Rule 31 mediator. Williams has served the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence in various capacities since its inception in 1993; she now serves on the Panel of Judges.

In her teaching tenure at Belmont University, Williams has been named Most Inspirational Professor by twelve Massey Graduate School of Business graduating classes.

- Jim Kouzes & Barry Posner, Leaders’ Legacy

- Peter F. Drucker

- Patrick Lencioni, Five Dysfunctions of a Team

-Guy Kawasaki, Enchantment

To discuss these issues, the Belmont Center for Executive Education kicked off its 2012 season of peer learning with a panel discussion involving four experts in the use of social media in business: Christi McNeill (Social Media Strategist of Southwest Airlines), Clint Smith (CEO and Founder of Emma), Bob Hutchins (CEO of BuzzPlant), and Gerry Gorman (CIO of Caterpillar Financial).

Panel moderator Rex Hammock, Founder and CEO of custom media and content strategy company Hammock Inc., opened the meeting by stating that the impact of social media involves three key issues:

1)   The ability to control our identities online

2)   The ability to express ourselves in multiple ways (both as companies and as individuals)

3)   The ability to network and to create networks

Early in the discussion, the comparison between social media and traditional advertising was raised, during which a key point was made by Hutchins when he said that “advertising is a bullhorn, but social media is a conversation.” Along these lines, Hammock stated earlier that media used to be one-way (e.g., television, radio, newspapers, etc.), but with the advent of social media it is now two-way. In other words, don’t approach social media as just another platform for delivering your message to customers, but instead as a vehicle for interacting with them. More importantly, Hutchins said that social media should be “people talking to people”, meaning that your organization should have a face to its social media presence as opposed to being a faceless entity (they don’t want to tweet with just @XYZCompany, they want to tweet with @Sally_XYZCompany). Your customers want to know that there is a real person on the other end.

Based on the varied responses from the panelists, it is evident that there is no one-size-fits-all method for developing a social media strategy—it is based on each company’s specific situation. However, here are some questions you should ask yourself when putting together your plan:

• How many people should we allocate the responsibility to? According to McNeil, Southwest has a team of 10 people who are responsible for maintaining its social media presence (although Hutchins said it seems like 100 people!). The size of your organization, as well as the level of emphasis you want to place on the use of social media, will likely be the primary elements for determining this.
• What departments or functional areas should these people reside in? They don’t have to be just in Marketing, by the way: Emma has people working in social media that are not a part of their formal social media team. An understanding of the areas you wish to focus on using social media—such as specific products, customer service, etc.—will help you identify those in your organization who would be best suited to communicate about these issues with the outside world.
• What is our formal policy regarding social media, and how will we enforce it? The panel seemed to agree that, while it is certainly a good idea to have a formal policy in place, it should be relaxed enough to allow the level of interaction necessary, but strict enough to prevent the kinds of situations that could do damage to your company. Based on your industry, you may also have certain regulations to deal with, so be sure to account for those as well.
• What kinds of people (i.e., demographics) do we want to interact with and reach? Hutchins raised the interesting point that many of the channels have become divided by demographics. For example, younger people communicate primarily via Twitter and text messages, and rarely use e-mail. In addition, they are starting to migrate away from Facebook because their parents and grandparents are now on the site. Investigate and use the channels your particular customer groups are using, but make sure your message is consistent across all of them. Using a dashboard tool such as CoTweet or Hootsuite can provide you with a central location for maintaining all of your channels.
• Where do my customers reside? As a worldwide organization, Caterpillar Financial naturally segments the geographic markets they serve; because use of the internet is highly regulated in China, they have to find other means for communicating with their customers there. If you have groups of customers that are concentrated in specific areas, the use of location-based utilities (such as Foursquare) in conjunction with social media platforms can allow you to create targeted promotions.
• How do we actually use these platforms? Smith recommends that you employ many of the same rules that you would for traditional e-mail: maintain a certain level of frequency, provide meaningful content, and (of course) have a great product or service. Regarding frequency, Gorman believes that there is a “sweet spot” of information—not too much or too little. Monitoring your channels with tools such as Radian6 or Sysomos can show you how people are interacting with you so that you can determine if your level of frequency is appropriate. These tools can also help you focus on which channels to pursue and which to eliminate, as well as what content to focus on.

After the panel discussion, Hutchins held a special breakout session. Following are a few noteworthy comments from his fascinating presentation:

• We have left the Industrial Age and have now entered the Recommendation Age, the key distinction between the two being interaction (think Amazon reviews).
• Studies have found that people who use social media tend to be more influential offline as compared to those who do not use it.
• People 45 years old and older are the fastest-growing demographic of social media users.
• You no longer have control of your brand—your customers do.
• People don’t want to connect with brands; they want to connect with people.

Overall, the discussion was very engaging and highlighted some of the major advantages and potential pitfalls of social media. Now is your chance to weigh in on what has worked for you, as well as to begin a discussion with your fellow learners about this timely topic (this is two-way communication, after all!).