Engagement and Motivation with Dr. Bob Nelson: Episode 289 of The Action Catalyst Podcast - a podcast by Dan Moore and Dustin Hillis

Dr. Bob Nelson is considered the leading authority on employee recognition, motivation, and engagement in the world. He is president of Nelson Motivation Inc., a management training and consulting company that specializes in helping organizations improve their management practices, programs, and systems, has worked with 80% of the Fortune 500, and serves as an Executive Coach and Strategist for HR Issues.







Dr. Nelson has been named a Top Thought Leader by the Best Practice Institute, a leading Global Employee Engagement Influencer by the Employee Engagement Awards, and a Top 20 Global Management Guru for 2019 by Thinkers50 in London. He previously worked closely with Dr. Ken Blanchard, “The One Minute Manager” for ten years and is currently a personal coach for Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, the number-one-ranked executive coach in the world.







Dr. Nelson has sold 5 million books on management, employee motivation, and engagement, including 1,501 Ways to Reward Employees, The 1,001 Rewards & Recognition Fieldbook, 1,001 Ways to Energize Employees, The Management Bible, and his latest book, 1,001 Ways to Engage Employees. His books have been translated into over 30 languages.







He has presented on six continents and appears extensively in the national and international media including CBS’ 60 Minutes, CNN, MSNBC, PBS, NPR, as well as in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, Fortune, BusinessWeek and Inc. magazines to discuss how to best motivate today’s employees.







He writes a blog for The Conference Board and monthly columns for Inc. and Incentive magazines.







He received an MBA in organizational behavior from UC Berkeley and earned his Ph.D. in management education with Dr. Peter Drucker, “The Father of Modern Management,” at the Drucker Graduate Management School of Claremont Graduate University in Los Angeles. He teaches for the MBA program of the Rady School of Management at the University of California at San Diego.







Show Highlights







The harder you work, the luckier you get, and being prepared when opportunities are there is very important. —Dr. Bob NelsonI always have multiple strategies for everything I'm doing. If I have five major strategies, two or three will carry the year, and I don't know which ones they are. You have to look for what's working now with changing times. —Dr. Bob NelsonIn working with millennials, let go of the baggage of them paying their dues and meet them where they're at now. —Dr. Bob NelsonWhen you adjust to how millennials work, you're going to be a more efficient workforce. —Dr. Bob NelsonIn my research, people are motivated by things that don't cost money—things like a simple thank you or encouraging them with a new idea. —Dr. Bob NelsonBeing open to opportunities and having in mind what you'd like to do is important. Having a specific goal and backing it up with actions. —Dr. Bob NelsonWhen something isn't working or is stuck, I ruminate on it and talk about it with someone else. I can get unstuck, and often instead of working that same strategy when it's not working, it's coming at it from a different angle. —Dr. Bob Nelson







Dr. Nelson's final thoughts: The point where you think you know it all, you're going to be in decline in whatever it is you're good at. You have to continue to try to learn and stretch in whatever way. It might be who you know or goals for your life. If you're not keeping it active or fresh, you're dying.







The Action Catalyst is a weekly podcast hosted by Dan Moore, President of Southwestern Advantage, the oldest direct-sales company in America, and Partner with Southwestern Consulting. With more than 45 years in sales leadership and marketing management,

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